Monthly Archives: October 2018

book history

Renaissance Book History: A Trip Back in Time

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One thing is for sure, and that’s that printing during the Renaissance was a meticulous system.

This week, our lectures and a visit to the Newcastle library archive have taught us a LOT about early modern books and their complex composition. In this post, I will first venture into the world of a professional printing work space, discussing step-by-step the process of turning an author’s manuscript from ink on a page to a real, saleable print. Secondly, I will discuss our trip to the library archives, comparing the books we looked at with contemporary examples and considering other useful information.

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book history, readers

Readership – Then and Now

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The group was this week tasked with discussing the rather ominous topic of contemporary and Elizabethan readership. Conversation regarding our own reading experiences is all well and good, after all, but how can one truly get into the mindset of individuals who went about their lives centuries before our own? When reading through the Peter Stallybrass and Roger Chartier’s Reading and Authorship: The Circulation of Shakespeare 1590-1619, we identified several names of friends and associates of Shakespeare, with Sarah, Hannah and Phoebe tackling the various readers specifically and Jack deciding to look more in depth at the role of commonplace books for the everyday Shakespearean reader.

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theatre history

A Most Splendid and Educationall Blogg Concerning Those Things Of Theater Historie; Wherein All Things Written Shall Be Deserving of a Terrifick Mark

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Dost thou wish to be a learned person? Dost thou wish to learn of those things concerning theater historie? Then hurrah! For thou hast found the right place, dear scholar! (But seriously, read on for this week’s blog – it’s guaranteed to be a thrilling experience).

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theatre history

Theatre History: Contemporaneous documents and what they can reveal

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That’s a long-winded title but bear with me, it gets more fun.

As a round-up on studying Elizabethan theatre history, we’re looking at 2 areas: How the nature of performances was shaped by rehearsal practicalities (Harriet) and what we learn about Shakespearean theatre from contemporaneous documents (Lucy). In this post I’ll be touching on the latter topic.

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