New prize for Helen Smith's "Grossly Material Things"

Posted on 30 October 2013

Helen Smith's monograph, "'Grossly Material Things': Women and Book Production" (Oxford University Press, 2012) has been awarded the Ronald H. Bainton Literature Prize. 'Grossly Material Things' was previously awarded the SHARP DeLong Book History Book Prize, 2013.

Grossly Material Things (Helen Smith)

Helen's book investigates the varied roles played by women in making and using printed books in early modern England. She shows that women were central to the processes of literary production, whether as patrons, amanuenses, and editors, as printers and booksellers, or as responsive and creative readers.

The Bainton prize, awarded by the Sixteenth Century Society, is given to the best new book on the period 1450-1660 in recognition of the quality and originality of research, methodological innovation, fresh and stimulating interpretation, and literary style.

The prize is named in honour of Roland H. Bainton, who was for many years professor of church history at the seminary of Yale University, the author of over a dozen important books, and an ardent supporter of early modern studies.