From an Object to a Relic: How Names can Enhance a Book

Authors

Adina Steiner, Binghamton University--SUNY

Publication Date

2025

Document Type

Book

Description

The first few pages of an 1820s copy of The Taming of the Shrew are bursting with names: the writer (William Shakespeare) and the playbook’s rewriter, publisher, and editor, the artist and engraver, and the actor that this book belonged to. But what can really be seen from the names of a book? By tracing each of these names across a range of sources, from their other publications to nasty theater reviews, this project illuminates how people can turn a book from an object to a relic. It demonstrates how some of the people involved can add background to a book and its history: how they could be so famous or popular in their time despite their names being washed out, or how these people have worked together on so many previous works. This project shows how an old playbook preserves the life stories of forgotten people.

Files

Recommended Citation

Steiner, Adina, "From an Object to a Relic: How Names can Enhance a Book" (2025). Research Days Posters 2025. 172.
https://orb.binghamton.edu/research_days_posters_2025/172