An analysis of the book advertisements in the Avisblatt can take up research already carried out for early modern English, French or Dutch newspapers, leading to an international comparison. Furthermore, a long-term subset of ads concerned with print can also broaden the perspective of and dig deeper into details of trading, producing and consuming books. Ina wants to evaluate the structure of the local book market – the ratio of private and professional sellers and buyers, local and foreign printers, the role of book lotteries, the success or failure of calls for subscriptions – as well as changes and consistencies of the culture of reading. The advertised genres and the targeted readers – scholars, women, pious people, locals or foreigners – and the actuality of the offered and seeked books can be used as indicators for developments in this field.
By performing different analyses with the text of selected subsets, she wants to answer questions about the popularity of certain titles or genres and to investigate trends in the attribution of value to the material book.
Through matching book titles, in the ads often provided with detailed information regarding printer, format etc., with databases like ISTC, USTC, VD16/17/18, a contribution to the list of known, but today lost books shall be made.