PhD-Project

While handling a book we navigate the text aided by initials, blank lines, and other articulation aids that structure the text. Textual articulation and navigational aids (like indices, pagination and running titles) are the main ways of accessing the structure and content of the text. It is textual articulation that makes a text legible. The way books – both manuscript and print – were read changed over time. The history of reading and the mise-en-page of books have a reciprocal relationship: the lay-out reflects the intended use of the book.

With the first universities the attitude towards books changed – and therefore the appearance of books. Reading and studying Justinian’s Institutes at the university often meant searching for certain passages. To make this easier for the readers, the mise-en-page of the text changed, paragraph signs were added, chapters became eye-catching headings and peritexts such as tables of content and indices came into being. Not only the educational environment, but also humanistic reading as well as the printing press had its influence on the mise-en-page.

In my PhD-project, I study how textual articulation and navigational aids developed between the 7th and 16th centuries in Justinian’s Institutes and how these changes reflect reading practices.