Project description
Studying the historical Jewish book market
In the shadows of extensive studies on Jewish book history lies a significant void: the lack of comprehensive research on the 20th-century market of Jewish manuscripts and early printed books. With the support of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the BookSHUK project endeavours to unveil the transnational and historical analysis of this overlooked market. The 3-year project will conduct archival research across Europe, Israel and the United States, mapping the interconnected networks of market actors and investigating the influence of major events like World War I and World War II on the trade. Through digital visualisation, BookSHUK aims to contribute to a more inclusive understanding of Jewish cultural heritage.
Objective
The encompassing objective of BookSHUK (book and shuk, in Hebrew market) is to provide the first historical and transnational analysis and digital visualization of the scholarly and trade networks related to the market of Jewish manuscripts and early printed books from the beginning of the twentieth century to the aftermath of WWII and the foundation of the State of Israel. Although the last decades have seen a rich harvest of studies on a multitude of aspects concerning the history of the Jewish book from the Middle Ages to the Holocaust, in-depth research on the market in the twentieth century has been largely neglected. BookSHUK aims to assess the international and interconnected nature of networks involving market actors (such as antiquarians, booksellers, private dealers, auction houses, collectors, scholars, librarians) between Europe, Mandatory Palestine (then Israel), and the United States also reflecting on the impact that major historical events such as WWI and WWII had on the trade. Through archival research on selected cases of study concerning sellers, customers, and objects across Europe, Israel, and the United States, the project intends to: a) identify the sellers and their business networks; b) unravel the role of auction houses in the international trade of Jewish manuscripts and early printed books; c) reconstruct the interests and taste that drove customers both privates and librarians acting on behalf of libraries to purchase specimens or collections for their private and/or institutional libraries; d) trace back relations among sellers and customers while providing geographical, chronological, and data visualizations of their connections thanks to digital tools, thus contributing to a more inclusive intellectual and cultural history. The three-year MSCA-GF will bring me to the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, and, during a secondment, to the University of Amsterdam.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques.
- humanitieshistory and archaeologyhistorymodern history
- humanitiesother humanitieslibrary sciencespublic libraries
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Programme(s)
- HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Main Programme
Funding Scheme
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-GF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - Global FellowshipsCoordinator
41121 Modena
Italy