SAPPHIRE NEWS EVENTS ARCHIVE
June 2009
'SAPPHIRE team members presented results of ongoing funded projects at the international conference of the Society for the History of Authorship, Reading and Publishing in Toronto, 23-27 June 2009. Sessions featuring SAPPHIRE work included 'Text and Technology: Web 2.0 Applications and Book History', and 'Migrant Printers and Transnational Printing Networks, 1840-1918'. Abstracts of presentations can be found here
January 2009
'Words From Home' project to study the changing tastes and habits of Scottish readers abroad.
The Carnegie Trust has awarded SAPPHIRE researcher Dr. Linda Fleming funding to interview Scottish ex-pats born in the 1930s and 1940s, who now live in New Zealand, Canada, Australia, South Africa and the USA. The oral histories collected will uncover the lives and reading practices of volunteer interviewees who have been part of the Scottish diaspora in the twentieth century. The project adds another dimension to ongoing AHRC funded SAPPHIRE work into Scottish reading habits.
For further details, see full press release here.
December 2008
Results of SAPPHIRE research into the history of Scottish bookselling are featured in its latest publication.
An Honest Trade: Booksellers and Bookselling in Scotland, published by John Donald Pres, is an account of bookselling and booksellers through the life histories of key and representative figures in the Scottish trade, told in their own words. It was developed from interviews with key figures in the Scottish book trade, and fills a gap in our knowledge of the history of Scottish bookselling in the twentieth century.
September 2008
People Behind the Pages: Making Books in Scotland
Museum of Edinburgh, 142 Canongate, Royal Mile, Edinburgh: 13 September 2008-17 January 2009
A free exhibition documenting the working lives of people involved in book production; authors, editors, paper-makers, printers, booksellers, librarians and finally the Scottish readers who bought and borrowed the books. The exhibition exploits material gathered over the last ten years by the Scottish Archive of Print and Publishing History Records (SAPPHIRE) and allows a glimpse into the lives of the ‘People behind the pages’. It includes film footage of the various stages of book production as well as a unique opportunity to hear the voices of individuals from all stages of production talking about their working lives.
June 2008
SHARP Conference Presentations: The SAPPHIRE team showcased results of recent projects in several panels at the annual conference of the Society for the History of Authorship, Reading and Publishing, 24th - 27th June 2008
May 2008
Wayzgoose exhibition: Aberdeen Central Library 8th May - 2nd June 2008:
This exhibition recounts the extraordinarily vibrant community life of those who worked in the printing industry and associated trades – papermaking, publishing and bookselling – in Scotland in the twentieth century.
Supported by the ESRC (Economic and Social Research Council).
Organised tours are welcome – please contact sapphire@napier.ac.uk
This is a touring exhibition and offers of further venues are welcome.
