In 2021, the Bibliographical Society of America graciously hosted a conversation about the intersection of typography (specifically, how typography was/is described, discussed, and understood to function culturally and politically) with discourses of race and gender in early modern England—and in our own moment.
The virtual roundtable covered how early modern typography—broadly construed as the design and disposition of type on paper and within the bounds of the book—was anything but a neutral container for the publication of early modern writing. Indeed, the very idea of black ink on white paper was frequently used to produce and mediate discourses of race and gender in plays, poems, and other literary and non-literary texts printed in the period. Panelists discussed from various angles the metaphorics and literal uses of type, ink, paper, and the mechanics of printing to demonstrate how textual design functioned as a site for negotiating and securing a discourse of whiteness that—in effect and in reality—marginalized non-conforming bodies and identities. We also discussed whether early modern typography might challenge this discourse.
Speakers included:
B.K. ADAMS, Assistant Professor of English at Arizona State University
ERIKA BOECKELER, Associate Professor of English at Northeastern University
CLAIRE M. L. BOURNE, Associate Professor of English at the Pennsylvania State University
JILL GAGE, Custodian of the John M. Wing Foundation on the History of Printing and Bibliographer for British Literature and History at the Newberry Library (Chicago)
MILES P. GRIER, Associate Professor of English at Queens College, City University of New York
You can watch a recording of the discussion here: