The Sixth Annual Kenneth Karmiole Lecture
on the History of the Book Trade:

Bankruptcy and the Eighteenth-Century Book Trade

A lecture at the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library
by Christine Ferdinand, Magdalen College, University of Oxford.
Saturday, 6th Nov. 3:00 p.m.

Some eighteenth-century booksellers made mistakes that led to unplanned bankruptcy, despair, and even suicide, while others seem almost deliberately to have incorporated “failure” into their business plans. This lecture examines the evidence of official records, bank accounts, periodical reports, and individual publishing history to find patterns (or not) of book-trade bankruptcy and insolvency.

Christine Ferdinand is Fellow Librarian at Magdalen College, University of Oxford. She works on eighteenth-century book and newspaper trade history for the most part, but has recently completed D.F. McKenzie’s three-volume Works of William Congreve for Oxford University Press (late 2010) as well as a book on the history of one of Oxford’s most beautiful structures, Magdalen College’s eighteenth-century New Building. Christine Ferdinand received her doctorate from Oxford in 1990, after a career of graduate work that spanned the University of Leeds, the University of Iowa, and the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Admission is complimentary, but advance registration is required.

Please be aware that space at the Clark is limited and that registration closes when capacity is reached. No confirmation will be sent, but we will contact you if we receive your registration after we reach capacity.