This conference will investigate the production, circulation and consumption of printed material in Australia, China, and Britain in the long 19th century, when technological improvements in printing, engraving, papermaking, and transport made the production and distribution of texts easier and increased opportunities for education led to rising literacy rates. Over the century, the proportion of travellers to and migrants from these three areas also increased. How did the movement of people across space and culture influence publishing and reading practices? Is the nation a relevant framework for examining histories of print culture and its circulation in this period? In what ways have histories of reading and print culture in Australia, China and Britain intersected? How has the relationship between reading and its contexts been theorized and researched?

Public Lectures

22 April 2014 5:30pm Reading and Writing Communities in the Trenches 1914-1918

Professor Martyn Lyons
History and European Studies,
School of Humanities and Languages,
University of New South Wales.

Please register your interest in the event here: http://ciwanu.beanit.com.au/event/reading-dickens

23 April 2014 11:00am The Industrial Revolution of the Book: Cheap Print and New Readers

Professor Lydia Wevers
Professor, Director, Stout Research Centre,
Victoria University of Wellington.

Please register your interest in attending this event here: http://ciwanu.beanit.com.au/event/industrial-revolution-book-cheap-print...

23 April 2014 6:00pm

Professor James Raven,
Professor of Modern History and Director of the Centre of Bibliographical History, University of Essex, and fellow of Magdalene College, Cambridge.

About the Speakers

James Raven is a Professor of Modern History and Director of the Centre for Bibliographical History, University of Essex, and fellow of Magdalene College, Cambridge.

Martyn Lyons is a Professor of History and European Studies, University of New South Wales.

Lydia Wevers is the Director of the Stout Research Centre, Victoria University of Wellington.

Free and open to the public. Please register your interest in attending the event.

This event is being co-hosted by the ANU Colleges of Asia and the Pacific and Art & Social Sciences, and the Australian Centre on China in the World.