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The Cost of Living and the Cost of Books in 15th-Century EuropeVenice, Museo Correr, Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, Fondazione Cini, September 2018To mark the conclusion of the 15cBOOKTRADE Project, together with the planned publication, by Cristina Dondi and Neil Harris, of an exhaustive edition and commentary of the Zornale, or day-book, of the Venetian bookseller Francesco de Madiis (1484–88), a conference and an exhibition will take place in Venice in the second half of September 2018.The period covered by the conference is more specifically the second half of the 15th Century, a period which saw the continuing production of books in manuscript form as well as the establishment and growth of the market and trade in printed books. But what did it mean to purchase a book in the 1460s? or 1480s? or 1500? What else could be bought with the same amount of money? Who could buy books and indeed who did? How did their price compare to salaries, food provision, other manufactures? Was it a big deal to buy a book in 1450? Was it still the case in 1490?This preliminary call for papers is made to ensure that scholars conducting first-hand research, involving the cost of living and the cost or price of books, in manuscript or print, in the second half of the 15th century, anywhere in Europe, or indeed elsewhere, are aware of the planned conference and have time to prepare an original contribution on a relevant theme. Source material relating to books will include surviving manuscripts and printed books, library booklists, scribes, stationers, printers, publishers, and booksellers’ inventories, account books, diaries, and correspondence. Equivalent primary sources are expected to be used to present comparable data relating to the cost of living in the second half of 15th-Century Europe: coinages, wages, purchases and sales of consumables, manufacturing, trade, customs duties, taxes, money exchange, etc.The conference intends to make a fundamental and innovative contribution to the economic history of a key transitional period, which saw a rapid growth in book production and consumption, the creation of a different international market in books, the emergence of new professions and new customers, and to quantify the impact of these social and technological phenomena on the development of the early modern European society. Expressions of interest can be sent to the conference organisers with a description of the proposed research topic (no more than two pages): cristina.dondi@mod-langs.ox.ac.uk.Source de l'information : http://www.rsa.org/news/news.asp?id=343031