Manuscript Culture in the Age of Print

Introduction

The PRIMA project will redefine our understanding of how culture was produced and disseminated in Early Modern Europe (1575-1800). PRIMA will uncover the importance and the scale of manuscript production and publication for literature, science, music, and other areas, for a period when print is believed to be the dominant (if not the only) technology for publication.

Manuscript and Society

By investigating the indissoluble connection between text and carrier, PRIMA will explore how manuscripts have shaped society for much longer than believed. The PRIMA project will unveil the rich manuscript culture that hides in plain sight of scholars and answer why so many manuscripts were produced, by whom, for whom, and how.

Areas of Focus

We will assess the existence of modern scriptoria, uncover monastic writing practices in the modern period, and focus on manuscript production within universities and academies. For literature, particularly satyric and lyric poetry and theatre, it is our argument that manuscript dissemination is the norm and that print is exceptional.

Geographic Focus

We will focus particularly on Italy while allowing for significant openings towards other cultures. Italian manuscript production and consumption are both exceptionally rich and understudied.

Methodology

Adopting qualitative and quantitative methods and innovative computational approaches for data mining, production, and retrieval will ensure the project's feasibility. The investigation of post-print manuscripts will uncover unknown works, which will help redefine our understanding of literary production for the 17th through the 18th centuries by fighting teleological prejudices about the inferiority of manuscripts with respect to print from the 16th century onwards.

Print/Manuscript Hybridisation

Finally, PRIMA will also investigate cases of print/manuscript hybridisation, where manuscripts imitate print or include printed sections.

Expected Outcomes

The project's main outcomes are:

1. The creation of a new discipline and a centre for Modern Manuscript Studies.
2. A book collection.
3. An open access (OA) publication.