Video

Speaker(s): Paolo Sachet

Related events: New sources for book history – International Conference

Releated Working Group(s):

Collection: CERl conferences

Recorded: November 28, 2017

Abstract:

Paolo Sachet (Università della Svizzera Italiana), Exploiting Antiquarian Sale Catalogues: Blueprint for the Study of Sixteenth-Century Books on Blue Paper

This paper aims to provide a new insight into the sixteenth-century practice of printing books on blue paper. In particular, I will attempt to show how the use of a largely neglected category of sources – antiquarian sale catalogues issued by auctioneers and booksellers – is crucial to retrace existent copies and establish their provenance over time. Ever-growing attention has been paid in recent years to the financial and commercial features of the early modern book trade through the analysis of inventories, stock and advertising lists of booksellers and publishers; by contrast, catalogues of historical, modern and contemporary antiquarian dealers have ceased to be employed since mid-twentieth century and the value of the material they contain remains largely underestimated. Their importance as source of information becomes pivotal in relation to traditional categories of collectable items.

Among these, early books printed on unusual support have always played a major role in the second-hand trade, on account of their rarity and their association with famous Renaissance printers. Most notably, it was Aldus Manutius who exploited the earlier commercial strategy of deluxe print-runs on parchment and came up with the idea of printing on large-size paper (1499) and blue paper (1514). Our knowledge of the latter practice, however, relies on conventional wisdom built on very partial data. Integrating the references in antiquarian sale catalogues with the records of private and institutional libraries is proving a very fruitful way to dig out several new exemplars and reconstruct their afterlife on and off the market.

This will allow us to work on a list of lost and survived copies and challenge some of the present assumptions, including the allegedly little number of sixteenth-century books on blue paper.

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