BIBLIOCLASM
Studies in the Destruction, Dispersal, Theft and Reconstruction of Books and Manuscripts
BIBLIOCLASM is a new international peer-reviewed scholarly series and research programme devoted to the material and documentary history of the destruction, theft, mutilation, dismantling, illicit circulation, recovery, and reconstruction of rare books and Medieval manuscripts.
Conceived as more than a conventional periodical, BIBLIOCLASM combines scholarly publication with an ongoing programme of research, discussion, and public dissemination. Alongside its peer-reviewed volumes, the project will promote seminars, workshops, lectures, round tables, and video contributions, creating a forum in which individual case studies can become the starting point for broader methodological and interdisciplinary discussion.
The first volume of the series, scheduled for 2027, will be a collective peer-reviewed volume, bringing together contributions selected through an international Call for Papers. Future volumes may be collective or thematic and will appear according to the development of the research programme and the quality and relevance of the contributions received, rather than according to a predetermined publication frequency.
Why BIBLIOCLASM?
Rare books and Medieval manuscripts reach us not only through processes of preservation and transmission, but also through histories of destruction, mutilation, theft, dispersal, collecting, sale, recovery, and reconstruction.
These histories are too often treated as secondary to the textual, artistic, or palaeographical study of the objects themselves. BIBLIOCLASM starts from a different premise: what happened to a book is part of the history of that book.
The physical history of a codex, the circumstances in which parts of it were lost or removed, the documentary record of its successive ownership, and the routes through which its leaves or fragments entered collections, catalogues, auctions, databases, libraries, and museums are therefore not ancillary information. They constitute historical evidence in their own right.
The project brings together codicology, palaeography, philology, art history, book history, provenance research, conservation, digital humanities, cultural-heritage studies, and cultural-property law, encouraging dialogue between disciplines that frequently encounter the same objects from different perspectives.
Fragments are not detached leaves
A central methodological principle of BIBLIOCLASM is the need to distinguish between historical fragments and deliberately detached leaves.
A fragment resulting from the historical transmission of a manuscript — through deterioration, accidental loss, reuse, binding practices, or other processes of material survival — is not equivalent to an intact or substantially intact leaf deliberately removed from a codex through theft, mutilation, or commercial dismemberment.
The generic use of the word fragment for both phenomena risks erasing precisely the historical event that requires investigation: the act and circumstances of separation from the parent codex.
For this reason, BIBLIOCLASM does not approach the isolated manuscript leaf as an autonomous collectible detached from its material history. Wherever the evidence permits, research should seek to determine where the object came from, when and how it became separated, through whose hands it subsequently passed, and under what circumstances it entered its present collection or the market.
Description and attribution remain essential scholarly operations, but they cannot substitute for provenance research when the material history of an object can still be reconstructed.
From dispersal to reconstruction
The study of biblioclasm is not limited to documenting destruction.
Identifying a detached leaf, tracing its provenance, recovering evidence of a dispersed codex, locating related material in public or private collections, and reconstructing the original manuscript — physically, intellectually, or digitally — are different stages of the same research process.
BIBLIOCLASM therefore gives particular attention to the possibilities offered by digital reconstruction, image comparison, databases, archival research, and other technologies capable of reconnecting dispersed manuscript material with its original context.
Recovery and reconstruction are understood in the broadest sense: not only the physical restitution of an object, where possible, but also the restoration of its historical identity, codicological context, provenance, and documentary history.
Scholarly independence
The project is founded on a clear distinction between independent scholarly research and commercial activity in cultural property.
BIBLIOCLASM does not accept scholarly contributions from individuals professionally involved in the commercial trade of manuscripts, manuscript leaves, rare books, or related cultural property, including dealers, commercial intermediaries, auction-house specialists or consultants, and paid advisers involved in acquisition, attribution, cataloguing, valuation, or sale.
This principle does not exclude the study of the manuscript and rare-book market. On the contrary, auction catalogues, dealers, collections, commercial networks, ownership histories, and market practices constitute important subjects of research for BIBLIOCLASM. Such research, however, must be conducted from a position of scholarly independence and supported by verifiable evidence.
The series welcomes contributions from established academics, early-career scholars, independent researchers, heritage professionals, conservators, legal scholars, and specialists from relevant disciplines, provided that they meet these principles of independence and methodological rigour.
A publication series and a research forum
Publication is only one dimension of BIBLIOCLASM.
Each volume is intended to generate and preserve a wider scholarly conversation. Depending on its subject and contributors, the research developed within the series may be accompanied by:
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international seminars and research workshops, bringing together specialists around particular cases or methodological problems;
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lectures and masterclasses, including activities aimed at early-career researchers;
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round tables and scholarly discussions on provenance, biblioclasm, restitution, reconstruction, collecting, and professional responsibility;
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video essays, interviews, and short research presentations, allowing individual discoveries, objects, and methodological questions to reach audiences beyond the printed volume;
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digital resources and reconstruction projects connected with research published in the series.
These activities are conceived not as promotional supplements to the publications but as an integral part of the project. They allow research to remain open to discussion, comparison, further documentation, and new discoveries after publication.
Where appropriate, seminars, workshops, lectures, and video materials will be made available through the project's digital platforms, creating a growing research resource alongside the published series.
The inaugural volume — 2027
The first BIBLIOCLASM volume, scheduled for publication in 2027, will be a collective international volume assembled through an open Call for Papers.
It will bring together original studies addressing different forms and historical contexts of biblioclasm, manuscript and book theft, deliberate dismemberment, problematic circulation, provenance research, recovery, and reconstruction.
Particular attention will be given to documented case studies based on archival, codicological, palaeographical, photographic, legal, bibliographical, or market evidence, as well as to contributions capable of developing new methodological approaches to the study of dispersed material.
The inaugural volume is intended not simply as the first publication bearing the BIBLIOCLASM name, but as the foundation of a broader international research network. Contributors may therefore also be invited to participate in seminars, workshops, recorded discussions, or other scholarly activities connected with the project.
Future volumes will develop from the research generated by this network and may take the form of collective volumes, thematic volumes, or other peer-reviewed scholarly publications. No artificial publication frequency will be imposed: new volumes will appear when the scientific coherence and quality of the available research justify them.
An open international project
BIBLIOCLASM seeks to create a space in which the study of books and manuscripts includes the study of what has happened to them.
Its purpose is to connect objects that have been separated, evidence that has been dispersed, and disciplines that have too often worked independently; to document processes of destruction without normalising them; and, wherever possible, to move from identification to contextualisation, from dispersal to reconstruction, and from documentation to protection.
CALL FOR CONTRIBUTIONS
Download the call
External links to this call:
CALENDA: Calenda - Biblioclasm: Studies in the Destruction, Dispersal, Theft and Reconstruction of Books and Manuscripts
FABULA: Biblioclasm. Studies in the Destruction, Dispersal, Theft and Reconstruction of Books and Manuscripts
ARTHIST: CALL FOR PAPERS (CFP) Biblioclasm
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.22228870
Submission
Articles may be submitted in English, French, Italian, or Spanish.
Final articles should normally be between 5,000 and 10,000 words, including notes and bibliography.
Proposals should contain:
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a 300–500-word abstract, presenting the research question, corpus or case study, methodology, principal sources, and expected contribution;
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five keywords;
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a short biographical note, including principal research interests and institutional affiliation, where applicable;
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the proposed language of the article.
Calendar
Abstract submission deadline: 15 November 2026
Notification of selection: 15 January 2027
Full article deadline: 1 March 2027
Peer review: March–April 2027
Revisions and final acceptance: May–June 2027
Publication of the first collective volume: Second half of 2027
Proposals should be sent to:
contact(at)pigouchet.com
