An Exploration of An Introduction to the Latin Tongue

Abstract

Books are more than texts: as cultural and historical objects they speak to us beyond the words printed on their pages. The physical and material aspects of a book can tell us much about its production, use, and unique life story. This bibliographical study examines an 18th-century book on Latin language learning, held in the rare book collection of the John M. Kelly Library at St. Michael’s College at the University of Toronto. Taking Philip Gaskell’s A New Introduction to Bibliography, first published in 1972, and other bibliographic literature as the key theoretical foundation, this paper systematically explores the book’s material aspects including paper, binding, user signs, and print errors. This paper listens to what the object has to say, allowing it to divulge clues about how this specific book copy was created, used, and preserved. In so doing, it explores the wider benefits that material studies have to offer for book historians.