Lives in Print: Biography and the Book Trade from the Middle Ages to the 21st Century

Citation

Myers, R., Harris, M. and Mandelbrote, G. (2004), "Lives in Print: Biography and the Book Trade from the Middle Ages to the 21st Century", Library Review, Vol. 53 No. 2, pp. 125-126. https://doi.org/10.1108/00242530410522631

Robin Myers' and Michael Harris's annual conferences on aspects of the book trade have been popular events for over two decades. The first was held in 1979; this volume publishes the proceedings of the 23rd, held late in 2001. All but the proceedings of the first have been published; for the last three Myers and Harris have been joined as editors by Giles Mandebrote.

The theme is biography, and the editors have amassed a fine sequence of studies to represent the changing presentation of the subject, both collective and individual, from the 13th century. A sub‐theme is the lives of the printers and publishers of the biographical works; the interplay of the lives of the producers and the lives of the subjects provide a fascinating counterpoint.

Nine essays follow an editorial introduction and lists of contributors and conference attendees. The arrangement is chronological. Joana Proud begins with the discussion of a 13th century manuscript in the Bodleian Library (MS Rawlinson C.440). This is a compilation of saints' lives, preceded by a Calendar of saints which acts as an index to saints' biographies, not just to those covered in this particular manuscript, but to others available in the original library, through reference to shelfmarks. The second essay I found the most fascinating of all is: Elizabeth Evenden and Thomas Freeman on the early printings by John Day of John Foxe's Book of Martyrs. The authors bring the complex story of the production of this enormous work to vivid life, how last minute changes were effected, how type and paper ran out, and how new editions were compiled. The relationship between the lives presented and the lives of the printer and his family, the author, and the sponsor, Lord Burghley, make riveting reading.

Moving on in time, we have a study by Pauline Kewes of Shakespeare biographies appearing between 1662 and 1821. Their presentation was affected by whether they were intended to stand alone, or prefacing the dramatist's works, or appearing in collective biographies. Ian Maxted then introduces the long‐lived 18th century Exeter printer, Andrew Brice, who used his profession to further his own literary efforts. Extensive extracts from Brice's works are given.

Robin Myers' short study of the great printer John Nichols (1745‐1826) as Chairman of the Master Printers' Committee, 1800‐1811, leads neatly into Julian Pooley's essay on how Nichols and his descendants gathered raw material on a wide range of members of the book trade over many decades. Anna Giulia Cavagna's essay on the absence of contemporary biographies of Italian printers up to 1800 and the development of the genre in the 19th century is this book's only foray beyond Britain. Not many will be familiar with the subject, and those curious can pursue it further through extensive footnote references.

The last two essays deal with the monumental Dictionary of National Biography and its current revision: the penultimate, by Robert Faber and Brian Harrison, is a survey of the history of the undertaking from 1885; the last, by Ian Gadd on the Elizabethan printer John Wolfe, is a case study in article revision.

All essays are substantially footnoted, and this well‐produced hardback has a good index. I look forward to dipping into this book for years to come.