It is a truism that the early modern book world run on paper. Also, paper is the basic material of all archival and administrative practices that thrived in the European territories of the early modern period. Every letter sent between a merchant or a scholar of the res publica litteraria was a paper product. However, the European paper trade is one of the most unknown economic activities of the early modern period. In fact, the workings of the paper trade between the fifteenth and early nineteenth centuries remain one of the least studied areas of book history, communication history, and many more fields of expertise in which paper is interwoven and present. This research network, founded by Sandra Zawrel and Daniel Bellingradt in September 2015, aims to reposition the paper trade in history and current historiography.
What is the network aiming for?
With this network we aim to bring together international experts from different disciplinary backgrounds and encourage a lively discussion on one of the most unknown economic activities of the early modern period in Europe – the paper trade. Core issues are, among others, the organisations of the paper trade viewed from a transnational/international perspective, and the various management processes linking paper production with distribution. Further, we would like to engage with recent research on paper addressed for example in media theory.
Who are the members of the network?
So far, this network brought together about 100 members from 18 different countries. We kindly invite interested colleagues to join us, just drop us a mail (sandra.zawrel@uni-erfurt.de or daniel.bellingradt@fau.de, and please bring our network to the attention of your interested colleagues.
Renaud Adam (Liége, Belgium) / Myriam de Arteni (New York, USA) / Sara Barker (Leeds, Great Britain) / Daniel Bellingradt (Erlangen, Germany) / Michaelle Biddle (Ann Arbor, USA) / John Bidwell (New York, USA) / Frank Birkenholz (Groningen, The Netherlands) / Mark Bland (Leicester, Great Britain) / Iris Brahms (Berlin / Germany) / Andrew Brown (Pays des Gex, France) / Thea Burns (Kingston, USA) / Rebecca Carnevali (Warwick / UK) / Ramón Bárcena Colina (Santander, Spain) / Orietta Da Rold (Cambridge, Great Britain) / Alexander Dencher (Amsterdam / The Netherlands) / Kathryn Desplanque (Durham, USA) / Georg Dietz (Leipzig, Germany) / Maria Dolors Diaz-Miranda Macias (Spain) / Paul M. Dover (Kennesaw, USA) / Dean Ferguson (Kingsville, USA) / Monika Frohnapfel-Leis (Erfurt, Germany) / Chaimy J. Folsom (Kansas City, USA) / Anna Gialdini (London, Great Britain) / Marina Garone Gravier (Mexico City, Mexico) / Erik Geleijns (Den Haag / The Netherlands) / Marie-Noëlle Grison (Amsterdam / The Netherlands) / Miquel Gutiérrez-Poch (Barcelona, Spain) / Lucas Haasis (Oldenburg, Germany) / Tobias Hodel (Zurich, Switzerland) / Silvia Hufnagel (Reykjavik, Iceland) / Nimet İpek (Istanbul / Turkey) / Rindert Jagersma (Utrecht) / Leon Jackson (Columbia, USA) / Eliza Jacobi (Leiden / The Netherlands) / Christof Jeggle (Bamberg / Germany) / Geke van de Kamp (Zaanstad, The Netherlands) / Adriaan Kardinaal (Amsterdam, The Netherlands) / Suzanne Karr Schmidt (Chicago, USA) / Catherine Kikuchi (Rome, Italy) / Thomas Klinke (Cologne / Germany) / Juraj Kittler (Canton / USA) / Karin Kröger (Erfurt, Germany) / John A. Lane (Leiden, The Netherlands) / Nina Lamal (Antwerp, Belgium) / Stephen Lubell (London, Great Britain) / Rebecca Mathew (Birmingham, Great Britain) / Erin A. McCarthy (Newcastle / Great Britain) / Angela McShane (Warwick, UK) / Carla Meyer-Schlenkrich (Heidelberg, Germany) / Anna Motz (Frankfurt / Germany) / Pieter van Nieuwburg (Zaanstad, The Netherlands) / Sean Nortz (Providence, USA) / Pádraig Ó Macháin (Cork, Ireland) / Ilaria Pastrolin (Paris / France) / José Maria Perez Fernandez (Grenada, Spain) / Mark Peterson (Virginia, USA) / Maryse Pierrard (Paris, France) / Aaron Pratt (Austin, USA) / Goran Proot (Antwerp, Belgium) / Krisztina Rábai (Szeged, Hungary) / Jacqueline Reid-Walsh (Old Main, USA) / Anna Reynolds (St. Andrews, UK) / Benito Rial Costas (Madrid / Spain) / Isabelle Riepe (Florence, Italy) / Paolo Sachet (London, Great Britain) / Timo Särkkä (Jyväskylä, Finland) / Leila Sauvage (Amsterdam / The Netherlands) / Frieder Schmidt (Leipzig/Stuttgart, Germany) / Paul Schweitzer-Martin (Heidelberg / Germany) / Kristof Selleslach (Antwerp, Belgium) / Asheesh Siddique (New York, USA) / Patricia A. Simpson (Lincoln, USA) / Helen Smith (York, Great Britain) / Theresa J. Smith (Buffalo / USA) / Carlos Spoerhase (Bielefeld, Germany) / Rachel Stenner (Brighton / UK) / Maria Stieglecker (Vienna / Austria) / Geoffrey S. Taylor (Savannah / USA) / Joshua Teplitsky (New York, USA) / Tom Toelle (Hamburg / Germany) / Jan Willem Veluwenkamp (Groningen, The Netherlands) / Bas van Velzen (Amsterdam, The Netherlands) / Heide Warncke (Amsterdam, The Netherlands) / Andreas Weber (Twente, The Netherlands) / Nikolaus Weichselbaumer (Mainz, Germany) / Megan Williams (Groningen, The Netherlands) / William Zammit (Malta) / Sandra Zawrel (Erfurt, Germany).
Research Network "The Paper Trade in Early Modern Europe" 