”The place is swarming with libels” – Manuscript Publication of Oppositional Texts During the Reign of Gustav III (1771–1792)
Abstract
The article is based on some of the findings from the author’s
doctoral thesis, Komediant och riksförrädare. Handskriftcirkulerade
smädeskrifter mot Gustaf III (approx. Jester and
traitor. Manuscript published libels against Gustav III), and
concerns the manuscript publishing of oppositional libels
during the reign of Gustav III (1771–1792).
Some of the terms and definitions from Harold Love’s Scribal
Publication in Seventeenth-century England (1993) are applied
to the material in order to deepen our understanding of the
clandestine system of diffusion of these texts. The dominant
type of publishing was in this case »user publication«, where
interested readers made their own copies and showed them to
others. Particular interest is given to the role of the copier, who
often combined functions of production, distribution and
consumption in one person. The copiers are also the link in this
system where we through manuscript collections can identify
individual participants to a much larger extent than is the case
when it comes to the anonymous authors and readers who
never made any copies.
Publisher
LIR. journal
Collections
View/ Open
Date
2011Author
Mattsson, Annie
Keywords
oppositional pamphlets
user publication
author publication
posting
judgment of posterity
Publication type
article, peer reviewed scientific
Language
eng