Paper Stories – Paper and Book History in Early Modern Europe has been released as the next installment in De Gruyter publisher’s series Materiale Textkulturen. The collection includes 16 academic articles in addition to an introduction by the editors and a post script. The publication discusses the use, production and spread of paper in the material culture of early modern Europe. The articles represent the results of research undertaken by scholars from both Iceland and abroad as well as an introduction by the editors Silvia Hufnagel, Þórunn Sigurðardóttir and Davíð Ólafsson.

The book is the outcome of two extensive research projects conducted in recent years and funded by the Icelandic Research Fund. One of the projects is entitled “Paper Trails: The material of Icelandic books and manuscripts from the 16th and 17th century: from paper production to libraries” under the direction of Þórunn Sigurðardóttir, research professor at the Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies. The other project is “My Favourite Things: Material Culture Archives, Cultural Heritage and Meaning,” which received a grant of excellence from the Icelandic Research Centre in 2018. The project director was Sigurður Gylfi Magnússon, professor of cultural history at the University of Iceland.

The publication is also result of the synonymous international conference held in Reykjavík in the spring of 2022 by the two projects in collaboration with the Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies, the University of Iceland’s Department of Humanities, the National and University Library of Iceland and the National Museum of Iceland.

The book has been released in print as a hardcover binding and is also available in digital format though open access.