ABSTRACT
LIKE “Normalisation/Challenges” this essay is a conflated text. Parts of it were given as the opening address at a regional conference of the Bibliographical Society of America organised by the indefatigable Trevor Howard-Hill,1 acting in his customary role of scholarly paterfamilias. You did not turn down commands from Columbia. The BSA gathering was unusual: except for very occasional special meetings on particular subjects (for example, a conference to celebrate the completion of the BSA-sponsored Bibliography of American Literature), the Society normally met only once a year, in New York, largely for business and administrative purposes. And I have played the part of what Tom Tanselle has called “our CUNY agent” in getting the use of the Graduate Center's auditorium for these gatherings and thereafter attending the formal dinner in the relentlessly crimson milieu of the Harvard Club on 44th Street. But Trevor wanted a real conference, under BSA auspices, and that was what he got. Rounding up many more than just the usual suspects, he put together a well-rounded and comprehensive symposium on the state of bibliography.
