The publication patterns and networks of Fruchtbringende Gesellschaft (Fruitbearing Society) members based on the VD17

This research project analyzes the publication patterns and networks of the Fruitbearing Society’s (1617-1680) nearly 900 members using large-scale analysis of bibliographic data, derived mainly from the Verzeichnis der im deutschen Sprachraum erschienenen Drucke des 17. Jahrhunderts (VD17). The Society was the first and largest academy in the 17th-century German-speaking lands, and some of the era’s most prominent writers, poets, translators, and scholars were among its members. Though scholars have long recognized the Society’s significance and that publication was the means by which members broadly disseminated their ideas, no overall quantitative study of their publishing process and output exists. By taking this approach, we aim to produce new insights into the actors, relationships, processes, and outputs of early modern knowledge production.