What would an anatomy of the book look like? There is the main text, of course, the file that the author proudly submits to their publisher. But around this, hemming it in on the page or enclosing it at the front and back of the book, there are dozens of other texts - page numbers and running
heads, copyright statements and errata lists - each possessed of particular conventions, each with their own lively histories. To consider these paratexts - recalling them from the margins, letting them take centre stage - is to be reminded that no book is the sole work of the author whose name
appears on the cover; rather, every book is the sum of a series of collaborations. It is to be reminded, also, that not everything is intended for us, the readers. There are sections that are solely directed at others - binders, librarians, lawyers - parts of the book that, if they are working well,
are working discreetly, like a theatrical prompt, whispering out of the audience's ear-shot
Book Parts is a bold and imaginative intervention in the fast growing field of book history: it pulls the book apart. Over twenty-two chapters, Book Parts tells the story of the components of the
book: from title pages to endleaves; from dust jackets to indexes - and just about everything in between. Book Parts covers a broad historical range that runs from the pre-print era to the digital, bringing together the expertise of some of the most exciting scholars working on book history today in
order to shine a new light on these elements hiding in plain sight in the books we all read.
1. Adam Smyth and Dennis Duncan: Introductions
2. Gill Partington: Dust-jackets
3. Luisa Calè: Frontispieces
4. Whitney Trettien: Title Pages
5. Shef Rogers: Imprints, Imprimaturs, and Copyright Pages
6. Joseph Howley: Tables of Contents
7. Meaghan J. Brown: Addresses to
the Reader
8. Helen Smith: Acknowledgements and Dedications
9. Hazel Wilkinson: Printer's Ornaments and Flowers
10. Tamara Atkin: Character Lists
11. Daniel Sawyer: Page Numbers, Signatures, and Catchwords
12. Nicholas Dames: Chapter Heads
13. Rachel Sagner Buurma:
Epigraphs
14. Tiffany Stern: Stage Directions
15. Claire M. L. Bourne: Running Titles
16. Alexandra Franklin: Woodcuts
17. Sean Roberts: Engravings
18. Jenny Davidson: Footnotes
19. Adam Smyth: Errata Lists
20. Dennis Duncan: Indexes
21. Sidney Berger:
Endleaves
22. Abigail Williams: Blurbs
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Dennis Duncan is a writer and translator based in London. He is currently writing a history of the book index, from the medieval period to the age of the Kindle, to be published by Penguin in 2020, and is author of The Oulipo and Modern Thought (Oxford University Press, 2019). His recent
articles have considered Mallarmé and jugs, James Joyce and pornography, and the history of the Times New Roman typeface. Dr Duncan writes on bibliography and French literature for the Times Literary Supplement, and has published translations of Michel Foucault, Boris Vian, and Alfred Jarry.
Adam Smyth is Professor of English Literature and the History of the Book at Balliol College, Oxford. His most recent books include Material Texts in Early Modern England (Cambridge University Press, 2018); Autobiography in Early Modern England (Cambridge University Press, 2010); A History
of English Autobiography (edited, Cambridge University Press, 2016); and Book Destruction from the Medieval to the Contemporary (edited with Gill Partington, Palgrave, 2014). He is the co-editor of Routledge's book series Material Readings in Early Modern Culture. He also enjoys discussing his work
beyond the academy: he writes regularly for the London Review of Books, and has appeared on TV and radio in the UK and abroad. Adam Smyth is the co-host of the literary discussion podcast and radio show, Litbits.
