Early Modern Printed Artefacts: Form and materiality of hand-press works housed at the rare book collection of the University of Brasília’s Central Library

ABSTRACT

In this article, I argue that early modern printed artifacts reflect cultural patterns, whilst being a result of the limits imposed by economic decisions and technique. By articulating two investigative scales, I highlight the analytical gain that the study of the materiality of early modern printed artefacts and their collective graphic production and editing processes, as well as of the modes of textual organization and visual information recorded on paper over time provide to historical research. On the one hand, the article introduces readers to the general aspects of production of printed material in the period. On the other hand, since hand press’ printed artefacts often exhibit specific configurations and marks originated at different periods of time, the article examines the graphic and material features of paradigmatic examples printed in the European continent, in the 16th and 17th centuries. Most of the analysed materials are housed at the rare book collection of the University of Brasília’s Central Library.

KEYWORDS:
History of the book; Early Modern History; Material culture; Material bibliography; Rare book collections; University of Brasília’s Central Library