'An indissoluble unity': considering the relationship between outward influences and the design of Birmingham's radical newspapers 1815-36

伯明翰是英国除伦敦外历史上最重要的印刷中心（Archer，2016），但其报纸遗产未被重视和研究不足。随着伯明翰第一份报纸300周年纪念日的临近，这项研究是了解该地区早期报纸印刷文化历史意义的及时一步。这项研究将通过报纸设计的透镜-排版，布局，插图，格式，纸-以确定外部因素如何影响它们的外观，以及它们的设计可以揭示它们出版时的政治和社会背景。它将建立在奥尔德斯·赫胥黎所描述的“内在和外在，物质和形式”之间的“不可分割的统一”（赫胥黎，1928年）。呈现影响感知，然而，尽管它与内容联系，激进报纸的视觉元素是未开发的。有没有可能确定伯明翰19世纪早期激进媒体的特定视觉语言，就像20世纪地下媒体所确定的那样（Kaplan，2013）？地点和空间对伯明翰印刷文化的重要性已经确立（Archer，2020）-激进报纸创作的环境是否以任何方式改变了它们的外观？对激进印刷文化的研究表明，形式或内容的变化可以追溯到不断变化的经济和政治条件。例如，政府打击无印的运动（Gilmartin，1996）迫使报纸出版商采用策略来避免税收，促使当地激进的乔治埃德蒙兹称他的每周录音机为小册子（布里格斯，1949）。激进标题的秘密性质是如何转化为它们的设计和生产的？虽然有几项关于伯明翰激进主义历史的研究（托马斯，2021），但提到激进报纸是偶然的。这项研究阐述了以前的研究，并将其直接链接到该地区的印刷文化和专业，社会和政治网络不可或缺的伯明翰的newspapers.This跨学科的方法进步确定关键的上下文信息的新方法。它融合了印刷分析与传统的历史方法，历史目录学，物质文化研究和理论的地方和空间。将这些学科结合起来将创建一个信息矩阵，通过对这些信息的询问，可以理解物质来源（报纸）与周围非物质世界之间的关系。历史学家或时事评论员在研究印刷媒体与其外部环境之间的关系时，可以复制这种新的方法论工具。该研究将投入到有关伦敦新闻界的首要地位的讨论，并有助于得出有关伯明翰的激进报纸的国家重要性的结论。指示性时间表1-2年：BCU研究实践PGCert;上下文阅读;在档案馆和图书馆收集证据;开发方法;研究问题和源材料的完善;参与CPHC活动。3-4年：上下文阅读;在档案馆和图书馆收集证据;方法的测试、提炼和应用;材料和数据分析;初稿章节;组织西米德兰兹郡报纸会议;参与CPHC活动。5-6年级：上下文阅读;研究结论;定稿章节;参与CPHC活动。7年级：编辑和校对准备论文印刷和装订

Birmingham is Britain's most historically important centre of printing outside London (Archer, 2016), yet its newspaper heritage is unappreciated and under-researched. With the 300th anniversary of Birmingham's first newspaper approaching, this study is a timely step towards understanding the historical significance of early newspaper print culture in the region.This research will explore radical newspapers through the lens of their design - typography, layout, illustration, format, paper - in order to determine how external factors affected their appearance and what their design can reveal about the political and social backgrounds in which they were published.It will build on what Aldous Huxley described as the 'indissoluble unity' between 'inward and outward, substance and form' (Huxley, 1928). Presentation affects perception, yet, despite its link with content, the visual elements of the radical newspaper are unexplored. Is it possible to determine a specific visual language in Birmingham's early nineteenth-century radical press, as has been identified in the twentieth-century underground press (Kaplan, 2013)? The importance of place and space to Birmingham's print culture has been established (Archer, 2020) - did the circumstances of the radical newspapers' creation alter their appearance in any way? Studies on radical print culture show shifts in format or content can be traced to changing economic and political conditions. For example, the government's campaign against the unstamped (Gilmartin, 1996) forced newspaper publishers to employ strategies to avoid taxation, prompting local radical George Edmonds to call his Weekly Recorder a pamphlet (Briggs, 1949). How did the clandestine nature of the radical titles translate into their design and production?While there are several studies on the history of radicalism in Birmingham (Thomas, 2021), references to radical newspapers are incidental. This study elaborates on previous research and links it directly to the region's print culture and the professional, social and political networks integral to Birmingham's newspapers.This interdisciplinary approach advances new methodologies for ascertaining key contextual information. It merges typographic analysis with traditional historical methods, historical bibliography, material culture studies and theories on place and space. Uniting these disciplines will create a matrix of information which will be interrogated in order to understand the relationship between the material sources (newspapers) and the immaterial world around them.The new methodological tool could be replicated by historians or current commentators when researching the connection between printed media and its external circumstances. The research will feed into discussions about the primacy of the London press and help to draw conclusions about the national importance of Birmingham's radical newspapers.Indicative timelineYears 1-2:BCU PGCert in Research Practice;contextual reading;evidence gathering in archives and libraries;develop methodology;refinement of research questions and source material;participation in CPHC events.Years 3-4:contextual reading;evidence gathering in archives and libraries;testing, refining and application of methodology;analysis of material and data;first draft chapters;organise conference on West Midlands Newspapers;participation CPHC events.Years 5-6:contextual reading;conclusions from research;final draft chapters;participation CPHC events.Year 7:Edit and proof-readPrepare thesis for printing and binding