It has been an immense pleasure to prepare this Festschrift in honour of Andrew Pettegree. Anyone who has studied the history of the Reformation, the book and communication will have come across or been influenced by Andrew’s contributions to these fields. Over the course of his career, Andrew has published ten monographs, two collections of essays, ten edited volumes, five printed bibliographies and source volumes, and more than eighty articles in scholarly journals and edited collections. His work has a truly global appeal, and has been translated into Dutch, German, Italian, French, Polish, Latvian, Russian, Turkish, Chinese and Japanese. The Universal Short Title Catalogue, founded and directed by Andrew since 2011, has been visited millions of times, and is used every week by several thousand scholars and students around the world. In his prolific role as editor and supervisor, Andrew has supported scores of scholars and enabled many of them to produce their first published works.
The essays in this Festschrift and its companion volume (The Book World of Early Modern Europe: Essays in Honour of Andrew Pettegree, Volume 2, LWW 107) have been commissioned to cover the broad scope of Andrew’s areas of interest and expertise. The pieces in this volume have been grouped around three key themes: Reformation and Religious Culture; Religion and Print; and Religious Strife and Revolt in sixteenth-century France and the Low Countries. The companion volume covers six other themes: The Arts of Printing and Publishing; International Connections and Circulation in the Book World; Education and the Book; Libraries and Book Collecting; The Periodical Press; and Research Methodologies and Media Transformations. The contributors, based at more than thirty institutions in ten countries, include many of Andrew’s friends, current and former postgraduate students, and colleagues past and present. We are deeply grateful to them all for their participation and their enthusiasm to celebrate Andrew’s remarkable contribution to the historical discipline. Not all the scholars who wanted to take part in this project could ultimately do so, as the Covid-19 pandemic and personal circumstances rendered their involvement impossible: we are nevertheless thankful for their efforts and their interest. Our thanks are due to Brill, Arjan van Dijk and Francis Knikker for their support for the Library of the Written Word and this present venture.
Andrew has shaped the careers of generations of scholars through his research, writing, teaching, supervision, leadership and mentorship. It is impossible to encapsulate in words the extent of Andrew’s influence on the study of history, or to express the gratitude felt towards him by his friends, students and colleagues. This Festschrift, published on the occasion of Andrew’s sixty-fifth birthday on 16 September 2022, is only a small product of Andrew’s momentous legacy. It is a legacy that will continue to grow and define scholarship for many years to come.
Arthur der Weduwen and Malcolm Walsby
December 2021