The Intimacy of Paper in Early and Nineteenth-Century American Literature

"Senchyne writes paper back into the story of American literary history with implications for book history and literary criticism alike. As he demonstrates, the intersections between print and paper, between ostensible foreground and background, are surprisingly generative, with lasting effects on how we read (and hold and look at) printed works."—Susan M. Ryan, author of The Moral Economies of American Authorship: Reputation, Scandal, and the Nineteenth­-Century Literary Marketplace

"Senchyne finds new interpretative possibilities in the main ingredient of books and paper, not just a substrate for writing and printing but a form of expression in its own right."—John Bidwell, author of American Paper Mills, 1690–1832: A Directory of the Paper Trade with Notes on Products, Watermarks, Distribution Methods, and Manufacturing Techniques

"The Intimacy of Paper succeeds brilliantly not only as a scholarly contribution for specialists of early and nineteenth-century American culture, but also as an innovative methodological intervention in American Studies more broadly."—Anglia

"Senchyne shows a commitment to rendering visible those too often invisible—be it women using and collecting rags, women working in paper mills, or African Americans frozen in the stereotypes propagated by print media. In turn, his excellent book allows us another way to understand how women (writers) were bound and unbound in paper."—Women's Studies

"The Intimacy of Paper contributes to literary, print culture, book history, and bibliographic studies on several fronts . . . This monograph is a valuable academic resource and teaching text."—American Literary History

"This is an important and engaging work of scholarship . . . [Senchyne] has succeeded in centering female authors, people of color, individuals involved in the rag trade, and other previously marginalized actors within the literary history of American paper and papermaking."—Papers of the Bibliographical Society of Canada​