No. 12: The Printed Book in the West to 1800

12-16 July 1999

1) How useful were the pre-course readings?

1: Very important, not only in preparing for the course, but for the future. Excellent selections. 2: The readings provided a very helpful background to topics covered in class. 3: Useful. They gave me a good place from which to begin studying the history of the book. 4: Very helpful, especially Chappell. However, I would’ve suggested to others that they read Chappell before Kilgour (Kilgour would be more useful if there were more illustrations). 5: Very useful, particularly ABC For Book Collectors. 6: Very useful, except the Kilgour. I thought his writing was atrocious! 7: Very useful. I would not have benefited nearly as much from the course without them. They also helped me understand the material more clearly, as it was all new to me. 8: Very helpful and well-chosen. I didn’t quite finish Carter (not enough time). 9: Very useful. 10: Exactly on target. 11: Very useful. It was hard to do all three books (but not impossible). 12: Very.

2) Were the course syllabus and other materials distributed in class useful (or will they be so in the future, after you return home)?

1: In both instances, the syllabus will be great. I have seen and created syllabi like this, and this one is excellent. 2: Yes, many interesting citations and suggestions for future reading were provided. 3: Yes, very much so. 4: Yes, extremely useful, and I will refer to them in the future. 5: Yes. 6: Yes. MA supplied the salient names and dates of people mentioned in his lectures on a separate list, which was really useful. 7: Yes to both! Helpful for class work and other activities. I especially liked the list of people and events given for each lecture to assist in note-taking and discussion. I look forward to taking on the Exit Reading List over the next few years. 8: They were fine. I marked up my syllabus a lot, and I would’ve liked a clean one for reference. 9: Yes, it would have been helpful to add a sample of typefaces to the syllabus. It was difficult to remember the differences after only seeing the slides. 10: Yes to all, especially later on, when I will refer to them. 11: Yes! Extremely useful! 12: Yes.

3) Was the intellectual level of the course content appropriate?

1: Stimulating. A tremendous amount of information provided in logical order, and one which I neither found too rushed nor too plodding. 2-3: Yes. 4: Yes, this course met my needs, and I was able to easily follow the material. 5: Yes. 6: Very satisfying! 7: Very challenging, but great! Even as a non-expert, I seemed to learn a great deal, but it was not over my head (readings, pre-course material, &c.). 8: Brisk, but OK. About right. 9: Yes! 10: Yes. 11: Very appropriate and could not have been better. MA did not assume any more knowledge - it was just right. 12: Yes.

4) If your course had field trips, were they effective?

1: The time spent viewing the various books was a means of solidifying the teaching, and was a wonderful experience. 2: Absolutely! 3: Yes, very much so. It was a treat to see the books in Special Collections, and I could have played with the common press all day. 4: Most certainly. The hands-on experience in Special Collections was one of my favorite parts of the day. The museums and slides were also useful. 5: Yes! 6: Very enjoyable and useful. 7: Absolutely! The treasures viewed tied in directly with all that we discussed in class, and illustrated many different points. 8: Absolutely. We visited Special Collections in Alderman for a laboratory experience. 9-10: Yes. 11: Extremely well spent! 12: Absolutely.

5) Did the actual course content correspond to its RBS brochure description and Expanded Course Description (ECD)? Did the course in general meet your expectations?

1-3: Yes. 4: Yes. I got exactly what I expected to get. 5: Yes. 6: Yes. Hard to believe it could be distilled so well. 7: Yes. 8: Yes, very clearly. 9: Yes. 10: Yes, it leaves me eager to take the next one in the series. 11: Yes - perfect.12: Yes.

6) What did you like best about the course?

1: Subject matter aside, the instructor was superb. It is always a pleasure to have a teacher who is so enthusiastic about the subject matter, projecting that enthusiasm, and presenting it with lucid and insightful commentary. For a novice such as myself, it was one of the more stimulating weeks I have experienced in years. 2: The hands-on nature of the experience. It was wonderful to not only hear about different types of books, for example, but to also examine multiples and variations. I also liked the broad scope of the course, which enabled us to look at the technological and cultural aspects of the book. 3: The teacher was wonderful and very enthusiastic about his subject. I also liked seeing the typography slides, and I liked working with the common press. 4: MA is an excellent teacher. He was well organized in his presentation, and he used many methods to convey his information. The combination of slides, lectures, and museums each day, as well as the trips to Special Colletions, worked quite well. Also, the exercises allowed us to test ourselves on what we’d learned through the week. 5: MA’s lecture style and the visits to Special Collections. 6: The wealth of information presented and the hands-on, museum parts of the course. 7: Used a variety of methods to give a very thorough overview of a lot of material (slides, lectures, viewing of actual books and objects, movies, &c.), but it was never boring. 8: (In no order): content, instructor, fellow students. 9: The enthusiasm and broad knowledge of the instructor. 10: The mix of lectures, slides, hands-on experience, and videos were in perfect balance. 11: The teacher.Viewing Special Collections materials. 12: The trips to Special Collections and discussing the books with the instructor.

7) How could the course have been improved?

1: Frankly, I cannot suggest anything of significant importance. It might, however, be helpful to give the students the book to research a day or two earlier. 2: Adding more hours to the class, or more days to the RBS week? More time would have been good. 3: I would have liked typography packets to take home (photocopied pages from slides, letterforms labeled with name, &c.). I saw them on slides in class, but I may not remember them next week. 5: Two weeks would be great, but I know that this might be impossible (and quite a strain on the instructors). 6: If there could be any way to include discussion earlier on, and perhaps break up the last day’s exercise over two to three days instead of two hours at the end. Begin each morning with twenty minutes to a half-hour of talk about a book. Sometimes the instructor made very broad statements that I didn’t agree with, or wanted to discuss, but couldn’t really take the time to do so. 7: We didn’t get to do the 3-D Carter activity. Make a definite time available for this? 8: I really don’t know how. More content would have resulted in instructor/student collapse! 9: More time! 10: More time to learn more! 11: A little too intense at times. The videos were interesting, but made for a long day. 12: It could have been a two-week course.

8) We are always concerned about the physical well-being both of the BAP’s teaching collections and of materials owned by UVa’s Special Collections. If relevant, what suggestions do you have for the improved classroom handling of such materials used in your course this week?

2: It might have been a good idea for instructors to demonstrate the proper support of book covers at the beginning of class; I noticed front covers left "flopped" open by some students. 3: More book cradles or cushions for items being shown in Special Collections, although I thought the general handling was quite good. 6: Make sure we all have pencils in class when dealing with materials or when taking notes. 8: No suggestions - a good balance between access and security. 9: Give students advice on handling beforehand. 11: It was wonderful to touch the materials, but should we have been wearing gloves? [No. It’s widely agreed that gloves do more damage than they prevent, except when handling photographs. -Ed.] 12: We need cotton gloves, and fragile bindings could have mylar covers.

9) Please comment on the quality/enjoyability of the various RBS activities in which you took part outside of class, eg Sunday afternoon tour, Sunday night dinner and videos, evening lectures, Bookseller Night, tour of the Alderman digital/electronic centers, &c.

1: All worthwhile. 2: I particularly enjoyed the Sunday Night Videos, especially the Connections episode. Lectures were generally interesting and informative. The common press demonstration was invaluable. I would have liked even more time to browse through shops on Bookseller Night. 3: I enjoyed Sue Allen’s lecture on Wednesday evening very much. I wish it could have been held in a better place. 4: I enjoyed the evening lectures and the various opportunities to interact with others. One comment: the room for Sue Allen’s lecture really didn’t serve the lecture, as was acknowledged by TB at the start. Is there any other room available for the audience (eg video-slide viewing)? 5: The hand-press demo was a highlight of the week, as was Tuesday evening with the booksellers. 6: The printing press demo was great, but also was part of our course. The videos on Sunday were interesting and the lectures were good. 7: Enjoyed Sunday Night Dinner, and meeting others in my class ahead of time. Also, Sunday night videos whetted my appetite for the week. 8: I participated in most of the events, and enjoyed them all. 9: G. Thomas Tanselle lecture: did not find interesting. The other lectures were great. Need better space/auditorium or lecture hall for showing videos and slide lectures. 10: Need to have a welcoming talk or introduction at the Sunday Night Dinner (five minutes or so). Videos were good, the room is worse than an afterthought! It was hard to get to all the booksellers. There was no time for a tour of Alderman, the Electronic Text Center, or the Rotunda. Special Collections hours were too short for after-class access. 11: Very good and high quality. 12: Sunday Night Dinner and the receptions gave time to enjoy talking with other students and instructors.

10) Any final thoughts? Did you get your money's worth?

1: I received more than my money’s worth: I won’t look at a book in the same way as I had done prior to this course. A revelation! 3: I certainly learned a lot this week, and took many pages of notes. The best part, really, was the teacher, MA, who is so enthusiastic and joyful in regards to this subject. I know I will return to my pages of notes as reference time and time again. 4: I learned a great deal this week. It was well worth my time. 5: I’ll recommend this course to associates. It was certainly worth the money. 6: I’d recommend this course. I wish I had taken this earlier in my career, but it’s great to have taken it now. 7: Wished I had read the preliminary readings a little earlier because I had to rush through them, but it was absolutely worth the investment, time, and money. 8: Think about the future of Rare Book School! It needs to offer for-credit courses and a degree program, preferably in its own academic department. 9: Highly recommended. Yes! [got my money’s worth]. 10: Do it. 11: MA is terrific! Could not have asked for a better course or better teacher. One of the best courses I have ever had in any one of my academic careers! Yes! [got my money’s worth].

Number of respondents: 12

There were three rare book librarians (25%), three archivists/manuscript librarians (25%), one general librarian with some rare book duties (8%), one general libarian with no rare book duties (8%), one teacher/professor (8%), one antiquarian bookseller (8%), one conservator/binder/ preservation librarian (8%) , and one rare book appraiser (8%).