The Reformation of the Book: 1450-1650

Project Faculty and Staff

            A. Co-Directors:
            Professors King and Bracken have collaborated on many projects that draw upon their respective expertise in literary, cultural, and religious studies, on the one hand, and librarianship and bibliography, on the other hand. Their projects include co-direction of a 2001 NEH Summer Seminar for College and University Teachers on “John Foxe’s Book of Martyrs and Early Modern English Print Culture” and a 2007 NEH Summer Seminar for College and University Teachers on “The Reformation of the Book: 1450-1700.” In addition to teaching a course on the History of the Book on behalf of the Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies at The Ohio State University, they have collaborated on the expansion of the already rich collection of Reformation books at OSU’s Rare Books and Manuscripts Library.    

            John N. King, Distinguished University Professor and Humanities Distinguished Professor of English and of Religious Studies. Centering on the literary, intellectual, and cultural history of the Renaissance and Reformation, his teaching and research have prepared him to address the interdisciplinary needs of teacher-scholars interested in print culture prior to and during the Reformation. His most recently published critical study, Foxe’s Book of Martyrs and Early Modern English Print Culture (Cambridge, 2006), speaks particularly to issues related to our forthcoming seminar program. After many years at Bates College, a small liberal arts college in Maine, he accepted appointment in Department of English at OSU, which conducts one of the largest, if not the largest, undergraduate and graduate program of its kind in the nation. His service as editor of Reformation requires him to keep abreast with new developments in the fields covered by the proposed seminar. In addition, he has edited Voices of the English Reformation: A Sourcebook (Philadelphia, 2004), which grew out of a collection of readings that he assembled for four NEH Summer Seminars that he has directed at OSU concerning “The English Reformation: Literature, History, and Art.” His Oxford World Classics edition of Foxe's Book of Martyrs: Select Narratives (Oxford: Oxford University Press, forthcoming in 2009) is currently in press.            

            James K. Bracken, Assistant Director and Professor, University Libraries; and Adjunct Professor, English Department. As a research librarian, he teaches students, faculty, and members of the general public how to use resources including electronic technologies and media relevant to this seminar. In particular, he specializes in analytical and enumerative bibliography, mass media, and study of early printed books as physical artifacts. His many publications on book history include co-edited volumes, The British Literary Book Trade, 1475‑1700 and The British Literary Book Trade, 1700‑1820. In addition to co-directing NEH Summer Seminars in 2001 and 2007, he has provided bibliographical support for visiting scholars including participants of at least five different NEH Summer Seminars. In order to provide a framework for hands-on examination of books at libraries in Europe, seminar participants will receive gratis copies of well-illustrated catalogs for book exhibitions that he has curated.           

            B. Project Assistant:
            Mark Rankin, Assistant Professor of English, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, Virginia. A 2007 Ph.D. alumnus of The Ohio State University, he co-curated a book exhibition with James Bracken and wrote its exhibit catalog: Religious Orthodoxy and Dissent in Early Modern England. In addition, he has served as Project Assistant for cataloging woodcuts in Foxe’s Book of Martyrs for the American Theological Library Association’s Cooperative Digital Resources Initiative Project. Among his studies and lectures that explore intersections between literature, religion, and the History of the Book in this era is a recent presentation to the John Foxe Project at the University of Sheffield.          

            C. Consultants:
            Professor Guido Latré. He is Professor of Literary Studies, Faculty of Arts, Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium. In addition to delivering a lecture on Bible publication in Antwerp, he will conduct us on a guided tour of the old city.     

            Dr. David Vaisey. He is Librarian Emeritus of the Bodleian Library at Oxford University. He plans to conduct us on a guided tour of the Bodleian Library.