Early modern books are full of numbers, representing both practicality and mystery. The Journal of the Northern Renaissance invites contributions for a special issue exploring numbers in early modern literature and textual culture. How were numbers and numerical techniques used in drama, dance, and music? What were the practical issues arising from printing numerical texts, and how were numbers represented on the page? How were the index and the cross-reference created and used? To what extent would an early modern audience recognize mathematical references in literary texts and performance? Who would buy an arithmetic book and how might they use it?

Articles are invited on, but not confined to, the following subject areas:

• Ways of counting and things to count: inventories and accounts; time and tempo; feet and metre.
• Numbers in print: reference tables, logarithms, cross-referencing, indices.
• Books on arithmetic, double-entry book-keeping and merchants’ handbooks. Ciphering and deciphering.
• The use of zero and other mathematical symbols in literature and drama.
• Dance, music and other numerical art forms.
• Making a reckoning: performing numbers on stage.
• Numbers in the material text: ways of using numerical books, and their owners.
• Mystical numbers, kaballah, numerology.
• Mathematical methodologies; measuring, mapping and quantifying.

This issue will be guest-edited by Dr Katherine Hunt and Rebecca Tomlin, organisers of a conference on the topic held at Birkbeck, University of London, in May 2013, from which some of the papers are expected to be taken. Potential contributors are advised to consult the JNR web page for details of the submissions procedure and style guidelines: http://www.northernrenaissance.org/information. We also welcome initial enquiries regarding possible contributions, which can be sent to northernrenaissance+numbers[@]gmail.com.