History of Printing and Publishing Systems

The course aims to provide advanced notions of book history and publishing history and to develop knowledge and skills concerning research in publishing archives. The first module covers principles and models of book history and historiography and leads to a focus on cultural archives, with reference to those related to publishing. The second module concentrates on the history of contemporary publishing, with a special focus on the history of women in publishing, which is nowadays one of the most prolific and innovative areas of research. The third module is a workshop and is aimed at exploring current issues and problems of the publishing system, which will be tackled through discussions and the active participation of the students, who will be called upon to contribute to individual topics. The teaching is fully in line with the objectives of the course of study, and in particular with the Publishing Curriculum, which aims to ensure the acquisition of a solid historical and literary knowledge and to develop a complete vision of the production activities of the publishing system and its general problems, such as distribution and reception, with specific reference to both analogue and digital book publishing.

At the end of the course students will have to demonstrate that they have acquired appropriate knowledge concerning: 1) the history and historiography of books; 2) the history of contemporary publishing, with regard to gender issues; 3) the transformations of the publishing system during the 20th century and up to the present day. They will also have to demonstrate the ability to apply the knowledge acquired by developing appropriate skills in relation to: 1) research in publishers' archives; 2) the identification of the different editorial roles and responsibilities, in the transition from text to book; 3) awareness of the nowadays transformations of the publishing system and the new boundaries of book production and circulation. During the final examination, students must also demonstrate that they can communicate clearly and correctly and that they have mastered the specialist terminology of the subject.