Correspondence: Exploration and Travel from Manuscript to Print,1768-1848

这个项目考察了地理探险的历史和写作--探险家的记述--以及它们的出版和印刷版本，特别是约翰·默里档案馆(苏格兰国家图书馆)保存的材料。该提案汇集了历史地理学和历史书中的专门知识，以审查通信在地理知识的编写和出版中的作用。在这种情况下，术语‘对应’在这里有三个相互关联的含义。首先，它与探险家构建地理叙事的话语惯例有关，无论是以信件、日记的形式，还是作为连续叙事的形式。其次，通信关系到探险家和地理旅行者确信他们被告知的事情的真实性的手段--即他们被告知的事情与他们对世界的经验之间的对应。这一点意义重大，因为在创造“现代事实”的过程中，一个核心而又有问题的特点是旅行是否能创造真理。如果一个人亲眼目睹了所讨论的现象，就更容易在地理探索中建立经验观察的可信度。这并不总是可能的。但旅行者的故事可信吗？如果可信，依据是什么？许多关于地理“事实”的故事只不过是想象中的虚构。探险者有即时性的好处，但建立关于地方的安全事实受到移动性和观察到的陌生性的阻碍，特别是当记忆不是感知的指南时。不是所有的东西都能看得见。探险者通常信任其他人的描述，导致他们认为自己被告知的内容与告密者的社会地位之间存在对应关系。直接证人、可信的证词和可靠的通信都是地理勘探中的不同要素。正因为如此，重要的是要考察地理账户与世界上那些被报道的地区相对应的不同方式。最后，对应关系是探险者自己的叙述(他们的文字和地图)与他们的印刷版本之间的关系的核心，这些印刷版本构成了出版书籍和地图的基础。由于有证据表明，一些出版商为了迎合公众需求而修改了探险家的文本，我们不能总是假设出版的内容与探险家写下的或勾勒的内容相对应。出于这些原因，现实世界和有关它的报道之间的“对应”给历史学家带来了一个持续存在的问题，一个经常被假设但很少被检验的问题。这个项目反映了历史地理学、科学史和该书历史的最新发展。在研究苏格兰国家图书馆(NLS)约翰·默里档案馆(以下简称JMA)的材料时，该项目专注于国际公认的藏品，其重要性直到现在才浮出水面。JMA中的材料为这些问题提供了无与伦比的洞察力。对于学术合作伙伴，该项目将调查旅行者未发表的信件、地理故事的印刷版本与地理探索作品、手稿和印刷作品的信任基础之间的关系。对于苏格兰国家图书馆来说，该项目将有助于促进国家图书馆的公共宣传议程，并将其材料传播给广大受众。出版的作品将以书籍、学术期刊文章和苏格兰国家图书馆家庭期刊《发现NLS》的稿件的形式发表。将通过NLS网站和(爱丁堡大学)图书历史中心的网站宣传这项工作。会议论文将在地理学和书史方面的国际会议上发表。将围绕该项目组织为期3天的会议。

This project examines the history and the writing of geographical exploration - explorers' accounts - and the published and printed versions of them, looking particularly at material held within the John Murray Archive (National Library of Scotland). The proposal brings together expertise in historical geography and in book history to examine the role of correspondence in the making and in the publication of geographical knowledge. In this instance, the term 'correspondence' has three interrelated meanings here. First, it relates to the discursive conventions through which explorers framed geographical narrative, whether in the form of letters, diaries, or as continuous narratives. Second, correspondence relates to the means by which explorers and geographical travellers assured themselves of the truth of what they were told - that is, of a correspondence between what they were told and their experience of the world. This is significant since a central and problematic feature of the making of 'the modern fact' is whether travel makes truth. Establishing the credibility of empirical observations in geographical exploration is easier if one witnesses for one's self the phenomena in question. That was not always possible. But was the travellers' tale trustworthy, and if so, on what basis? Many tales of geographical 'fact' were little more than imagined fiction. The explorer has the benefit of immediacy, yet establishing secure facts about places is hindered by mobility and by the strangeness of what is observed, particularly when memory is no guide to perception. Not everything can be seen. Explorers commonly placed trust in the accounts of others, leading them to assume a correspondence between what they are told and the social status of the informant. Direct witness, credible testimony and reliable correspondence are all different elements in geographical exploration. Because this is so, it is important to examine the different means by which geographical accounts correspond to those parts of the world being written about. Finally, correspondence is central to the relationships between the explorers' own accounts (their written words and maps) and the printed versions of them that form the basis for published books and maps. Since there is evidence that some publishers altered explorers' texts in order to cater to public demand, we cannot always assume that what was published corresponded to what the explorer had written down or sketched. For these reasons, 'correspondence' between the real world and reports about it present the historian with a continuing problem, one that is often assumed but rarely tested. This project reflects recent developments in historical geography, history of science and in the history of the book. In examining materials within the John Murray Archive (hereafter JMA) of the National Library of Scotland (NLS), the project is focused on an internationally-recognised collection, the extent of whose importance is only now coming to light. The materials within the JMA affords unparalleled insight into these problems. For the academic partners, the project will investigate the relationship between travellers' unpublished correspondence, the printed versions of geographical tales and the basis to trust in works, manuscript and printed, of geographical exploration. For the National Library of Scotland, the project will help promote the NLS agenda of public outreach and dissemination of its materials to a wide audience. Published outputs will take the form of a book, articles to learned journals and contributions to the National Library of Scotland's house-journal 'Discover NLS'. The work will be promoted through the NLS website and the website of the Centre for the History of the Book (in the University of Edinburgh). Conference papers will be given at international meetings in geography and in book history. A 3-day conference will be organised around the project.