Ways of Writing : The Practice and Politics of Text-Making in Seventeenth-Century New England / David D. Hall.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Hall, David D., author.

Series:

Material Texts

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Book industries and trade--New England--History--17th century.

Book industries and trade.

Authorship--Social aspects--New England--History--17th century.

Authorship.

Transmission of texts--New England--History--17th century.

Transmission of texts.

New England--Intellectual life--17th century.

New England.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (246 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Philadelphia : University of Pennsylvania Press, [2012]

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Writers abounded in seventeenth-century New England. From the moment of colonization and constantly thereafter, hundreds of people set pen to paper in the course of their lives, some to write letters that others recopied, some to compose sermons as part of their life work as ministers, dozens to attempt verse, and many more to narrate a remarkable experience, provide written testimony to a civil court, participate in a controversy, or keep some sort of records-and of these everyday forms of writing there was no limit. Every colonial writer knew of two different modes of publication, each with its distinctive benefits and limitations. One was to entrust a manuscript to a printer who would set type and impose it on sheets of paper that were bound up into a book. The other was to make handwritten copies or have others make copies, possibly unauthorized. Among the colonists, the terms "publishing" and "book" referred to both of these technologies. Ways of Writing is about the making of texts in the seventeenth century, whether they were fashioned into printed books or circulated in handwritten form. The latter mode of publishing was remarkably common, yet it is much less understood or acknowledged than transmission in print. Indeed, certain writers, including famous ones such as John Winthrop and William Bradford, employed scribal publication almost exclusively; the Antimonian controversy of 1636-38 was carried out by this means until manuscripts relating to the struggle began to be printed in England. Examining printed texts as well as those that were handwritten, David D. Hall explores the practices associated with anonymity, dedications, prefaces, errata, and the like. He also surveys the meaning of authority and authenticity, demonstrating how so many texts were prepared by intermediaries, not by authors, thus contributing to the history of "social" or collaborative authorship. Finally, he considers the political contexts that affected the transmission and publication of many texts, revealing that a space for dissent and criticism was already present in the colonies by the 1640's, a space exploited mainly by scribally published texts.

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

Preface

Chapter One: Contingencies of Authorship

Chapter Two: Not in Print yet Published

Chapter Three: Social Authorship and the Making of Printed Texts

Chapter Four: Textures of Social Authorship

Chapter Five: Between Unity and Sedition

Abbreviations

Notes

Index

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references (p. [193]-211) and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 08. Jul 2019)

ISBN:

9781283890502

128389050X

9780812202120

0812202120

OCLC:

833582362