Long Ago There was a Book: Exploring the Digital Sagabon Ise Monogatari through Analytical Bibliography

This masters thesis uses bibliographical analysis to explore digital copies of the Sagabon Ise Monogatari. The digital copies are analysed both as facsimiles for the books they were created from and as digital objects in their own right. Through a combination of description, page collation, and type collation, I explore the origins of the physical and digital artifacts which comprise the Sagabon printings. Wooden movable type, early Japanese printing, Edo period aesthetics, and print variations are all examined. Upon completion of the typographical analysis, I undertake the printing and binding of a physical facsimile from the digital image files. This act of making explores the allowances and constraints digital objects and their metadata have on users and illustrates how making serves as a powerful tool for deepening bibliographic understanding of a book, be it digital or physical.M.I.S