Building a nation? The publishing of geographical knowledge in eighteenth-century Sweden

By Mattias Legnér, Stockholm University

The aim of the paper summarized

Being a part of a thesis in progress on the genre of place descriptions produced in Sweden between late seventeenth century and mid nineteenth-century, this study investigates how eighteenth-century geographical knowledge was shaped through publishing (including printing). A larger context is initially laid out, showing the development of geographical and topographical publishing in eighteenth-century Sweden. More specifically, the results from a case study of the publishing of Abraham Abrahamsson Hülphers’ diary from a journey through interior Sweden are discussed.

The aim of this paper is to shead light on how publishing functioned as a part of a larger process through which the idea of a unified nation was promoted. A thesis is that it played a central part in making knowledge public and national. Through publishing, the written word was not only spread but also reshaped. A main conclusion is therefore that publishing should be seen as an integral part of a process in which contemporary and historical Sweden was described, and more concretely, as a part of the production of geographical knowledge in eighteenth-century Sweden.

Publishing as part of an early nation building process

In the eighteenth century, publishing became a way of making geographical knowledge about the country – new as well as old – available for a national audience. By consulting the rapidly expanding literature on the topic, the reader could envision a Swedish nation taking shape before his eyes. In this way, interpreting the rising production of literature describing parts of the Swedish country as a process of nation building might prove to be a fruitful way of better explaining the fervour with which places (like towns, parishes, seats and spring) tried to produce descriptions of themselves.

From the 1730s on, a growing volume of literature describing different parts of Sweden was printed: Dissertations, monographs and brief articles formed a nation wide mapping project with the purpose of describing the whole of the country. Eric Tuneld’s geographical description of Sweden was printed in several editions. First published in 1741, it was actually the first work to be published covering whole Sweden. Arguably, publications themselves took on the role as artefacts when the constituents of "Sweden" were to be defined, classified and described. It became questionable whether a place lacking a printed description could even claim to be of any national geographical and historical importance – obviously, no one had bothered to present a description of it to the reading public.

This development opened up completely new possibilities for a reader to make himself informed about other parts of the country. In order to be able to imagine or think of these places, he would never have to visit them personally, nor have someone there to communicate with. An educated person with access to a fairly well-stocked library could in the second half of the eighteenth-century easily find at least some basic – but often not very reliable – information on practically any place in the country. This fact must have had some importance for the development of the concept of a Swedish nation.

The shaping of geographical knowledge through publishing

How, then, can it be said that the actual business of publishing shaped geographical knowledge at this time? In many ways, publishing put restraints and limitations on knowledge. Publishing was still a costly and risky venture, which meant that descriptions hade to be condensed as much as possible. When Hülphers was about to print his travel diary from the province of Dalarna, it had grown considerably since he and his publisher Lars J Horrn had agreed on a deal. This lead to a considerably higher printing costs and, ultimately, a higher selling price on the final work. There was a tension between the author’s wish to produce a description as complete as possible, and the constraints put on by a publisher wishing to make a profit on the work. In this case, the tension resulted in a dispute between the two parties in which Hülphers accused Horrn of making it impossible for him to publish a second and revised edition. Evidently, publishing was actively influencing the process of making certain forms of geographical knowledge public and official.

Maps and illustrations were certainly costly to produce, making most descriptions completely based on text. Hülphers let produce a map of the province of Dalarna to be included in the diary. When studying the creation of this map, it becomes even more evident that the process of producing geographical knowledge had not come to an end once the information had been collected and edited into a manuscript. Decisions on how knowledge was to be shaped and presented continued all the way through the process of publishing. Which places were to be included (respectively excluded) on the map, and how should their names be spelled? Again, printing restrained knowledge and demanded it to be given certain shapes, to fit in that tight frame which was paper and ink.

Publishing and the nationalizing of geographical knowledge

In eighteenth-century Sweden, there was an ongoing contest between locally based, non print knowledge – information collected by Hülphers on his journeys and through the local connosseurs he corresponded with –, and a centrally based print culture which forced knowledge into certain shapes, excluding pieces which did not fit in. Authors of geographical works were still highly dependant on local informants, but the information collected was not always suitable for printing, and even if it was, it had to be adapted through careful editing, summarizing and homogenizing.

A conclusion is that publishing contributed to the forming of geographical knowledge, making it part of a process homogenizing information about the country. Not only was knowledge demanded to be presented in given ways, but it could also be actively reshaped through publishing. In this way, publishing willingly engaged in the filtering of knowledge through a rigorous screening process which defined its uses and how it was to be presented.

Mattias Legnér, postgraduate student
Postal address: Department of History, Stockholm University, S-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden
Email: Mattias.Legner@historia.su.se
Phone: +46 (0)8 674 74 06
Fax: +46 (0)8 16 75 48