Organic Material: the Many Threads of Canadian Book History

To book historians, the book is not a mere object but organic material, germinating reciprocal relationships between authors and readers, editors and publishers, marketers and critics. The international symposium facilitates debate and discussion about the nature of book history, a discipline that weaves together social history, cultural studies, descriptive bibliography, and literary analysis. Our debates address Canadian publishing practices of large nationalist to small regional presses, international readership communities, and the manipulation of textual graphics. The presenters’ expertise stems from their diverse roles in the collaborative process of book production and reception, as authors, editors, reviewers, and critics.