While Book History  will remain for the foreseeable future a print publication, an increasing number of our contributors have been using methods and relying on source material that can only be made available in a digital environment. Since the 2016 issue (#19), the editors have been asking all contributing authors whether they had any additional material unsuitable for a print format they’d like to accompany their article, and many have.

While the articles themselves will remain exclusively in print and on the Johns Hopkins University Press site, that additional material—databases, color illustrations, links to outside content, even web videos—is featured here, giving readers additional ways to experience and engage with the high-quality scholarship appearing in the journal.

So this is both an explanation and an invitation. Potential contributors to Book History should think about whether they might want to provide such additional material to readers, and if so, what kinds of material might be most appropriate. This Book History Unbound site will not be a separate journal in itself; Book History is still only interested in work that can best appear as a traditional scholarly article. But as to what can expand the appeal and scope and comprehensiveness of a given article, we look forward to the creative and innovative ideas of our authors.