The Visual Art of Grammar from Europe to the Americas

Grammar, which was at the heart of Renaissance humanism and often likened to a formidable Roman matron, has become sidelined as a kind of Cinderella in contemporary early modern studies. This seminar was an attempt at rehabilitation, calling particular attention to the range of iconography used to represent grammar, and to its role beyond the confines of classical philology and history of scholarship. The event, held at Brown’s Smith-Buonanno Hall, the Hay Library, and the John Carter Brown Library, was conceived and led by Andrew Laird, Brown University, and planned in collaboration with Ahuvia Kahane, a Hellenist and Hebraist (Regius Professor of Greek at Trinity College, Dublin) and with Dr. Owen Williams (Associate Director for Scholarly Programs at the Folger Institute,) who were both able to attend. David Cram (Jesus College, Oxford,) a linguist and historian of early modern linguistics also had an important advisory role.

The first day of the seminar was devoted to ‘Iconography and visual representations of grammar’ and explored specific visual representations of grammar and origins and significance of the iconography; the focus of the second day was ‘Iconicity of language and grammar itself’. There was a degree of slippage between the two themes, and that recursiveness was given full play in the discussions. Participants consider the visual design and decoration of grammars and vocabularies, their identity as artifacts in print and manuscript, as well as the scripts, images and designs they contained. These reflections intersected with a focus on grammar’s consequential ramifications outside Europe, in various language encounters, especially in the Americas.

Two members of the Center for the Study of the Early Modern World made important contributions to this event: Guillaume Candela curated a display of relevant materials at the John Carter Brown Library on Friday, 1st November; and on the afternoon of Saturday, November 2nd William Monroe presented a large collection of early modern grammars, vocabularies and linguistic works at the Hay Library. Both showings generated important synergies in the closing discussion.