The Transcultural Circulation of Illustrated Books (1500-1950)

This panel will address illustrated books that originated in Eurasia during the Early Modern and Modern periods. It will focus on those that have been translated, visually as well as textually, for a reading public in a different language community than that for which it was originally produced, whether elsewhere in Eurasia or overseas.

We are especially interested in the illustrated book because of the essential role that images play in cross-cultural contact. This panel aims to pose a range of questions, such as how paratext and its interpretation changed when illustrated books were retrofitted for their new audiences. How were illustrations also transformed and adapted as texts were translated and reprinted? To answer these questions, this panel broadly explores the movement of books as well as the ways knowledge and technology travel during production, circulation, and consumption in a cross-cultural context.

This panel takes illustrated books as its central subject, with the goal of rethinking the translation of language, images, and, most importantly, the translation of culture. Proposals from a range of book formats, literary genres, and geographic regions are welcome.