Peter Isaac was Professor of Civil and Public Health Engineering at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, but in his spare time and after retirement he pursued his interest in a very different field: the history of the book trade. He recorded on catalogue cards the names and brief biographical details and trade details of people who worked in the book trade in England and Wales and who were trading by 1851. Together with others sharing this interest, he founded the annual British Booktrade Seminar.
Thirty years later, Professor Isaac’s card catalogue has evolved into the British Book Trade Index, an on-line database with many contributors, hosted by the University of Birmingham. The British Booktrade Seminar is now the Print Networks Conference, an international gathering of academics, research students, booksellers, librarians and others, held annually in different locations around the British Isles. The conference attracts well-known guest speakers and funds fellowships, and its proceedings are published jointly by the British Library and Oak Knoll Press.
In 2011 the conference will be returning to Aberystwyth after a twelve-year gap, and as a frequent attender I have agreed to be the local organiser. At a committee meeting in Birmingham earlier this month we drafted a call for papers, discussed possible guest speakers, drew up plans for a visit to the Roderic Bowen Library in Lampeter – and agreed a menu for the conference dinner! The conference will be held in the National Library from Tuesday 19th to Thursday 21st July 2011, with accommodation provided at Aberystwyth University. To mark the 400th anniversary of the Authorised Version of the Bible, the theme will be “Religion and the Book Trade”. Anyone interested in speaking at the conference is invited to submit an abstract of the offered paper and a brief CV to me at the National Library.