Återge eller återskapa? : faksimilen som verktyg och konstverk

Författare

Kristina Lundblad

Redaktör

Eva Nilsson Nylander

Summary, in English

After a brief introduction to some core questions in the history of the book, such as the relationship between form and content, this article investigates the concept of facsimile and its use, and discusses a range of documents that go by the name of “facsimile”. The prevailing definitions of the term “facsimile” focus on the technical means of reproduction and the “exactness” of the copy. However, these definitions do not manage to distinguish the concept of facsimile, from that of a “copy” or “reproduction”. In spite of this and notwithstanding the rich diversity of products within the genre of facsimile, there seems to be a considerable consensus as to what can, and what can not, be called a facsimile. The common denominator – be it a digitized letter, a printed page reproduced in low resolution and presented in PDF-format, or a costly recreation of an entire manuscript complete with gold decoration and worm-holes – is the idea that the form of the original document produces meaning.

But what is the nature of the meaning produced? Special attention is given to the so called, "art facsimiles", and the use of facsimiles within edition philology. As to the former, the facsimile is often presented as a re-creation of the original document. Its precious materials and meticulous workmanship appeal to the sensual experience of the facsimile as a physical object. As for the latter, facsimiles are used as tools for analysis, and are perceived as reproductions of texts as images bringing into focus, understanding as opposed to sensing. With Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht’s theoretical concept of “presence” and “presence production”, the comparison sheds light on the diverse effects and functions of facsimiles.

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