Books at Virginia
Rare Book School 1995

WEEK ONE
Monday 10 July - Friday 14 July

11 The Company of Stationers to 1637.

The evolution and growth of the Stationers' Company of London after the arrival of printing transformed the English book trade. Topics include: the attempts to obtain a charter in 1541-2 and 1554-7; the changing regulations governing license, entrance, and the ownership of texts; the prehistory and history of the English Stock; the Star Chamber decrees of 1586 and 1637. Instructor: Peter Blayney.

12 Collecting Travel Literature.

This course will explore the value of travel literature in research library collections through consideration of the following topics: travel literature as a genre; the development of travel literature from ancient times to the end of the c19; major themes in travel literature (commerce, religion, science, adventure, journalism); travel literature as an approach to many disciplines (anthropology, ecology, geography, geology, natural history, oceanography, sociology); maps and illustrations; bibliographies and major collections; philosophy of collecting (originals, facsimiles, modern editions). Instructor: John Parker.

13 Publishers' Bookbindings, 1830-1910.

The study of publishers' bookbindings, chiefly in the United States, but with frequent reference to England, and occasional reference to Continental developments. Topics include: the rise of the edition binder; design styles and how they developed; new techniques, machines, and materials introduced in the c19; the identification of rarities; the physical description of bindings; the preservation of publishers' bindings. The course will make extensive use of the Book Arts Press's notable collection of c19 and early c20 binding exemplars. Instructor: Sue Allen.

14 Printing Design and Publication.

In today's museums and libraries, the texts for readers' instructions, call slips, signs, announcements, posters, checklists, and full-dress catalogs are generally composed on microcomputers, often by staff members with little graphic design experience. This course will teach the principles of good design within the limits of readily available software programs, centering on work generated by a laser printer and reproduced on a photocopier (but without neglecting more complex projects requiring the use of a commercial printer). The course will include critiques of past examples and projected work which students bring to class. Instructor: Greer Allen.

15 Collecting the History of Anglo-American Law.

This course is intended for individuals who collect in some aspect of the history of the law and for librarians who have custody of historical legal materials and wish to form focused collections. It will survey printed and MS materials in Anglo-American law and introduce its bibliography and curatorship. Course topics include: the role of legal materials in the development of the common law; the history of the production and distribution of law books; legal bibliographies, catalogs, and reference books; philosophy and techniques of collecting; acquiring books, MSS, and ephemera in the antiquarian book trade; and the history of the collection of legal materials by private collectors and institutions. Instructors: Morris L. Cohen and David Warrington.

16 Introduction to Electronic Texts.

An exploration of the research, preservation, and pedagogical uses for electronic texts. Topics include: finding and evaluating existing etexts; the creation of standards-based etexts and related digital images; SGML tagging and conversion (especially the Text Encoding Initiative Guidelines and HTML); publishing on the World Wide Web; text analysis tools (including PAT); electronic text centers and the management and use of on-line texts. Instructor: David Seaman.

WEEK TWO
Monday 17 July - Friday 21 July

21 History of the Printed Book in the West

(Session I). Topics include: early printed books; printing materials and processes; bookbinding; typography and book design; authorship, publishing, reading, and the book trade; the book in America and American books; graphic arts and book illustration; the c19 mechanization of the printing trades; c20 fine printing. Intended for those with no prior coursework or extensive reading in the field. The instructor welcomes students from a broad range of academic disciplines, collectors, dealers, and librarians. Offered again in Week 3. Instructor: Martin Antonetti.

22 History of European and American Papermaking.

Papermaking from its introduction in Europe to the Industrial Revolution, emphasizing changes in technology and the economics of the trade. Questions of labor and management, the identification and description of paper in early books and MSS, and the revival of hand-papermaking in the c20. The course will include several laboratory sessions in which students will produce a series of Oriental and Western paper specimens related to the lecture sessions. Instructors: Timothy Barrett and John Bidwell.

23 Book Illustration to 1890.

The identification of illustration processes and techniques, including woodcut, etching, engraving, stipple, aquatint, mezzotint, lithography, wood engraving, steel engraving, process relief, collotype, photogravure, and various kinds of color printing. The course will be taught from the extensive Book Arts Press files of examples of illustration processes. As part of the course, students will make their own etchings, drypoints, and relief cuts in supervised laboratory sessions. Instructor: Terry Belanger.

24 Lithography in the Age of the Hand Press.

This course, which will explore a wide range of applications of lithography in Europe, is aimed at those who are concerned with books, prints, and ephemera especially of the first half of the c19. Topics include: Senefelder and the discovery of lithography; lithographic stones and presses; the work of the lithographic draftsman, letterer, and printer; early lithographed books and other printing; the development of particular genres, including music printing; chromolithography in the context of color printing. Instructor: Michael Twyman.

25 The American Book in the Industrial Era: 1820-1914.

This course will explore manufacturing methods, distribution networks, and publishing patterns introduced in the United States during the industrial era. A major part of the course will consist of small, supervised laboratory sessions in which students will examine, analyze, and describe books produced during the period. The course will also introduce students to bibliographical practice and conventions as they apply to these books. Instructor: Michael Winship.

26 Introduction to Rare Book Librarianship

(Session I). Overview of the theory and practice of rare book librarianship. Topics include: the function of rare books in libraries; the interpretation of rare book collections to their publics; patterns of use; special collections reference materials; security; environmental desiderata; exhibitions and publications; friends' groups. Offered again in Week 3. Instructor: Daniel Traister.

WEEK THREE
Monday 24 July - Friday 28 July

31 History of the Printed Book in the West

(Session II). For a description of this course, see above, no. 21. Instructor: Martin Antonetti.

32 Type, Lettering, and Calligraphy, 1450-1830.

The development of the major formal and informal book hands, the dominant printing types of each period, and their interrelationship. Topics include: the Gothic hands; humanistic script; the Renaissance inscriptional capital; Garamond and the spread of the Aldine Roman; calligraphy from the chancery italic to the English round hand; the neo-classical book and its typography; and early commercial typography. Instructor: James Mosley.

33 Book Production in 16th-Century France.

Of potential interest to scholars of literature and the book trade in the French Renaissance, this course will focus on printers in Paris and Lyon and will examine their relations with the writers whose works they produced. Writers may include Marot, Rabelais, Du Bellay, Ronsard, Montaigne and others according to the interests of the participants. The course will be conducted in French. Instructor: Jeanne Veyrin-Forrer.

34 Introduction to Rare Book Librarianship

(Session II). For a description of this course, see above, no. 26. The first session of the course (17-21 July) is intended for professional librarians who have had no formal training in this field but whose duties now include the administration or care of rare book collections. This session of the course is open to all those with an interest in rare book librarianship, whether or not they are currently working in a library or have had formal training in the field. Instructor: Daniel Traister.

35 Rare Book Libraries: A Perspective for Booksellers.

The interests of rare book and special collections departments and of antiquarian booksellers are closely related, but differences of perspective and function can result in misunderstanding and confusion. This course, intended to improve booksellers' ability to deal effectively with librarians, presents the viewpoint of institutional collectors. Topics: the concepts of special collections and their relationship to scholarly research in the humanities; the rare book librarian's day; how and why rare book librarians buy (and sell); the collector/dealer/librarian triangle; dealer-librarian relationships, good and bad; and issues of education and training. Instructor: Richard Landon.

36 Introduction to Book Collecting

This course is aimed at persons who spend a fairly substantial amount of time and money on book collecting, but who feel isolated from the national (and international) antiquarian book community. Topics include: the rationale of book collecting; developing relations with dealers; buying at auction; bibliophile and friends' groups; cataloging possibilities; preservation and conservation options; tax and other financial implications; what finally to do with your books; and the literature of book collecting. Instructors: Wm P. Barlow, Jr and Terry Belanger.

WEEK FOUR
Monday 31 July - Friday 4 August

41 European Decorative Bookbinding.

An historical survey of decorative bookbinding in England and on the European Continent, concentrating on the period 1500-1800, but with examples drawn from the late c7 to the late c20. Topics include: the emergence and development of various decorative techniques and styles; readership and collecting; the history of bookbinding in a wider historical context; the pitfalls and possibilities of binding research. Enrollment in this course is limited to those who have already taken Nicholas Pickwoad's RBS bookbinding course, European Bookbinding, 1500-1800 (see below, nos. 42 and 53). Instructor: Mirjam Foot.

42 European Bookbinding, 1500-1800 (Session I).

How bookbinding in the post-medieval period developed to meet the demands placed on it by the growth of printing: techniques and materials employed to meet these demands; the development of temporary bindings (eg pamphlets and publishers' bindings); the emergence of structures usually associated with volume production in the c19; the development of decoration; the dating of undecorated bindings; the identification of national and local binding styles. Offered again in Week 5. Instructor: Nicholas Pickwoad.

43 How to Research a Rare Book.

Strategies for the efficient identification and interpretation of the bibliographies that are most useful for work with rare and early printed books; aimed at reference librarians, booksellers, catalogers, and others who routinely research rare books. Sources primarily in English and in the major other Roman-alphabet languages; but some attention paid to non-Western sources as well. Instructor: D. W. Krummel.

44 Rare Book Cataloging.

Aimed at catalog librarians who find that their present duties include (or shortly will include) the cataloging of rare books and/or special collections materials. Attention will be given both to cataloging books from the handpress period and to c19 and c20 books in a special collections context. Topics include: comparison of rare book and general cataloging; application of codes and standards; uses of special files; problems in transcription, collation and physical description; and setting cataloging policy within an institutional context. Instructor: Eric Holzenberg.

45 Visual Materials Cataloging.

Aimed at librarians and archivists who catalog published or unpublished visual materials. The emphasis will be on c19 and c20 prints and photographs being cataloged either as single items or as part of archival collections. Topics include: descriptive and subject cataloging; form and genre access; special problems in authority work and physical description; comparison of AMC and VIM cataloging; the relationship between physical processing and cataloging; and establishing institutional priorities. Instructor: Jackie Dooley.

46 Introduction to the Internet.

A practical introduction to the Internet. Topics include: how to access and navigate the Net; hands-on experience in a range of on-line resources, including email, the World Wide Web, and Gopher servers; electronic discussion groups and library catalogs; strategies for finding what you need; a look at what is coming in the near future. Basic microcomputer skills such as word-processing are required, but it is assumed that applicants will be persons (eg booksellers, independent scholars, or librarians at institutions not yet supporting network usage and training) who have little or no previous experience with Internet services. Instructor: David Seaman.

WEEK FIVE
Monday 7 August - Friday 11 August

51 Latin Paleography, 1100-1500.

An introduction to this neglected field of paleography, including reading (and expanding abbreviations proper to various disciplines), identification, classification, dating and localization of the principal kinds of Gothic and humanistic script. Examples of Latin texts (and, exceptionally, French and English ones) will be studied from photographs, photocopies, and slides. Designed for all those who have to deal with late medieval MSS. Applicants should have a good basic knowledge of Latin and of paleography. Instructor: Albert Derolez.

52 Introduction to Medieval and Early Renaissance Bookbinding Structures

An explanation of the diversities of European bookbinding structures, up to and including the early period of more generalized practice and divisions of labor. Topics include: identification (where possible) of the main types of binding structures; their dating and provenance; the recognition and recording of materials and techniques. Instructor: Christopher Clarkson.

53 European Bookbinding, 1500-1800 (Session II).

For a description of this course, see under Course no. 42. The first session of this course (31 July - 4 August) is intended especially for bench-trained practitioners; this session of the course is intended especially for persons with a primarily historical interest in the subject, and who have not (necessarily) had bench training in bookbinding. Instructor: Nicholas Pickwoad.

54 Introduction to Descriptive Bibliography.

Introduction to the physical examination and description of books and other printed materials, especially (but not exclusively) of the period 1550-1875. The course is designed both for those with little or no prior exposure to this subject and for those with some general knowledge of the field who wish to be presented with a systematic discussion of the elements of physical description (format, collation, signings, pagination, paper, type, illustrations and other inserts, binding, circumstances of publication, &c.). A major part of the course will consist of small, closely-supervised laboratory sessions in which students will gain practice in determining format and collation. Instructors: Terry Belanger and David Ferris.

55 Refocusing Special Collections

The emphasis of this course, aimed at research and rare book librarians with collection development responsibilities, will be on techniques for improving a current collection's focus, though matters concerning the acquisition of new materials will also be touched upon. Topics include: developing a viable collection development policy; surveying current collections; preparing a collection description; the challenges presented by reformatting; techniques of deaccession. Instructor: Hendrik Edelman.

56 Developing Special Collections of African-American Materials.

This course is aimed at research and rare book librarians, MS librarians, and archivists whose current responsibilities include the care of collections containing African-American printed and/or MS materials. Topics include: the history of African-American institutional collecting; sources for acquiring materials; developing clienteles of users; description and preservation; and current issues (Afrocentrism vs Eurocentrism, ethics, inter-institutional competition). Instructors: Lucious Edwards, Jr and Michael Plunkett.