History of the Book

ABPC indexes auction sales of books, manuscripts and autographs reported by American Book Prices Current.

BHO is a database in English on the history of the printed book and libraries.

'Canadian' source material written by Canadians, published in Canada or written/published outside the country but about Canada.

Early English Books Online (EEBO) contains digital facsimile page images of virtually every work printed in England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales & British North America and works in English printed elsewhere from 1473-1700.

The IMB indexes the literature on medieval subjects in journals, Festschriften, conference proceedings, and collected essays. Covers all aspects of medieval studies within the date range of 400 to 1500 for the entire continent of Europe, the Middle East and North Africa.

The Alcuin Society is a non-profit organization founded in 1965 by Geoffrey Spencer with the aim to promote a wider appreciation of beautifully produced books. The society is dedicated to exploring a range of topics relating to books including publishing, book design and production, book buying and collecting, printing, binding, calligraphy, and more. The society also organizes the Alcuin Society Awards for Excellence in Book Design in Canada, the only national competition for book design in the country.

L’AQÉI a été fondée et incorporée à Sherbrooke en 1987, dans le but de promouvoir le développement et la diffusion de la recherche sur l’imprimé. L’association se veut à la fois un lieu d’information, d’animation et de diffusion de la recherche. Elle rassemble les chercheurs lors des Journées d’échanges scientifiques qui ont lieu deux fois l’an. Elle diffuse l’information sur les recherches en cours par le biais du Bulletin Infolettre, une publication régulière, et de son site Internet.

Bibliographical Society of Canada/La Société bibliographique du Canada is a bilingual (English/French) organization that has as its goal the scholarly study of the history, description, and transmission of texts in all media and formats, with a primary emphasis on Canada. The Society produces an annual journal, Papers/Cahiers, and a newsletter.

The BSA is the oldest scholarly society in North America dedicated to the study of books and manuscripts as physical objects. It was organized in 1904 and incorporated in 1927 with the principal objectives of promoting bibliographical research and issuing bibliographical publications. These objectives have been and continue to be accomplished through a broad array of activities, including meetings, lectures, and fellowship programs, as well as the publishing of books and the Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America (PBSA), North America’s leading bibliographical journal.

RBMS strives to represent and promote the interests of librarians, curators, and other specialists concerned with the acquisition, organization, security, preservation, administration, and use of special collections, including rare printed books, manuscripts, archives, graphics, music, and ephemera. The organization creates guidelines, professional education programs, seminars, workshops, and promotes research.

SHARP was founded to create a global network for book historians working in a broad range of scholarly disciplines. With more than a thousand members in over forty countries, SHARP works in concert with affiliated academic organizations around the world to support the study of book history in all its forms. SHARP hosts an annual conference and publishes the journal Book History.

The American Printing History Association (APHA) is a membership organization that encourages the study of the history of printing and related arts and crafts, including calligraphy, typefounding, typography, papermaking, bookbinding, illustration, and publishing. The Association hosts a variety of events and projects including an annual three day conference and the journal Printing History.

Founded in New York in 1971 as an affiliate of the UK William Morris Society, this organization strives to publicize the life and work of William Morris, the creator of the Kelmscott Press. The society distributes newsletters in the UK and USA, as well as the biannual Journal of William Morris Studies.

These papers were written by individuals and teams across the country to provide a common foundation in book history studies for participants in the 1997 founding conference for a History of the Book in Canada/L’Histoire du livre et de l’imprimé au Canada held at the National Library in Ottawa. Several of the papers (Maritimes, British Columbia, Yukon) have been revised since that meeting.