ABSTRACT
Edwardian book owners were able to transform their books from commodities into individuated artifacts by drawing upon a range of semiotic and material resources in their inscriptions. These resources offered them new opportunities to explore and perform identity. In the first part of this chapter, I investigate the material production of book inscriptions, particularly in terms of the writing tools, printing techniques, surface materials, and sites of inscription used by Edwardians and the practical or symbolic motivations that guided these choices. In the second part, I analyze specific examples of inscriptions to gain an understanding of what particular semiotic resources (i.e., word, image, color, texture, typography, and materiality) can reveal about literacy, culture, and class relations in Edwardian society. In exploring these themes, I put forward the notion that expressions of class are always afforded by the means of self-expression to which a person has access.
