# Textual scholarship

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Academic analysis of texts

**Textual scholarship** (or **textual studies**) is an [umbrella term](/source/Umbrella_term) for disciplines that deal with describing, transcribing, editing, or annotating [texts](/source/Text_(literary_theory)) and physical [documents](/source/Document). It examines how texts are produced, transmitted, and transformed over time, considering both their material and linguistic forms. From the recovery and collation of manuscript witnesses to the creation of critical or digital editions that reflect textual variation and editorial decision-making, textual scholarship encompasses a wide range of practices. The field integrates traditional philological methods with contemporary digital approaches, bridging historical textual criticism and modern data-driven humanities research.[1]

## Overview

Textual research is primarily a historically oriented field. Textual [scholars](/source/Scholar) study, for instance, how writing practices and printing technology have developed, how a certain writer has written and revised his or her texts, how literary documents have been edited, the history of reading culture, as well as censorship and the authenticity of texts. The subjects, methods and theoretical backgrounds of textual research vary widely, but what they have in common is an interest in the genesis and derivation of texts and textual variation in these practices.

Many textual scholars are interested in author intention while others seek to see how text is transmitted. Textual scholars often produce critical editions of the texts they study.[2]

Disciplines of textual scholarship include, among others, [textual criticism](/source/Textual_criticism), [stemmatology](/source/Stemmatology), [paleography](/source/Paleography), [genetic criticism](/source/Genetic_editing), [bibliography](/source/Bibliography), and [history of the book](/source/History_of_the_book). Textual scholar [David Greetham](/source/David_Greetham_(textual_scholar)) has described textual scholarship as a term encompassing "the procedures of enumerative bibliographers, descriptive, analytical, and historical bibliographers, paleographers and codicologists, textual editors, and annotators-cumulatively and collectively".[3] Some disciplines of textual scholarship focus on certain material sources or text genres, such as [epigraphy](/source/Epigraphy), [codicology](/source/Codicology) and [diplomatics](/source/Diplomatics).

The historical roots of textual scholarship can be traced back to the 3rd century BCE, when the scholarly activities of copying, comparing, describing and archiving texts became professionalized in the [Library of Alexandria](/source/Library_of_Alexandria).[4][5][6]

## See also

- [Documentary editing](/source/Documentary_editing)

- [Text publication society](/source/Text_publication_society)

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** Driscoll, Matthew James; Pierazzo, Elena (2016-08-15). *Digital Scholarly Editing: Theories and Practices*. Open Book Publishers. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.11647/obp.0095](https://doi.org/10.11647%2Fobp.0095). [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-1-78374-238-7](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-1-78374-238-7).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** ["Textual Scholarship"](http://www.textualscholarship.org/).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** Greetham, David C. (1992). *Textual Scholarship: An Introduction*. Psychology Press. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-8153-0058-1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-8153-0058-1).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** Greetham, David C.: *Textual Scholarship. An Introduction*. Garland Reference Library of the Humanities 1417. New York & London: Garland Publishing, Inc. 1994 (1992)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** Greetham, David C.: "What is Textual Scholarship?". In *A Companion to the History of the Book*. Eds. Simon Eliot & Jonathan Rose. Blackwell companions to literature and culture 48. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell 2009 (2007)

1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** Katajamäki, Sakari & Karina Lukin: "[Textual Trails from Oral to Written Sources: An Introduction](http://www.helsinki.fi/folkloristiikka/English/RMN/RMN_7_Dec_2013_Limited_Sources_Boundless_Possibilities.pdf)". In: Lukin, Karina, Frog & Sakari Katajamäki (eds.), Limited Sources, Boundless Possibilities. Textual Scholarship and the Challenges of Oral and Written Texts. *[RMN Newsletter](/source/RMN_Newsletter)* No 7, December 2013.

## Further reading

[Library resources](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:The_Wikipedia_Library) about
 **Textual scholarship**

- [Resources in your library](https://ftl.toolforge.org/cgi-bin/ftl?st=wp&su=Textual+scholarship)

- [Resources in other libraries](https://ftl.toolforge.org/cgi-bin/ftl?st=wp&su=Textual+scholarship&library=0CHOOSE0)

- Bowers, Fredson (1959). *Textual & Literary Criticism*. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1017/CBO9780511552885](https://doi.org/10.1017%2FCBO9780511552885). [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9780511552885](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780511552885). {{[cite book](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Cite_book)}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility ([help](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:CS1_errors#invalid_isbn_date))

- Bryant, John (2002). *The Fluid Text*. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.3998/mpub.12024](https://doi.org/10.3998%2Fmpub.12024). [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9780472098156](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780472098156).

- Fraistat, Neil; Flanders, Julia, eds. (2012). *The Cambridge Companion to Textual Scholarship*. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1017/CCO9781139044073](https://doi.org/10.1017%2FCCO9781139044073). [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9781139044073](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9781139044073).

- Gabler, Hans Walter; Robinson, Peter; Subač Ius, Paulius V. (2008). [*Textual Scholarship and the Canon*](http://media.obvsg.at/AC09025099-1003). [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1163/9789042032361](https://doi.org/10.1163%2F9789042032361). [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9789042032361](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9789042032361).

- Grésillon, Almuth (1998). "Pourquoi la critique génétique ?". pp. 61–93. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.3917/cnrs.conta.1998.01.0061](https://doi.org/10.3917%2Fcnrs.conta.1998.01.0061). [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9782271055965](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9782271055965). {{[cite book](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Cite_book)}}: Missing or empty |title= ([help](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:CS1_errors#citation_missing_title))

- Van Hulle, Dirk (2004). *Textual Awareness*. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.3998/mpub.17739](https://doi.org/10.3998%2Fmpub.17739). [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9780472113415](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780472113415).

- McKenzie, D. F. (1999). *Bibliography and the Sociology of Texts*. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1017/CBO9780511483226](https://doi.org/10.1017%2FCBO9780511483226). [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9780511483226](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780511483226).

- Van Mierlo, Wim, ed. (2007). *Textual Scholarship and the Material Book*. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1163/9789042028180](https://doi.org/10.1163%2F9789042028180). [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9789042028180](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9789042028180).

- Van Mierlo, Wim; Fachard, Alexandre, eds. (2014). *The Journal of the European Society for Textual Scholarship*. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1163/9789401212113](https://doi.org/10.1163%2F9789401212113). [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9789401212113](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9789401212113).

- Shillingsburg, Peter L. (2006). *From Gutenberg to Google*. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.1017/CBO9780511617942](https://doi.org/10.1017%2FCBO9780511617942). [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9780511617942](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780511617942).

- Tanselle, G. Thomas (1992). *A Rationale of Textual Criticism*. [doi](/source/Doi_(identifier)):[10.9783/9780812200423](https://doi.org/10.9783%2F9780812200423). [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [9780812200423](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780812200423).

## External links

- [The Society for Textual Scholarship](http://textualsociety.org/)

- [The European Society for Textual Scholarship (ESTS)](http://textualscholarship.eu/)

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