Historians Anthony Grafton and Yaacob Dweck will discuss the golden age of the book.
In his book ”Inky Figures,” Princeton University professor Anthony Grafton reflects on scribes, scholars and the work of publishing during the golden age of the book. In this celebration of bookmaking in all its messy and intricate detail, Grafton invites us to see the scholars of early modern Europe as diligent workers.
“Inky Fingers” ranges widely, tracing the transformation of humanistic approaches to texts in the 17th and 18th centuries and examining the simultaneously sustaining and constraining effects of theological polemics on 16th century scholars. Grafton draws new connections between humanistic traditions and intellectual innovations, textual learning and craft knowledge, manuscript and print. Above all, he makes clear that the nitty-gritty of bookmaking has had a profound impact on the history of ideas and that the life of the mind depends on the work of the hands.
Grafton will be in conversation with Yaacob Dweck, associate professor of history and Judaic studies at Princeton University, and the author of “The Scandal of Kabbalah: Leon Modena, Jewish Mysticism, Early Modern Venice.”
Grafton's many influential books include “The Footnote: A Curious History,” “Christianity and the Transformation of the Book,” “Worlds Made by Words,” and “Cartographies of Time.” This event is cosponsored by the library, Princeton University’s Humanities Council and Labyrinth Books.
