Hackel Review

Not only those clicking and scrolling their way through this issue of Marginalia will be aware that reading habits are not what they used to be: indeed this journal’s title has become even more archaic now that internet bookmarks and other digital tagging devices are increasingly replacing the pencil and paper used by generations of readers before us. It is therefore perhaps particularly appropriate that Heidi Brayman Hackel contributes new perspectives on early modern ‘reading material’ to the history of the book and the history of reading. And even though her chosen subjects of printed books and female readers may seem to lie outside the scope of many medievalists’ interests, Reading Material in Early Modern England is well worth a close look.

Readers of Hackel’s book will certainly want to thumb through the first chapter, ‘Towards a material history of reading’, which also functions as the introduction. Here, Hackel briefly evaluates past studies in the history of reading against their historiographical and methodological backgrounds. This exercise is very welcome, since unlike much of the history of the book, the history of reading is not characterised by an a priori theory, but rather by the accumulation of case studies of famous readers (excellent studies by William Sherman, Ann Blair, Anthony Grafton and Lisa Jardine come to mind). While these studies give us insights into the habits of individual readers and their reading circumstances, it seems that many further studies will have to be undertaken before any wide-ranging theories can be formulated. Hackel’s introduction, together with her extensive bibliography, acts as a guide to the history of reading. The epilogue further explicates Hackel’s own methodology and the implications of her research as in indicator for possible directions for future studies. Although a thematic arrangement of the bibliography or an annotated bibliography would make the wealth of information provided in the book even more accessible to those new to the subject, Hackel’s survey and approach deserve a decided tick in the margin.

The main part of Reading Material in Early Modern England comprises and resumes Hackel’s own case studies, which are now placed into their wider context. Looking particularly at ‘ordinary’, non-professional readers and recreational reading, she ‘seeks to historicize, rather than idealize or merely theorize, the various experiences of early modern readers’ (p. 8), which notably comprise both the actual readership of early modern printed books and that envisaged by contemporary authors. The themes for the individual chapters were suggested by the contents and organisation of the library of Frances Egerton, Countess of Bridgewater (1585-1636): the second chapter, entitled ‘Impressions from a “scribbling age”: Gestures and habits of reading’, sketches the scene in which reading takes place, e.g. early modern spaces and practicalities of reading. This is followed by an investigation of the preliminaries and margins of books, their role in the aim to control the circulation of printed books, and discernible strategies behind printed marginalia. The fourth chapter comprises a case study of the gentleman readers of Sidney’s Arcadia, a work which appears in ubiquitous references in early modern marginalia and commonplace books; and the chapter on ‘Ladies, lapdogs and libraries’ finally looks at female readers, with specific consideration of Frances Bridgewater’s books.

Apart from the choice of materials, it is Hackel’s methodological approach that is most distinctive and also potentially problematic. Although quite obviously grounded in historical studies, her pieces show a keen interest in reader-response and feminist theory. However, even those who are sceptical about critical theory need not fear having to cancel whole pages: when Hackel isolates women readers in the latter chapters (i.e. precisely those readers whose marginalisation in historiography may or may not mirror their marginal position among their contemporary bookworms), she does so in an intelligent fashion, balancing her account against a preceding study of gentlemen’s reading habits.

Pen poised, medievalist readers will get the most out of Reading Materials by means of browsing. Hackel’s insights into commonplace books (the early modern form of florilegia), her description of the ways in which individual readers personalised their books for their own purposes, and the fact that her discussion is always sensitive to its historiographical background commend this monograph to anyone interested in the concepts at the heart of the study.

Anke Timmermann, U. of Cambridge