Translation, history and print: A model for the study of printed translations in early modern Britain

While translations have long been known to have played an important role in the development of the early modern English book market, their place in the emerging English culture of print has not been fully acknowledged by book historians. This historiographical gap can partly be explained by the lack of a theoretical framework for studying the market for translations in the period. Drawing on Robert Darnton’s “communication circuit” and its adaptations by various book and translation historians, we have created a model for studying printed translations in early modern England (1473–1660). Centred on translators as key historical and cultural agents, it will facilitate a critically and historically accurate investigation of translations as material and cultural objects, while highlighting the specific contribution of translators to the social, political and cultural networks that shaped the early modern English culture of print.