Biological hermeneutics

Biological hermeneutics is the transdisciplinary study of written and printed media using artistic and scientific methods to trace the biological history of the text. For more on transdisciplinary study see transdisciplinarity.
History
Biological hermeneutics came into being after the development of the microscope during the seventeenth century. The most celebrated practitioner Robert Hooke devoted two of his 'Schema' of his ground breaking book Micrographia to the study of the microbiome of the book.
Schema 12 was drawn from studying the red covers of a ‘small book’ which he judged to be made of ‘Sheeps skin’, he found: … a small white spot of hairy mould, multitudes of which I found to bespeck & whiten . These spots appear’d, through a good Microscope, to be a very pretty shap’d Vegetative body, which, from almost the same part of the Leather, shot out multitudes of small long cylindrical and transparent stalks …
Schema 33 is dedicated to the study "Of the Small Silver-colour'd Book-worm."
In order to collect biological material for later study books were sent out into the community as parish libraries. Gorton library is the last surviving example and has yet to be investigated using Biological Hermeneutic techniques.
In 1831 the foundation of the British Association for the Advancement of Science led to the popularisation of science and enabled a wider group to undertake their own investigations outside of the Royal Society creating a space for the further development of the practice.

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