Called “Reading” till 7/24/2010 and then changed to “18c r

“BibS_read_2015” 17 Feb. 2016; 246 pp. (2038 KB)

“18C_ReadRead” 3 Aug 2010 610K saved 8/28/10; Called “Reading” till 7/24/2010 and then changed to “18C_READ” and saved in WP5.1 while in Word For RRRReading and 18C book culture (begin 12/13/2000; revised for Berland 6 Feb 01; emptied for Kevin, 3/22-23; emptied and sent to Kevin 6/3; 8/1/03; 12/29/03; emptied 5/8/04; 5/23/04; 10/29/04; 12/7/04): rev. 12/20/04; 12/31/04; 2/5/05 (placed at BibSite); 12/11/06; 4/15/08

Recent Studies of 18th-Century Book Culture and Reading, 1985-2015
This bibliography on "book culture" within the long eighteenth century includes studies published between 1985 and 2015 on bibliophilia and book collecting, institutional and personal libraries, education, literacy, and reading (by both common folk and authors/scholars, with the last trailing sometimes into intellectual history). Association copies, commonplace books, and marginalia are included. I have excluded bookbinding (placed in the bibliography on the physical book) and also some relevant studies listed in other bibliographies posted on BibSite (see especially the bibliographies on children's literature and on 18th-century materials in 21st-century collections). The bibliography is most inclusive for the years 1990-2014, in consequence of my compiling studies in those years for Section 1--"Printing and Bibliographical Studies"--of ECCB: Eighteenth-Century Current Bibliography. The first version of this bibliography was published in The East-Central Intelligencer, n.s. 14, no. 3 (September 2000), 58-91, and revised and augmented in 2001 and 2002 for Kevin Berland's C18-L website: www.personal.psu.edu/special/C18/c18-l.htm. This bibliography was last revised on 15 April 2008 (then titled “Recent Studies of 18th-Century Book Culture, 1986-2007”). This revision nearly doubles the former length (from 133 to 246 pages of typescript).

Obviously, what with the creation of SHARP and the increased interest in book history, the book culture and reading habits of the long eighteenth century have received more attention than ever before, particularly in North America. The general area has long received the attention of European scholars. In particular, the Europeans have had a longstanding and more patient interest in the history of private and public libraries. In part the list below will suggest some patterns and similarities in scholarship of book cultures throughout the world during the long eighteenth century. Of course, much falling within my scope has been ignorantly overlooked--particularly scholarship involving eastern European languages.

Although I began writing entries below back when one could only compile a bibliography within research libraries, more recently I’ve relied heavily on Brill Online, Dialnet (a great source for the Hispanic world), JSTOR, Project Muse, and other venders of scholarly articles, OCLC’s Worldcat, the two premiere on-line bibliographies: MHRA's Annual Bibliography of English Language and Literature and the Modern Language Association’s International Bibliography, and the superb electronic quarterly L’Almanacco bibliografico--for over ten years now the most useful bibliographical review for book and library history in any language. For recent years, I have been aided by Katherine Birkwood, Caroline Nappo, and Eric Howard’s quarterly bibliographies of library and information history for Library and Information History. The websites of scholars, journals, and presses have been helpful. Finally, I thank the Bibliographical Society of America for this posting on BibSite, particularly Christina Geiger of Bonhams, the current editor of BibSite, and I apologize to scholars for inaccuracies and for works overlooked.
James E. May ([e-mail])

17 February 2016

Revised 6 February 2001; 27 March 2002; 30 May 2004; 13 January 2005; 15 April 2008 [Previous posting assisted by Jeffrey Barton and Travis Gordon.]

Abbas, Hyder. “’A Fund of entertaining and useful Information’: Coffee Houses, Early Public Libraries, and the Print Trade in Eighteenth-Century Dublin.” Library & Information History, 30 (2014), 41-61.

Abreu, Márcia (ed.). Trajetórias do romance: Circulaçao, leitura e escrita nos séculos XVII e XIX. Campinas: Mercado de Letras, 2008. Pp. 648. [Over two dozen essays on the production, sale, and consumption of fiction in Brazil, drawing on advertisements, catalogues, and censorship reports.]

Abreu, Márcia, and Nelson Schapochnik (eds.). Cultura letrada no Brasil: Objetos e práticas. (Histórias de leitura.) Campinas, São Paulo: Associacao de Leitura do Brasil, 2005. Pp. 518; illus.; papers from the Congresso de História do livro e da Leitura no Brasil, 2003, at Universidade Estadual de Campinas.

Accademia degli Oscuri. Gli Oscuri 1760-2010. Torrita di Siena: Fondazione della Accademia degli Oscuri, 2010. Pp. 224. [Celebrating the 250th anniversary. Rev. (briefly) by Cristina Caponeri in L’Almanacco bibliografico, no. 18 (June 2011), 13.]

Accardo, Peter X. "The Library of the Hollis Professor of Divinity to 1778: A Checklist." Harvard Library Bulletin, 13, no. 2 (Summer 2002), [1, plate +] 45-67; descriptive catalogue [48-66]; provenance index. [On booklist dated 4 Dec. 1772 with 1778 postscript by Edward Wigglesworth the Younger, listing 52 titles then in the library, including 29 from Thomas Hollis, III (1659-1731).]

Acree, William Gerrett, Jr. Everyday Reading: Print Culture and Collective Identity in Río de la Plata, 1780-1910. Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt University Press, 2011. Pp. xvi + 247; bibliography; illustrations; index. [On the impact of popular print culture on the culture in all its aspects, as kindling progressive politics. Chapter 1 involves the Rioplatense print culture in the late eighteenth century. Rev. by Sebastián Díaz-Duhalde in Hispanic Review, 81 (2013), 377-80; (favorably) by Maria E. Gonzalez in SHARP News, 21, no. 4 (Autumn 2012), 4.]

Adams, J. R. R. The Printed Word and the Common Man: Popular Culture in Ulster, 1700-1900. Belfast: Institute of Irish Studies, Queen’s U. of Belfast, 1987. Pp. viii + 218. [A examination of English literacy and book culture in Ulster, covering chapbooks, publishing, newspapers, circulating libraries, and schools, showing that the principal reading language for common people was English by the mid nineteenth century. Rev. (fav.) by Terence Brown in Eighteenth-Century Ireland / Iris an dá chultúr, 3 (1988), 168-70.]

Adam, Renaud. "Le libraire-imprimeur bruxellois Joseph Ermens (1736-1805) et l'étude des incunables à fin du XVIII^e siècle." Bulletin du bibliophile (2005), 143-68.

Adam, Wolfgang, and Markus Fauser, with the assistance of Ute Pott (eds.). Geselligkeit und Bibliothek: Lesekultur im 18. Jahrhundert. (Schriften des Gleimhauses Halberstadt, 4.) Göttingen: Wallstein, 2005. Pp. 331. [Revised papers from a conference on books, reading, and intellectual life held 23-25 November 2000 in Halberstadt. These include Markus Fauser's "Geselligkeit, Bibliothek, Lesekultur: Konzepte und Perspektiven der Forschung"; E. Bonfatti's "Der Briefwechsel zwischen Gleim und Lessing"; G. L. Fink's "Lektüre der Romanhelden im empfindsamen europäischen Roman (1731-1774); G. E. Grimm's "'Halb zog sie ihn, halb sank er hin . . .': Lektüre im Briefwechsel zwischen Johann Gottfried Herder und Caroline Flachsland"; J. N. Schneider's "'Still auf dem Blatt ruhte das Lied': Lyrische Gedichte zwischen Lesetext und Hörerlebnis"; R. Zeller's "Bräkers geselliger Umgang mit Büchern"; B. Becker-Cantarino's "Die Lektüren Sophie von La Roches (1730-1807)"; and York-Gothart Mix's "Schreiben, Lesen und Gelesen werden: Zur Kulturökonomie des literarischen Feldes (1770-1800); and E. Rohmer's "Die Bibliothek als geselliger Ort: Johann Peter Uz und sein Freundeskreis in Ansbach." Rev. (briefly, fav.) by John Flood in Library, 7th series, 7 (2006), 109-10.]

Adams, J. R. The Printed Word and the Common Man: Popular Culture in Ulster 1700-1900. Belfast: Institute of Irish Studies, Queen's U. of Belfast, 1987. Pp. viii + 218; illus. [Rev. by Terence Brown in Eighteenth-Century Ireland, 3 (1988); (fav.) by R. B. McDowell in Library History, 8 [no. 3] (1989), 86-87.]

Adams, Amber M. “Pat Prunty and Print: The Printed Word in Eighteenth-Century Ulster.” Brontë Studies, 40, no. 2 (April 2015), 150-66. [A general survey of the distribution and consumption of printed materials in Ulster (where Patrick Brontë spent formative years, 1777-1802), treating newspapers, book clubs, libraries, and schools.]

Adams, Nicholas (ed.). The Architect’s Library: A Collection of Notable Books on Architecture at Vassar College. Foreword by Ronald D. Patkus. Poughkeepsie, NY: Vassar College Library, 2014. Pp. 143; illus.

Addis, Cameron. Jefferson's Vision for Education, 1760-1845. New York: P. Lang, 2003. Pp. xii + 255. [Rev. by Stuart Leibiger in Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, 111 (2003), 416-17.]

Advocates Library. The Best and Fynest Lawers and Other Rare Books: A Facsimile of the Earliest List of Books in the Advocates' Library, Edinburgh [1683]. Introduction by Maureen Townley. Edinburgh: Edinburgh Bibliographical Society, 1990. Pp. 163; facsimiles; index.

Agamalian, Larisa. “The Library of an Enlightened Russian Landowner [Aleksandr Mikhailovich Bakunin].” Pp. 122-35 in Filosofskiy Vek Al’manakh / The Philosophical Age: Almanac [Serial publication apparently with varying titles by issue]. Volume 36: The Northern Lights: Facets of Enlightenment Culture. Edited by Tatiana Artemyeva, V.K. Oittnen, and Mikhail Mikeshin. St. Petersburg: St. Petersburg Center for the History of Ideas, Russia, 2010.

Agliardi, Danilo, Mauro Bonetti, Massimiliano Capella, Enzo Giacomini, and Angelo Loda. Villa Muzzucchelli: Arte e storia di una dimora del Settecento. Cinisello Balsamo: Silvana Editoriale, 2008. Pp. 95; illustrations.

Aguilar Piñal, Francisco. El académico Cádido María Trigueros, 1736-1798. Madrid: Real Academia de la Historia, 2001. Pp. 267; bibliography of works by Cándido María Trigueros [245-67]. Rev. by G. Martin Murphy in Bulletin of Spanish Studies, 80 (2002), 123-24. In 1999, Aguilar Piñal published La biblioteca y el monetario del académico Cándido María Trigueros (1798) (Seville: U. de Sevilla).

Aguilar Piñal, Francisco. Introducción al siglo XVIII. Historia de la literatura española. Edited by Ricardo de la Fuente. Madrid: Júcar, 1991. Pp. 240. [With a discussion of reading, subscriptions, libraries, bibliophilia, etc.]

Ahokas, Minna. “Bringing Light to Finland: The Clerical Estate and Enlightenment Literature in Eighteenth-Century Finland.” Library History, 24 (2008), 273-83.

Ahsmann, Margreet. "De jurist en zijn bibliotheek: Nederladse veilingcatalogi 1599-1800." Pp. 67-87 in "Tot beter directie van de saken van justiciën . . .": Handelingen van het XII^e Belgisch-Nederlands rechtshistorisch congres, Rijksuniversiteit Limburg Maastricht. Edited by A. M. J. A. Berkvens and A. Gehlen. Antwerp and Apeldoorn: Maklu, 1996.

Aikin, Jane. “The History and Historiography of the Library of Congress.” Libraries and the Cultural Record, 45 (2010), 5-24.

Ainsworth, David. Milton and the Spiritual Reader: Reading and Religion in Seventeenth-Century England. New York: Routledge, 2009 [2010?]. Pp. 234.

Aitchison, Briony, and Peter H. Reid. “’The owner of one of the largest and most valuable private libraries in Scotland’: David Hay Fleming as Book Collector.” Library & Information History, 31 (2015), 95-116.

Akos Kovács, András. “Egy 18. század végi életút eszmetörténeti értelmezésének lehetoségei: Debreczeni Bárány Peter” [Intellectual History in the Interpretation of an Eighteenth-Century Life: Peter Debreczeni Bárány]. Korall: Társadalomtörténeti Folyóirat, no. 44 (2011), 81-101.

Albina, Larissa L. “Catherine II lectrice de l’Esprit des loix de Montesquieu.” Studies on Voltaire and the Eighteenth Century, 304 (1992), 1034-37.

Albina, Larissa L. "Les Notes de Voltaire en marge des livres de sa bibliothèque personnelle." Bulletin du bibliophile (1993), 393-404; 5 of plates.

Albina, Larissa L., and Anthony L. Strugnell. "Recherches nouvelles sur l'identification des volumes de la bibliothèque de Diderot." Recherches sur Diderot et sur l'Encyclopédie, 9 (1990), 41-54.

Alessandrini Calisti, Silvia. “Il convento e la biblioteca di S. Fortunato a Falerone: Origini e storia (secoli XIII-XIX).” Pp. I, 53-8-73 in Virtute et labore: Studi offerti a Giuseppe Avarucci per i suoi settant’anni. 2 vols. Edited by Rosa Maria Borraccini and Giammario Borri. Spoleto: Fondazione Centro Italiano di Studi sull’alto Medioevo, 2008. Pp. xxxvi + 1304; illustrations.

Alexandre, J.-L., G. Lanoe, and G. Grand. Reliure de la Bibliothièque municipale de Reims. Turnhout: Brepols, 2009.

Alicke, Gerhard. "Bibliophilie in der Literatur: Siebente Folge: Bibliophilie in Briefen Johann Georg Hamanns." Philobiblon, 42 (1998), 122-27.

Allan, David. Commonplace Books and Reading in Georgian England. Cambridge: Cambridge U. Press, 2010. Pp. 320; bibliography; index. [Rev. by John Hinks in English Historical Review, 128 (2013), 970-71; by James Raven in Journal of Library and Information History, 27, no. 4 (December 2011).

Allan, David. "Eighteenth-Century Private Subscription Libraries and Provincial Urban Culture: The Amicable Society of Lancaster, 1769-c. 1820." Library History, 17 (2001), 57-76.

Allan, David. Making British Culture: English Readers and the Scottish Enlightenment, 1740-1830. New York: Routledge, 2008. Pp. xii + 325. [Rev. by Evan Gottlieb (with other books) in Eighteenth-Century Studies, 42 (2009), 603-11.]

Allan, David. A Nation of Readers: The Lending Library in Georgian England. London: British Library, 2008. Pp. 288; bibliography; index; 8 figures; 18 illustrations; index. [With chapters on reading, books clubs and reading societies, subscription libraries, circulating libraries, and larger institutional collecitons. rev. (favorably) by Stephen Colclough in SHARP News, 18, no. 4 (Autumn 2009), 9; by Anthony Hobson in TLS (5 December 2008); by Ian Morrison in Libraries & the Cultural Record, 44 (2009), 380-82; (favorably) by Norbert Schürer in Eighteenth-Century Intelligencer, 23, no. 3 (September 2009), 39-41; by James Raven in English Historical Review, 125 (2010), 189-91; by Norbert Schürer in Eighteenth-Century Intelligencer, 23, no. 3 (Sept. 2009), 39-41; by Patrick Spedding in Script & Print, 34 (2010), 49-53.]

Allan, David. “Politeness and the Politics of Culture: An Intellectual History of the Eighteenth-Century Subscription Library.” Library & Information History, 29 (2013), 159-69; abstract. . [In issue 29.3, with editorial note by James Raven on 155.]

Allan, David. "Provincial Readers and Book Culture in the Scottish Enlightenment: The Perth Library, 1784-c. 1800." Library, 7th series, 3 (2002), 367-89.

Allan, David. “A Reader Writes: Negotiating The Wealth of Nations in an Eighteenth-Century Commonplace Book.” Philological Quarterly, 81, no. 2 (2002), 207-33.

Allan, David. "The Scottish Enlightenment and the Politics of Provincial Culture: The Perth Literary and Antiquarian Society, ca. 1784-1790." Eighteenth-Century Life, n.s. 27, no. 3 (Fall 2003), 1-30.

Allen, James Smith. "From the History of the Book to the History of Reading: Review Essay." Libraries and Culture, 28 (1993), 319-26. [On Roger Chartier's L'Ordre des livres (1992) and Jean Marie Goulemot's Ces livres qu'on ne lit que d'une main (1991).]

Almacergui, Patricia. "La biblioteca de Alí Bey." Cuadernos de Estudios del Siglo XVIII, 10-11 (2001-2002), 5-16.

Alston, Robin C. “The Cambridge History of Libraries in Britain and Ireland.” Library, 7^th series, 8 (2007), 325-36. [Review essay of the three-volume work (2006), whose general editor is Peter Hoare.]

Alston, Robin. C. Library History: The British Isles -- To 1850. Website at