scholarly journals Böckernas vägar: den svenska bokhandelns import av utländska böcker 1750–1800

2011 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. 139
Author(s):  
Anna-Maria Rimm
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Basic Research ◽  
Book Trade ◽  
Original Language ◽  
European Cities ◽  
The Hague ◽  
Risky Business

<p>This study focuses on the import of books to Sweden between 1750 and 1800. The Swedish book trade in the eighteenth century involved mainly foreign books. The publication of books in Swedish was still limited - despite increasing steadily during the century - and was in no way able to satisfy the needs of Swedish scholars for learned and diverting works in their original language. The import of foreign books to Sweden seems to have been undertaken in various ways: with the help of individuals who brought books home with them from abroad, through the universities' exchange of scholarly works with institutions overseas, and by means of the organized book trade. Several Swedish book sellers imported books from abroad during the latter part of the eighteenth century. In fact, Sweden had a substantial number of book shops compared with other European cities. In the 1781 European bookseller's directory, the Almanach de la librairie, Stockholm shared fifth place (with The Hague) in a ranking of European cities with the largest number of book shops, placing higher than cities such as Berlin, Amsterdam, Madrid, and Rome. Importing books to Sweden was, however, a financially risky business and some of the importers went bankrupt because of it. The conditions of the trade also underwent marked developments during the period studied: originally, for example, imports largely took the form of exchanges. In conclusion, the article shows that more basic research and comprehensive empirical studies need to be undertaken to provide a fair picture of this hitherto largely unresearched trade.</p>

Dru Drury, his Illustrations of natural history (1770-82) and the European market for printed books

Quaerendo ◽  
1985 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 83-102 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Noblett
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Natural History ◽  
Book Trade ◽  
European Market ◽  
Printed Books ◽  
Book Illustrations ◽  
International Book

AbstractThis study attempts to show how the English entomologist, Dru Drury (1725-1804) exported his only published book, Illustrations of natural history, which appeared in three volumes between 1770 and 1782. Drury used three contacts on the European mainland: the Amsterdam bookseller, Jan Christian Sepp; the German botanist, Paul Dietrich Giseke and the Danish naturalist, Morten Thrane Brunnich. Drury's letters to these three men form the basis of the study. An examination of them reveal some of the problems encountered in the international book-trade in the eighteenth century (such as parcels going missing and the difficulties of payment) and show some of the formalities that had to be undertaken when exporting.

Some Reflections on the Town and Country in Mughal India

1978 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-96 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. N. Chaudhuri
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Historical Geography ◽  
Urban Life ◽  
Alexander Hamilton ◽  
European Cities ◽  
Sea Ports ◽  
Political Economic ◽  
The Town ◽  
French Physician ◽  
Local Languages

There can be few aspects of Indian studies more neglected than that of historical geography. Within this larger area of neglect, urban history occupies a special place. The indifference with which Indian historians have approached the urban heritage of the subcontinent is all the more difficult to understand because to contemporary European visitors, the merchants and other travellers, the towns and cities of Mughal India held a profound fascination. From the time of Tomé Pires and his highly perceptive Suma Oriental down to the end of the eighteenth century, stories of Indian travels and the accompanying descriptions of Mughal urban life continually entertained the popular literary audience. Not all of them understood or reported accurately what they saw. As the Scottish sea captain and country trader, Alexander Hamilton, who had an unrivalled knowledge of the sea ports and the coastal towns of India, pointed out with some candour, one great misfortune which attended the western travellers in India was their ignorance of the local languages. But the manifest contrast between the physical appearance of the European cities and those of Asia provoked some considerable and sensitive analysis of the nature of the urban processes in the two continents. Perhaps the most able and penetrating comments on the Mughal political, economic, and civic order came from the pen of the Dutch merchant, Francisco Pelsaert, and the French physician, François Bernier.

Further Additions to Materials for West African History in the Archives of Belgium and Holland by Patricia Carson

1969 ◽  
Vol 12 (01) ◽  
pp. 81-89
Author(s):  
H. M. Feinberg
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
The Netherlands ◽  
West African ◽  
African History ◽  
Guinea Coast ◽  
The West ◽  
Archival Material ◽  
The Hague ◽  
State Archives

This article is a supplement to a previous article on the same subject published in the African Studies Bulletin. Before I list further citations omitted from Materials for West African History in the Archives of Belgium and Holland, I will discuss, in some detail, the nature of the archival material deposited in the Algemeen Rijksarchief, The Hague. I will attempt to enhance the brief discussions of Miss Carson while avoiding repetition of statements which seem clear and/or are adequately discussed in her book. The General State Archives, The Hague, includes two major collections of interest to the West African historian: the Archives of the West India Companies and the Archives of the Netherlands Settlements on the Guinea Coast. Initially, one must realize that most of the seventeenth-century papers of both collections have been lost or destroyed, and that as a consequence there are many gaps among the existing manuscripts. For example, volume 81 (1658-1709) of the Archives of the Netherlands Settlements on the Guinea Coast includes only manuscripts for the following times: December 25, 1658-June 12, 1660; August, 1693; and October 12-December 31, 1709. Also, most of the seventeenth-century material is written in script, whereas the eighteenth-century manuscripts, with some exceptions, are in more conventional hand-writings.

The introduction of the printed book auction catalogue

Quaerendo ◽  
1985 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 115-149
Author(s):  
Bert Van Selm
Keyword(s):  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Book Trade ◽  
Present Knowledge ◽  
History Of The Book ◽  
Classical Antiquity ◽  
Dutch Republic ◽  
Low Countries ◽  
Book Sales ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Hague

AbstractBook historians have generally seen the introduction of the printed book auction catalogue as an important event in the history of the book trade. Catalogues were already being printed in the Dutch Republic in about 1600 and the present article discusses the factors that favoured this remarkably early development. In section 2 the author surveys present knowledge of book auctions from classical antiquity up to the year 1598. In particular, he discusses sales of books in the estates of deceased persons in the Low Countries during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, with particular reference to auctions in Leiden and The Hague in the last part of the sixteenth century. From the data assembled it emerges that the auctioning of books was certainly not first thought of in the Dutch Republic and that many auctions of property, including books, were held before 1599. In 1596 Louis (II) Elzevier was granted permission to hold book auctions in the Great Hall of the Binnenhof in The Hague, and in the hands of a bookseller it was possible for this form of trade to develop in the best possible way. In section 3 the author moves on to the earliest book sales with printed catalogues, namely the Marnix sale of 1599 and the Daniel van der Meulen sale of 4

Business of Fiction

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael F. Suarez
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Population Growth ◽  
Social Status ◽  
Book History ◽  
Book Trade ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Luxury Products

The eighteenth century witnessed a remarkable proliferation of print, with annual publications in England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland increasing by more than 350 per cent from the first decade to the last. This chapter relates the growth in novel publishing between 1695 and 1774 to population growth and the growth in literacy. Recent research links the book trade keeping prices artificially high to readers’ consumption of novels as luxury products and evidence of social status. This trend is considered, along with remuneration for authors; the market for fiction; Irish reprints; continuations and spin-offs; abridgements and serializations; translations; circulating libraries; and the significance of book history to understanding the emergence and development of the novel.

The Book Trade at the Turn of the Eighteenth Century

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Hinds
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Book Trade ◽  
Book Production ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Literary Expression

This essay provides an overview of the publishing context at the turn of the eighteenth century out of which the novel would emerge, including the development and early dominance of the London book, before going on to describe the conditions for the spread of printing and bookselling nationally from 1695 onwards. As well as considering book production, the essay examines readers’ experiences in the period, looking at the testimony of individual, historical readers, and some specific genres of writing—such as diaries, autobiographies, and collections of letters—often considered important for the emergence of the novel form. The essay then turns to establish the ‘conceptual horizons’ of readers’ expectations with regard to fiction—horizons which authors could work within or seek to challenge and push further by innovating new forms of literary expression, the novel amongst them.

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