East Asian and Western Pre-Modern Books Reconsidered - Devin Fitzgerald

East Asian and Western Pre-Modern Books Reconsidered: The Concept of "Edition" and the Importance of Comparative Bibliography
Devin Fitzgerald, Lecturer in History and Research Fellow at the Beinecke Library at Yale University
Recorded on October 5, 2023
Pre-modern printed East Asian and Western books seem to be comparable objects. Both Chinese and Western books were frequently codices; both are often printed on paper; and the similarities even extend into features of paratexts (such as prefaces) and page layout. But appearances can be deceiving. Histories of the book written in both English and Chinese frequently discuss pre-modern ‘Editions,’ but as this talk will demonstrate, the concept of ‘edition’ is a false analogy. By exploring both Western and East Asian bibliographical traditions, Dr. Devin Fitzgerald will demonstrate the importance of comparative bibliographical methods to resituate the position of East Asian print cultures within broader frameworks of book history.
This event is co-sponsored by the Andrew W. Mellon Fellowship for Diversity, Inclusion, and Cultural Heritage at Rare Book School, the University of Chicago Library, and the Center for East Asian Studies at the University of Chicago with support from a Title VI National Resource Center Grant from the U.S. Department of Education.