How and Why to Do Things With Eighteenth-Century Manuscripts

This Element examines eighteenth-century manuscript forms, their functions in the literary landscape of their time, and the challenges and practices of manuscript study today. Drawing on both literary studies and book history, Levy and Schellenberg offer a guide to the principal forms of literary activity carried out in handwritten manuscripts produced in the first era of print dominance, 1730-1820. After an opening survey of sociable literary culture and its manuscript forms, numerous case studies explore what can be learned from three manuscript types: the verse miscellany, the familiar correspondence, and manuscripts of literary works that were printed. A final section considers issues of manuscript remediation up to the present, focusing particularly on digital remediation. The Element concludes with a brief case study of the movement of Phillis Wheatley's poems between manuscript and print. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

List of contents

Introduction; 1. Manuscript Culture and Social Authorship in the Eighteenth Century; 2. Manuscript Verse Miscellanies; 3. Familiar Correspondences; 4. Manuscript Circulation and Print Publication; 5. Remediating the Manuscript Record; Coda: Loss, Discovery, and the Importance of Manuscript Studies.

Summary

This Element examines eighteenth-century manuscript forms, their functions in the literary landscape of their time, and the challenges and practices of manuscript study today. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

Product details

• Authors: Michelle Levy, Michelle (Simon Fraser University Levy, Levy Michelle, Betty A. Schellenberg, Schellenberg Betty A.
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press ELT
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 30.11.2021
• EAN: 9781108926133
• ISBN: 978-1-108-92613-3
• No. of pages: 75
• Series: Elements in Eighteenth-Century Connections
• Subjects: Fiction > Poetry, drama; Humanities, art, music > Linguistics and literary studies > English linguistics / literary studies; 18th century, c 1700 to c 1799, Literary studies: c 1500 to c 1800, Literary studies: c 1600 to c 1800, C 1700 To C 1800