Incunabula in Transit - Library of the Written Word - The Handpress World by Lotte Hellinga Leather Bound

About the Book

In Incunabula in Transit Lotte Hellinga explores trade in early printed books in the fifteenth and eighteenth centuries. Material evidence (typography, illumination, binding) and historical context deepen understanding of the evolving book trade. Eighteenth-century collectors changed early patterns of ownership.

Book Synopsis

Almost half a million books printed in the fifteenth century survive in collections worldwide. In Incunabula in Transit Lotte Hellinga explores how and where they were first disseminated. Propelled by the novel need to market hundreds of books, early printers formed networks with colleagues, engaged agents and traded Latin books over long distances. They adapted presentation to suit the taste of distinct readerships, local and remote. Publishing in vernacular languages required typographical innovations, as the chapter on William Caxton's Flanders enterprise demonstrates. Eighteenth-century collectors dislodged books from institutions where they had rested since the sales drives of early printers. Erudite and entertaining, Hellinga's evidence-based approach, linked to historical context, deepens understanding of the trade in early printed books.

Review Quotes

"An intellectual tour de force in the oeuvre of one of our most renowned book historians and incunabulists."
Carol M. Meale, in: The Book Collector, Vol. 67. No. 3 (Autumn 2018), pp. 600-603.

"For the amount and quality of information provided, this book will be read by anyone who works with early printing. Yet all early modern historians will find it of interest, especially those involved with European cultural history. Young scholars might also use it as a handbook for the field's methodology, reflected in the author's works as well as those of the many scholars mentioned in this book."
Maria Alessandra Panzanelli Fratoni, University of Turin. In: Renaissance Quarterly, Vol. 73, No. 1 (Spring 2020), pp. 274-276.

"Lotte Hellinga hoort tot de "top in het veld". In deze bundel geeft Lotte Hellinga [...] een helder beeld van de werkwijze van de incunabulistiek, de hogeschool onder de disciplines die de boekwetenschap uitmaken." (Lotte Hellinga is among the "top in the field". In this volume, Lotte Hellinga provides [...] a clear picture of the working method of incunabulistics, the honors college among the disciplines that make up book history.)
Frans A. Janssen, in: De Boekenwereld, Vol. 34, No. 2 (2018), pp. 88-89.

About the Author

Lotte Hellinga, Litt.D. (1974, University of Amsterdam) was, until 1995, Deputy Keeper at the British Library, where she initiated the ISTC database and completed the BMC incunabula catalogue. She published extensively on book history, early typography, the book trade and textual transmission in incunabula. Her most recent book is Texts in Transit (Brill, 2014).