'Publication', papyri, and literary texts: process and presentation
Keywords: book history
Roman books
book structure
Greek books
literary publication
materiality of text
literary papyrology
book trade

What do we mean when we say that an ancient author 'published a treatise' or that Vergil's Aeneid was 'left unpublished'? Are we even allowed to make such statements, in the absence of publishing houses? Oral practices held an important place in the literary world, and Greek and Latin books were copied by hand. Was their literary culture, then, completely different from ours? This thesis aims to answer such questions by approaching 'publication' from the perspective of the authors and readers involved, and by comparing the evidence across extant literary texts with insights from papyri.
The thesis consists of an introduction (chapter 1), five chapters (2–6) and a conclusion. After the introduction, which briefly situates this work in relation to existing approaches to book studies and ancient 'publication', chapter 2 analyses the bookroll as a medium of literary communication between two alternative ways to present a text: performance and inscription. The discussion of modes of publication is illustrated by a selection of early Greek lyric papyri and a number of inscriptions and graffiti, including the monumental `stone publication' by Diogenes of Oenoanda.
Chapters 3, 4, and 5 are focussed on three elements of the communication system: readers, authors, and books. Chapter 3 looks at strategies of representation of the audience and existing methods of text distribution. It reveals a hierarchical structure present both in audience engagement and in the representation of the book trade. It is completed with a study of papyri produced close to the lifetime of their authors, including three case studies. Chapter 4 interrogates the term `publication' by examining the motivations urging authors to produce a book and and the hesitations holding them back. The second half of the chapter considers two topoi, the book address and the image of an unfinished work, as a means of engaging with the reality of book publication. Chapter 5 treats the book as a material object. It compares the features of a 'standard' bookroll with their literary reception, and reveals their connection to the moment of publication. The chapter then analyses two major elements of the book's paratext, titles and prefaces, and explores their relevance for publication.
Chapter 6 analyses the journey of a text on its way to becoming a book, in the physical and conceptual sense. It introduces a classification of texts into 'coherent' and 'collected' to account for differences in their creation and usage and includes an analysis of pre-publication texts such as a 'master copy'. It also considers the changes to the publication process of multi-volume works and the phenomenon of serial publication. Finally, the chapter examines the phenomenon of serial publication and compares the paratactic activity of publishing in multiple instalments to literary activity in general.
The thesis is furnished with two indices, a list of figures and tables, and a bibliography. Authors discussed include Polybius, Cicero, Vitruvius, Horace, Ovid, Martial, Statius, Pliny the Younger, Diogenes of Oenoanda, and Galen.