[Authors and titles are listed at the end of this review.]
A globally comparative approach to studying written artifacts is adopted in this collection of essays, which is edited by three recognized scholars from different fields, periods, and cultures. The essays included in the collection gather and expand upon the presentations that were delivered at a conference in Taiwan in 2017. The editors’ scientific profiles and the choice of conference venue explain the focus on Far Asian and European book cultures, while acknowledging the absence of important traditions such as the Arabic, Mesopotamian and Persian ones, which the editors are aware of.
The volume features thirteen contributions that address the highly relevant book-historical theme of “impagination” from various perspectives. The term is defined as “the act of placing and arranging textual and other information spatially onto the “page”, intended as the unit of writing and reading on all material carriers (p. 1). Chronologically, the papers in the collection span from the first millennium BCE to contemporary editorial practices. They cover a wide range of writing supports, including papyrus, bamboo slips, palm leaves, parchment, paper, and the computer screen, exploring various technologies and both material and immaterial book formats. The main two sections of the volume focus respectively on manuscript formats other than the codex, specifically Slips, Scrolls, and Leaves, and on The Printed World. The final section, which aims to look Beyond the Book, only includes a single paper.
The dense introduction tackles the complex challenge of conceptualizing the concept of “impagination.” It also strives to identify a common thread among a diverse set of contributions, which are rich in information and stimuli but inevitably heterogeneous in terms of content and methodology (presenting single case studies versus a corpus-based approach), intended readership (more or less specialized), and level of detail. In working on impagination, the editors effectively emphasize the need to consider simultaneously the materiality of the page as the primary (only possible?) tool for organizing content, the nature of the content itself (texts, paratexts, drawings, illustrations), and the criteria for distributing and organizing them within the available space(s). These criteria are convincingly portrayed as the product of a “dynamic negotiation” involving artisanal, economic, functional, and cultural needs. These needs, at times divergent and challenging to reconcile, are expressed by the various actors within the “book chain” (scribes and artisans, printers, publishers, readers)[1].
The contributions included in the three sections of the book illustrate the different types of “page” (scroll, codex, pothi or pecha, woodblock or movable type printing, computer screen), the variety of relationships between different levels of content (especially the main text and glosses), and the influence of cultural and historical conventions (such as the “norm of unobstructed textual linearity” in European book traditions, p. 10). They also explore the impact of “linguistic crossovers” on impagination within specific traditions, the effects of interactions between different types of text or between different media (such as manuscripts and printed books), the influence of economic and aesthetic pressures, and the diverse effects of social and religious factors. Each of the many insights and interpretations presented by the three co-authors provides a stimulating foundation for further reflection (including the brief and somewhat general paragraph dedicated to “the editor’s control on the page,” p. 12). While the seminal contributions of Henri-Jean Martin on the medieval European book (particularly French) and Jean-Pierre Drège on ancient and medieval China are appropriately mentioned as reference works, the theoretical framework could have been expanded to incorporate other relevant approaches and contributions (a few examples are given below).
Eight (that is the large majority) of the thirteen published papers pertain to the so-called East Asian cultural sphere and one to South Asia. Michael Puett discusses the dialogue between text and commentary in ancient Chinese texts and its impact on reading practices and layout of the page. Shenyu Lin explores the layout of the Tibetan Vilamakīrti sutra (in pecha format) highlighting the relationship between the textual and page format transmissions. Tyler Williams investigates the use of diverse material and cultural models in the creation of early manuscript Hindi books with varying contents, and the resulting array of impagination patterns adopted during the period spanning the fourteenth to seventeenth century. The printed editions of a Korean sixteenth-century picture book (Samganghaengsildo) are analyzed by Keysook Choe as a “complex semiotic system” comprised of (Chinese and Korean) scripts, edifying narratives and illustrations. Bruce Rusk portrays the endeavors undertaken by late sixteenth-century Chinese commercial publishers to “repackage” the uninterrupted textflow of bookscrolls into a new page-centric layout. The challenge of combining different layers of texts in a “multi-section structure”, and the way it shaped the reception of the reader, are addressed by Ren-Yuan Li through examples of Chinese students’ primers of the nineteenth and twentieth century, imitating earlier practices. Loretta E. Kim discusses the creative solutions employed in the layout of three printed Chinese/Manchu translation manuals of the Qing dynasty (1644-1911 CE), highlighting how they reflect and face the challenges posed by the structural and functional differences between the two languages. In the contribution by Kimiko Kono, the japanophone gloss-reading of sinografic texts through the use of kunten annotations is surveyed, with specific attention given to the potential of digital technologies for the study and edition of those texts. Collectively, these papers exemplify a wide range of areas, time periods, texts, formats, and technologies, raising a number of fascinating issues that cannot be thoroughly explored within the limited scope of a review and without possessing specific expertise in each of the respective fields.
Four contributions focus on manuscript and printed book traditions from the Near East and Europe. Glenn W. Most delves into the extensively debated and yet unresolved topic of the transition from the roll to the codex in the Greek classical tradition. His analysis specifically highlights the psychological and social aspects of this transition, with a particular focus on the role of silent reading, whose spread during late antiquity remains a subject of scholarly debate. Theodor Dunkelgrün provides an overview of the history of manufacturing and layout practices of the Hebrew Bible in both Near Eastern and European communities, spanning from the era of the Dead Sea Scrolls to the advent of the first printed editions during the early modern age. Drawing upon three case studies, Anthony Grafton examines the practice of readers’ sketching and drawing in the margins of early printed books, which he refers to as “visual glossing.” He considers this practice as an unexplored aspect in the history of reading, particularly in Renaissance Europe. Grafton argues that visual glossing serves as a valuable tool for textual interpretation and offers new insights into the reading habits and engagement of individuals during that time period. Goran Proot presents an outline of the progression of printed book layouts in South Holland, from the introduction of printing until the onset of the Industrial Revolution. Employing a suitable statistical approach, Proot effectively identifies and correlates these changes to societal transformations, offering relevant insights into the evolving nature of book design during that period. A final contribution which aims at drawing attention to the materiality of the digital page through the lens of online scientific publishing appears a bit isolated in the context of the collection.
The volume caters to scholars specializing in written cultures, the material aspects of books, philology, and textual history. It provides a wealth of new material, original interpretative propositions, and avenues for further research. A notable strength lies in its comprehensive exploration of impagination, encompassing a broad range of library formats beyond the codex, which have only recently begun to receive specific attention. At the same time, the volume also highlights the need for more extensive, first-hand research on a larger scale of written objects within various book cultures. Furthermore, it emphasizes the necessity of developing appropriate concepts, methods, and terminology to address these research gaps. Overcoming these limitations is crucial for the future advancement of comparative book studies, alongside the collection of first-hand codicological and bibliological evidence and the establishment of common standards for accurate description of diverse book formats.
The contents of the volume provide a valuable contribution to increasing dialogue within comparative book studies. The widest possible comparison of methods, results, and perspectives is indeed essential for advancing the field and enriching our understanding of books in different cultural contexts. In this perspective, a greater consideration of significant lines of study regarding impagination (mise en page, layout) such as the quantitative approach[2] or the comparative study of Near Eastern traditions[3], would have further enriched and strengthened the methodological context of the volume. Additionally, incorporating attention to research conducted outside the English-speaking context, particularly in Italian and French, would have provided a broader perspective and enhanced the overall depth of the volume[4].
Finally, mention should be made of the overall good editorial quality of the volume and the presence of numerous illustrations in color (25) and black and white (58), although the latter are sometimes too small or too dark. The reader should be aware that not all the authors mentioned in the footnotes are found in the final Index.
Authors and Titles
Ku-ming (Kevin) Chang, Anthony Grafton and Glenn W. Most, “Introduction”
Section One: Slips, scrolls and leaves: before the codex
Glenn W. Most, “Text and Paratext in the Greek Classical Tradition”
Theodor Dunkelgrün, “Tabernacles of Text: A Brief Visual History of the Hebrew Bible”
Michael Puett, “Impagination, Reading, and Interpretation in Early Chinese Texts”
Shenyu Lin, “Sūtra Text in Pecha Format: Page Layout of the Tibetan Vimalakīrtinirdeśa”
Tyler Williams, “Between the Lines and in the Margins: Linguistic Change and Impagination Practices in South Asia”
Section Two: The Printed World
Anthony Grafton, “The Margin as Canvas: A Forgotten Function of the Early Printed Page”
Keysook Choe, “Page Layout and the Complex Semiotic System of Fifteenth- and Sixteenth-Century Chosŏn’s Samganghaengsildo”
Goran Proot, “The Transformation of the Typical Page in the Handpress Era in the Southern Netherlands, 1473–c. 1800”
Bruce Rusk, “Writer’s Block or Printer’s Block: The Book and Its Openings in Early Modern China”
Ren-Yuan Li, “Placing Texts on Chinese Pages: From Bamboo Slips to Printed Paper”
Loretta E. Kim, “Recovering Translation Lost: Symbiosis and Ambilingual Design in Chinese/Manchu Language Reference Manuals of the Qing Dynasty”
Kimiko Kono, “Japanophone Glosses (kunten), in Printed and Digitized Manuscripts”
Section Three: Beyond the Book
Ku-ming Kevin Chang, “Beyond the Physical Page: Latest Practice of Scientific Publication”
Notes
[1] While the term “book chain” is credited to J. Peter Gumbert, it was originally inspired by the work of Carla Bozzolo and Ezio Ornato, Pour une histoire du livre manuscrit au Moyen Âge: trois essais de codicologie quantitative. Paris: Éditions du CNRS, 1980, 19832, within the framework of the so-called “quantitative codicology.” See also La fache cachéee du livre médiéval. L’histoire du livre vue par Ezio Ornato, ses amis et ses collègues. Roma: Viella, 1997.
[2] See footnote 1 and most recently Marilena Maniaci, Statistical Codicology. Principles, Directions, Perspectives, in Marilena Maniaci (ed.), Trends in Statistical Codicology. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, 2022, pp. 1-32: 18-22. (Open access)
[3] Alessandro Bausi et al., COMSt. Comparative Oriental Manuscript Studies. An Introduction. Hamburg: Tredition, 2015. (Open access) See also the work carried out within the Centre for the Study of Manuscript Traditions and the Cluster of Excellence “Understanding Manuscript Artifact” of the University of Hamburg: https://www.csmc.uni-hamburg.de/written-artefacts.html.
[4] For some contributions English translations is now available in Maniaci (ed.), Trends in Statistical Codicology, with further references. A guide to the analysis of the interaction between text and commentary is provided by Marilena Maniaci, La serva padrona. Interazioni fra testo e glossa sulla pagina del manoscritto, in Vincenzo Fera, Giacomo Ferraù and Silvia Rizzo (ed.), Talking to the Text. Marginalia from Papyri to Print. Messina: Università degli Studi di Messina. Centro Interdipartimentale di Studi Umanistici, 2002, pp. 3-35. Paratexts have been the object of interesting theoretical insights in the framework of the ERC project ParaTexBib- Paratexts of the Bible (http://paratexbib.eu/); see for instance Patrick Andrist, Towards a Definition of Paratexts and Paratextuality, in Liv Ingeborg Lied and Marilena Maniaci, Bible as Notepad. Tracing Annotation and Annotation Practices in Late Antique and Medieval Biblical Manuscripts. Berlin – Boston: De Gruyter, 2018, pp. 130-150. The titles mentioned are only a few examples of productive lines of research.