Introduction

Abstract

Evanghelia Stead introduces this new research-level collection citing artworks by Italian artist Claudio Parmiggiani in a bombed Bologna church, now a library. Recording the city’s rich cultural network from the Middle Ages to now, this cultural allegory provides a strong symbol for this book’s ambitions. Arguing that the multi-layered identity and history of books and prints are best shown through interdisciplinary stances examining their material, conceptual, symbolic and social uses, Stead posits methodological choices against historical background. She reconsiders benchmark approaches such as book history, analytical bibliography, cultural theories of literature and art, as well as book studies. Her innovative stress pairs material enquiries with multi-faceted reading processes, cultural representations and uses, circulation and transformation of print and visual culture, as this book’s ten chapters explore.