Call for contributions--Papers bearing countermarks in non-Latin characters

Call for contributions
Papers bearing countermarks in non-Latin characters
Anne Regourd (ed.)

The majority of manuscripts from Africa which remain in our
possession were produced between the seventeenth and twentieth
centuries. From the early twentieth century, paper production was
shaken, as was every other part of the industrial world by the
appearance of new machinery, and in particular by the continuous
paper-making machine. So that for the period between the nineteenth
century and the early twentieth century, there are no less than
three different kinds of paper in terms of production technology
alongside a rowing use of wood pulp fibres.

It was then that countermarks, and impressed countermarks, in
non-Latin characters appeared on a massive scale in an area that
stretches from the edges of the Red Sea to West Africa (as far as
Nigeria).

Massive, because there are but few previous examples in Islamic
manuscripts, and because the non-Latin countermarks found so far in
the manuscripts of the Far East have been found in imported
manuscripts written elsewhere and not in those produced in Sumatra,
Malaysia or elsewhere in the region.

This issue will seek to highlight the reasons why it was appropriate
to concentrate on this type of paper production and try to
understand the phenomenon. It involves the consideration of the
trade routes taken by paper, of manuscript books, and of equipment
and machinery. It will also provide a series of data for dating and
establishing the provenance of manuscripts, which may disrupt this
first outline of a spatio-temporal framework.

The contributors will draw on the study of papers, narrative
sources, or archives.

The deadline for submission of titles and abstracts is middle of
September 2013 and for submission of articles January 2014. Titles
and abstracts should be sent to the Editor, anne.regourd<-at->gmail<.>com.
Contributions are accepted in French, English or Arabic. Articles
should be no longer than 50 000 characters and three files should be
submitted in '.doc', '.rtf', and '.pdf' formats, again to the
Editor. Resolution for illustrations is 300 dpi. Illustrations
should be supplied with all copyright and reproduction rights
cleared and paid for.

Dr. Anne Regourd
Academic Researcher and University Lecturer
Director of the Program for safeguarding the manuscripts of the
    libraries in Zabid (Yemen)
Director of the Chroniques du manuscrit au Yemen
Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS)


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                  Conservation DistList Instance 27:8
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