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Places Glued to Pages
The Material Epistemology of Topographical Albums in the Collection of Johann Gottfried Schultz
The paper examines three topographical albums (the German technical term is "Klebebände") by the Görlitz draughtsman Johann Gottfried Schultz, which are part of his larger collection of albums. One volume contains drawings by Schultz himself, one consist of collected prints and one of texts from books Schultz had cut up. Considered together, the three albums shed light onto the materiality, the making and the associated epistemic functions of albums at around 1800. Schultz’ albums spin an infinitely expandable, pasted web of transmedial and interpictorial cross-references to document the wider regions around Görlitz. It is shown how the basic operation of gluing transforms loose images into elements of knowledge and taste, and a private intellectual activity into an encyclopaedic collection open to the public.
