York Lecturer Wins Prestigious Research Award

Posted on 7 January 2020

Congratulations to Dr Jane Raisch, who was recently awarded the 25th Anniversary Research Fellowship of the Society for the History of Authorship, Reading and Publishing (SHARP).

Dr Raisch's research examines the pre-history of the 'facsimile' during the letterpress period. Focusing on early techniques for visual reproduction including facsimile types, woodblocks, engraving, and mezzotint, she will consider how – and why – early scholars and printers harnessed the technology of print to imitate the physical features of earlier textual artefacts.

Dr Raisch will consult a large number of texts at the Rare Books and Manuscript Library at Columbia University, where she will attempt to discover how methods of facsimile production were tied to particular printing techniques, how printers dealt with and were inspired by the limitations of pre-lithographic reproduction, and what purpose these expensive and time-consuming editions served in the wider print market.

Dr Raisch will present some of her research as the prestigious Carl and Lily Pforzheimer Lecture at the Harry Ransom Center in Austen, Texas next month. The talk is entitled: 'Original Copies: The Pre-History of the Facsimile.'