Early Music and materiality—1

Abstract

Many of Early Music’s readers will remember their first encounter with the journal. Mine took place in 1977 among the stacks of open shelves of Cambridge University Library, not quite at the start but nevertheless in its early years of publication. The volume I took down from the shelves (with all four issues of a year bound together) was surprisingly heavy, and of an intriguingly different size—no other journal on the shelves shared its dimensions. At the time, I had no idea, of course, that the weight of paper and page size would come to form an important part of my working life, but they were noticeable characteristics even with my then ignorance of such matters. This distinction from other tomes in the journals section became even clearer on opening an issue: the eye was captivated by illustrations and advertising copy on almost every page. The layout was complex, but elegant: type, column widths and sizing of illustrations bore witness to a serious design element. It was an object of beauty, both immediately attractive and intriguing, almost compelling the reader to be drawn into the intricacies of making gut strings or interpreting arcane ornament signs. Yes, dear reader, it was love at first sight.