In 1997 the Cambridge Project for the Book Trust agreed to host the international congress of the Society for the History of Authorship, Reading and Publishing. Nearly 300 people attended five parallel sessions with some 118 papers given over three days. It provided a stimulating forum for scholars from twenty-two different countries to meet and to discuss their work in book history.

Pictured, left to right: Ann Cowan (Canada), Sydney Shep (New Zealand), Jonathan Rose (USA), Fiona Black (Canada), Germaine Warkentin (Canada) and Ian Willison (UK).