ABSTRACT
This introductory essay indicates why I consider book-trade networks to be historically signicant and outlines the origin and development of my personal engagement with the topic. Although by no means new in some disciplines, a network approach is still relatively new and untested as applied to historical topics. It is an approach which interacts fruitfully with the recent ‘spatial turn’ in the humanities. Book history has responded positively to the spatial turn1, and it is time for a new approach to the history of the book trade, benetting from both spatial and network perspectives. Using formal network theory can be complicated; perhaps few historians have, or need to acquire, the skills necessary to exercise a high level of network analysis. However, we do need to progress to a stage beyond using ‘network’ simply as a metaphor. It is potentially much more useful than that. History works on two levels: narrative (what happened?) and explanation (why did it happen; why is it signicant?). A network approach will not help much with narrative but it comes into its own in support of explanation. In other words: a network approach is weak as a descriptive tool but potentially useful as an analytical tool.
