Op woensdag 20 november houdt John Hinks in de Erfgoedbibliotheek Hendrik Conscience de vierentwintigste lezing in de serie Miræus Lectures: 'The Word on the Street: Print and Urban Space during the Hand-Press Period'.
The hand-press period of Western printing (as defined, for example, by CERL: the European Consortium of Research Libraries) lasted from c.1455 until c.1830. A longue durée approach to this period indicates that location – almost invariably an urban location – was a remarkably persistent key factor in the success of the printing trade. In line with the current ‘spatial turn’ in the history of the book, this lecture will discuss some of the ways in which urban space impacted on printers and how, in turn, the texts and images that they produced helped to reflect, and to shape, the urban experience for almost four centuries.
Dr John Hinks is Chairman of the Printing Historical Society, a member of the Council of the Bibliographical Society and an Honorary Fellow at the Centre for Urban History, University of Leicester, UK. His research and publications focus on urban print culture and the history of printing and the book trade.