“Representing the Social History of Early Modern Printed Objects.” Scholarly Editing. May 2016.
Abstract
Digital collections of historical books create new opportunities for scholarly editing. This article uses the Primeros Libros collection of books printed prior to 1601 to consider how design decisions for digital materials often depend on anachronistic assumptions about the coherence and originary status of the digital object. It then uses the “Archaeology of a Book” project to describe an approach to digital critical editions that engages with the shifting status of books in the early modern period, changes in their status over time, and the material traces that history leaves on the books themselves.