RBS faculty member Paul Needham (Princeton Univ.) gave a public lecture on "The Catholicon Press Revisited: The Evidence of Nailheads" on 29 July 2025. You can watch the full recording of the lecture on YouTube at https://youtu.be/o4aMEB38slw?feature=shared.
𝗔𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗧𝗮𝗹𝗸:
The 𝘊𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘰𝘯, whose colophon states that it was printed in Mainz, 1460, has been the subject of controversy for more than fifty years. Paul Needham argues that it was printed from thin two-line stereotypes, used for three typographically identical impressions, dating to 1460, 1469, and 1472-73. Others maintain that it was printed directly from movable types, like all other incunables; that the colophon date is wrong; and that all copies were printed in 1469. Needham, working with Eric White, has recently discovered new evidence which strongly supports the stereotype hypothesis.
𝗔𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗽𝗲𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗿:
Paul Needham became Scheide Librarian at Princeton University in 1998 and retired in 2020. Before coming to Princeton, he worked at Sotheby’s and at the Pierpont Morgan Library. Among his books is 𝘛𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘷𝘦 𝘊𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘉𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘣𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨: 400–1600 (1979). He has given Rare Book School courses on early printed books both at the Morgan and at the Huntington.
All content for Rare Book School is the property of Rare Book School Lectures and is served directly from their servers
with no modification, redirects, or rehosting. The podcast is not affiliated with or endorsed by Podjoint in any way.
RBS faculty member Paul Needham (Princeton Univ.) gave a public lecture on "The Catholicon Press Revisited: The Evidence of Nailheads" on 29 July 2025. You can watch the full recording of the lecture on YouTube at https://youtu.be/o4aMEB38slw?feature=shared.
𝗔𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗧𝗮𝗹𝗸:
The 𝘊𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘰𝘯, whose colophon states that it was printed in Mainz, 1460, has been the subject of controversy for more than fifty years. Paul Needham argues that it was printed from thin two-line stereotypes, used for three typographically identical impressions, dating to 1460, 1469, and 1472-73. Others maintain that it was printed directly from movable types, like all other incunables; that the colophon date is wrong; and that all copies were printed in 1469. Needham, working with Eric White, has recently discovered new evidence which strongly supports the stereotype hypothesis.
𝗔𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗽𝗲𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗿:
Paul Needham became Scheide Librarian at Princeton University in 1998 and retired in 2020. Before coming to Princeton, he worked at Sotheby’s and at the Pierpont Morgan Library. Among his books is 𝘛𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘷𝘦 𝘊𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘉𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘣𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨: 400–1600 (1979). He has given Rare Book School courses on early printed books both at the Morgan and at the Huntington.
Mark McConnell, "Christophe Plantin's Business Strategy," Karmiole Lecture, 9 July 2025
Rare Book School
58 minutes 58 seconds
4 months ago
Mark McConnell, "Christophe Plantin's Business Strategy," Karmiole Lecture, 9 July 2025
Rare Book School's 2025 Kenneth Karmiole Endowed Lecture on the History of the Book Trades featured a talk by Mark McConnell on “Publishing in the Renaissance: Christophe Plantin’s Business Strategy." The event took place on 9 July 2025. You can watch the full recording of the lecture on YouTube at https://youtu.be/QFmRSz-laUE?feature=shared.
About the Talk:
Printing technology accelerated the forces of the Renaissance and the Reformation. But it also created a major new business problem: publishing risk. A publisher had to spend large sums of money to print a book before knowing how well it would sell. The publisher’s decision whether to accept this risk was a gateway through which all printed books had to pass. Mark McConnell has been investigating Christophe Plantin’s business records from the 1560s, still intact after 460 years. These records document in remarkable detail the activities of Europe’s largest printer at the time and make it possible to quantify the cost of individual books and the risk taken in publishing them. Applying modern business concepts to the data, McConnell will offer insights on key issues in publishing strategy: what types of books were printed, why books were produced in the forms we now see, how production costs shaped competition in the marketplace, and the steps that publishers took to control and reduce risk.
About the Speaker:
Mark McConnell comes to his historical research from his legal career, which he spent as a partner with the global law firm Hogan Lovells. McConnell specialized in international trade disputes, where he litigated questions like the competitive dynamics of industries and the efficiency of industrial processes. He applies the tools he developed in legal disputes to Christophe Plantin’s business records, examining Plantin’s operations from the perspective of modern business strategy. McConnell holds both a law degree and a master’s in business administration from Stanford University and did his undergraduate work in economics at Johns Hopkins University. He is now affiliated with Johns Hopkins again, where he is Associate Research Fellow at the Virginia Fox Stern Center for the History of the Renaissance Book.
Rare Book School
RBS faculty member Paul Needham (Princeton Univ.) gave a public lecture on "The Catholicon Press Revisited: The Evidence of Nailheads" on 29 July 2025. You can watch the full recording of the lecture on YouTube at https://youtu.be/o4aMEB38slw?feature=shared.
𝗔𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗧𝗮𝗹𝗸:
The 𝘊𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘰𝘯, whose colophon states that it was printed in Mainz, 1460, has been the subject of controversy for more than fifty years. Paul Needham argues that it was printed from thin two-line stereotypes, used for three typographically identical impressions, dating to 1460, 1469, and 1472-73. Others maintain that it was printed directly from movable types, like all other incunables; that the colophon date is wrong; and that all copies were printed in 1469. Needham, working with Eric White, has recently discovered new evidence which strongly supports the stereotype hypothesis.
𝗔𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗽𝗲𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗿:
Paul Needham became Scheide Librarian at Princeton University in 1998 and retired in 2020. Before coming to Princeton, he worked at Sotheby’s and at the Pierpont Morgan Library. Among his books is 𝘛𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘷𝘦 𝘊𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘉𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘣𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨: 400–1600 (1979). He has given Rare Book School courses on early printed books both at the Morgan and at the Huntington.
