Pen, Print and Communication in the Eighteenth Century: Webinar Book 

Artsfest / Artsfest 2020 / Pen, Print and Communication in the Eighteenth Century: Webinar Book

The eighteenth century, perhaps more than any other, was a pivotal time in the development of the mechanics and methods of communication. Commercial, political, legal, social and religious interactions were all facilitated by a variety of material processes such as handwriting, painting, drawing, printing and engraving which coexisted alongside more ephemeral and immaterial means of communication including voice, gesture, costume and performance. This introductory talk looks at the ways the volume’s contributors have dealt with all forms of communication in the eighteenth century. Hosted by Dr Malcolm Dick.

Malcolm Dick is Director of the Centre for West Midlands History at the University of Birmingham, Co-Director of the Centre for Printing History & Culture, and Editor of Midland History. With Caroline Archer he has edited John Baskerville: Art and Industry of the Enlightenment (2017) and and James Watt (1736-1819): Culture, Innovation and Enlightenment. Malcolm was awarded an OBE in the 2019 New Year’s Honours List for ‘outstanding services to History in the West Midlands’.

Speakers include:

Persida Lazarević Di Giacomo: Writing and the preservation of cultural identity: the penmanship manuals of Zaharija Orfelin.

Ruth Larsen: An archaeology of letter writing: the correspondence of aristocratic women in late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century England.

Caroline Archer-Parré: Private pleasures and portable presses: do-it-yourself printers in the eighteenth-century.

Joanna Jarvis: Performance and print culture: two eighteenth-century actresses and their image control.

Callie Wilkinson: Script, print and the public-private divide; Sir David Ochterlony’s dying words.

Elaine Mitchell: Marigolds not manufacturing: plants, print and commerce in eighteenth-century Birmingham.

Jenni Dixon: Tourist experience and the manufacturing town: James Bisset’s Magnificent Directory of Birmingham.

Emil Rybczak : Perceptions of England: English Theatrical Publications in Germany and the Netherlands.

Jon Melton: The Serif-Less Letters of John Soane. 

Artsfest 2020

Beatrice Warde's VE Day Diary - A reading by Jessica Glaser / Liz Berry and Tom Hicks: In Conversation / In Conversation: Artist Dean Kelland and James Latunji-Cockbill Part 1 / Dr Max Stewart and Glass Artist Allister Malcolm in Conversation / Lisa Blower and Rob Francis in conversation / Louise Fenton - Lethal in Lace: The Story of a Witchcraft Poppet / Finding our Funny Roots: delving into Black Country humour / Books Across the Sea - Talk by Jessica Glaser / Dr Dean Kelland and James Latunji-Cockbill from IKON In conversation Pt2 / The Rise of Mass Fashion in the Black Country, Talk by Dr Jenny Gilbert / VJ Day Diary of Beatrice Warde - Reading By Jessica Glaser / Printing and Print Culture in the Midlands: a Webinar / Black Country Geopoetics, Talk and Workshop with Writer R.M. Francis / The Haunted and Cursed Dolls in Greyfriars Bothy, Dr Louise Fenton / Ray Bradbury’s The Martian Chronicles at Seventy, a talk by Dr Phil Nichols / Pen, Print and Communication in the Eighteenth Century: Webinar Book / We are Invisible, We are Visible / HoPIN Launch Event (History of the Printed Image Network) / 'Somehow', Poetry Reading and Talk with Helen Calcutt / Myriad Editions Literary Salon / Liz Berry Chats Dialect and Poetry with R. M. Francis