Abstract
'Re-mediating the Early Book: Pasts and Futures' (REBPAF) is a European Commission-funded MSCA Doctoral Network that will support 13 PhD researchers undertaking projects on late medieval and early modern books. These PhD researchers will be spread across the following institutions: University of Galway (3 positions), University of Antwerp (2 positions), University of Alicante (2 positions), University of Zürich (2 positions), University of Vienna (2 positions), and University of Bristol (2 positions). All PhD researchers recruited to this network will join a vibrant and supportive international community of scholars; they will also benefit from bespoke, network-wide programming and will gain hands-on work experience in related cultural sectors as part of their training programme.
REBPAF focuses on the ways in which 15th- and 16th-century book producers (scribes, printers, entrepreneurs) negotiated the dynamic relations between the manuscript book and the printed book and adapted to the evolving challenges of the market, and it demonstrates the continuing relevance of these cultural and economic negotiations to the modern world. To this end, REBPAF unites the interests of present-day organisations that re-mediate the early book – publishers, bookdealers, museums, and other stakeholders in the creative and heritage sectors – with those of academic scholarship. REBPAF has the double aim of: 1) engaging a new generation of medievalists and early modernists in an innovative and collaborative research programme that asks fundamental and interdisciplinary questions about the history of the book and the written word and its future in a digital environment; and 2) equipping the researchers recruited to this network with high-level transferable skills and competencies through internships and training workshops provided by a suite of nine non-academic partners that have a direct interest in and relevance to our research agenda.
REBPAF's non-academic partners include Antiquariat Inlibris (Austria), Maggs Bros. Ltd. (UK), The National Print Museum (Ireland), Österreichische Nationalbibliothek (Austria), Vlaamse Erfgoedbibliotheken (Belgium), Stiftsbibliothek Klosterneuburg (Austria), Boydell & Brewer (UK), Quaternio Verlag Luzern (Switzerland), and Cúirt International Festival of Literature (Ireland).
The PhD projects in Antwerp are 'Karel ende Elegast in manuscript and print' (project 3) and 'Is it Worth It? Modelling the Perceived Value of the Medieval Book Using Predictive Machine-learning Methods' (project 11)
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