Business and Official Correspondence: Historical Investigations

The Editors: Marina Dossena is Professor of English Language at the University of Bergamo. Her research interests focus on the features and origins of British varieties of English and the history of specialized discourse. Recent publications include Insights into Late Modern English, co-edited with Charles Jones (Peter Lang 2003), Methods and Data in English Historical Dialectology, co-edited with Roger Lass (Peter Lang 2004), and Scotticisms in Grammar and Vocabulary (2005).Susan M. Fitzmaurice is Chair in English Language at the University of Sheffield. She has published widely on the history of the English language, and is particularly interested in the history of English letters, social networks, and standardization.

• Contents: Maurizio Gotti: Communal Correspondence in Early Modern English: The Philosophical Transactions Network – Urszula Okulska: Textual Strategies in the Diplomatic Correspondence of the Middle and Early Modern English Periods: The Narrative Report Letter as a Genre – Susan Fitzmaurice: Diplomatic Business: Information, Power, and Persuasion in Late Modern English Diplomatic Correspondence – Manfred Markus: Abbreviations in Early Modern English Correspondence – Ingrid Tieken-Boon van Ostade: Edward Pearson Esqr.: The Language of an Eighteenth-century Secretary – Gabriella Del Lungo Camiciotti: «Conduct yourself towards all persons on every occasion with civility and in a wise and prudent manner; this will render you esteemed»: Stance Features in Nineteenth-century Business Letters – Marina Dossena: Stance and Authority in Nineteenth-century Bank Correspondence - a Case Study – Richard Dury: A Corpus of Nineteenth-century Business Correspondence: Methodology of Transcription.