Scholars of the book trade in early modern England and Europe have long known that some printed works no longer survive in even a single copy, but they have often been at a loss in determining just how many printed works may now be lost, leading one incunabulist recently to describe lost books as “the dark matter of the Gutenberg Galaxy.”

In this talk, Alan B. Farmer, Associate Professor at Ohio State University, will build on recent quantitative advances in estimating the numbers of lost books to consider how lost books might reshape our view of the early modern English book trade and, more broadly, the cultural history of England from the mid-16th century to the mid-17th century.

Taking account of lost books, Farmer will argue, opens up new ways of understanding the economics of printing and selling books in early modern London, the shifting popularity of different kinds of works with publishers and readers, and what readers ended up doing with those books they owned.

A reception will follow.