Welcome

Welcome to the blog Book History Up North, a blog that aims to inform our readers about book history events and publications in Nordic and Baltic Countries.

Book history has long traditions in the Northern Europe: for many countries the rise of nationalism and national culture during the 19th century meant an effort to create and study the local print culture and its achievements. For the last twenty years modern book history's methodologies and results have renewed these local traditions and led to further co-operation both in regional and international settings.

The arrival of the Society for the History of Authorship, Reading and Publishing to the Baltic Sea Region - first at the thematic conference Published Words, Public Pages in Copenhagen in September 2008 and soon at the 18th annual SHARP conference Book Culture from Below in Helsinki, 17-21 August 2010 - is a major sign of Northern Europe's book historians' efforts to operate on the international level. However, the local researchers and their studies are still rarely presented in global settings, as the language barriers have been set high.

Therefore, to provide information about Nordic and Baltic book history and prepare all book historians for the forthcoming SHARP conference in Helsinki, we have decided to open this blog. During next 15 months, we aim to give you news and reviews on recent book history activities. Once you arrive to Book Culture from Below -conference, you have already familiarized yourself with Nordic and Baltic book historians, their projects and results. If you are not able to participate, we hope that this blog as such will give you a good starting point for further exploration and collaboration.

Jyrki Hakapää
Chair of the organising committee
Book Culture from Below - The 18th Annual SHARP Conference
Helsinki, 17-21 August 2010