No. 42: European Bookbinding: 1500-1800 (Session I)

31 July - 4 August 1995

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.

1. How useful were the pre-course readings?

1: Very useful. 2: I didn't read any of the pre-course readings; many I had read years before. 3: I didn't have time to read the pre-course readings; however, I was familiar with two of the required three readings and had read parts of them over the past several years. 4: The readings were excellent. I was lucky enough to have to order only three by interlibrary loan. Now I want to look for titles mentioned in the footnotes. 5: Very useful. I would have had a hard time following the course if I hadn't done them. 6: Before I came, I thought the reading list to be excessive, but now I'm glad to have such a complete list. The instructor did refer to a good portion of it. 7: Too hard to find easily (or at all). Great idea, but obscure, I think. 8: Reading were helpful, though too extensive to complete. Annotations were very helpful in choosing -- might increase them, such as ``Pay particular attention to chapters [n].'' 9: Very. Having the list even earlier would have been wonderful, as I left on holiday for a month the day after the list arrived, so there was less time for me to get hold of them. 10: Very -- although they might serve more as ``post-course'' readings. Those who had not read or looked at any of the books before would certainly not have been able to do justice to the course. 11: Helpful. I read all the required readings and some of the suggested ones and they were useful. Some material, however, was not readily accessible to me.

2. Did your instructor prepare sufficiently to teach THIS course? Were the course syllabus and other materials distributed in class useful?

1: Excellent preparation; fine. 2: Very well prepared with a notebook of relevant material. 3: The instructor was very well prepared and organized and had gathered course material into a convenient booklet. 4: Everything will be useful for my job and other professional development. 5: Yes. 6: Yes, very well prepared -- the syllabus, in the future, will function as a check list for looking at bindings and I think it will be very helpful. 7: Yes, very. 8: YES. 9: Definitely. 10: Yes, definitely! Excellent. 11: Yes, the instructor was exceedingly well-prepared and knowledgeable. The materials distributed in class will be very useful.

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

1: More than appropriate. 2-5: Yes. 6: Yes, and it seemed that the class was made up of peers and colleagues who made for a comfortable and interesting exchange. 7: Yes, since the class was all professionals. 8: YES. I got everything for which I had hoped, and more. 9-11: Yes.

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

2: Too many people in the Special Collections outing. More books could have been seen with just one class. 3-5: Yes. 6: Yes. It was very good to have a joint meeting with Mirjam Foot's classin binding decoration. The lectures together were very helpful. 7: Generally, yes, although the double class size did make the viewing difficult and lengthy (to pass around). 8: Yes. Bindings viewed in Special Collections enhances the slides and dog-eared BAP examples. 9-10: Yes. 11: We saw several videos which were appropriate to the course content. We had one session with Mirjam Foot's fine binding course in Special Collections. I felt this was not too successful as there were too many people looking at the materials. The books were sent around the group on trays and by the time it reached you, you had forgotten some of its importance because you were half listening to what was being said about the next book to be examined. The instructors said as much as they could about each book, which was good, but they were trying to do too much in this session and it was confusing.

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

1: Yes, it did. 2-3: Yes. 4: It corresponded with the description and exceeded my expectations. 5: Yes. 6: I believe it did meet the description, but for some reason I thought there would be more about publishing history included. 7: Yes, thoroughly enjoyed in general. 8: Yes. Met expectations, and more. 9-10: Yes. 11: This course has more than exceeded my expectations. I am amazed at how much material has been covered, the depth and breadth of knowledge of the instructor, and the intensity of his interest. His passion for the subject is compelling and inspiring.

6. What did you like best about the course?

1: The amount of knowledge of the instructor and how eager he is to spread it. His passion for his work. I think I liked everything. The amount of information on the subject that we were given was incredible. 2: Trying to soak up all of NP's knowledge. Asking questions and getting honest answers; if he didn't know, he said so. 3: I liked the organization of the material according to specific structural components of the book -- ie, endpaper constructions, head bands, board attachments, &c. Chronological and geographical identification were emphasized within the discussion of each component. 4: The instructor's willingness to field questions and interaction with classmates. 5: Learned a lot -- didn't know much about bookbinding structure. Instructor is enthusiastic and has a good sense of humor: I enjoyed his presentations. I will certainly look at books in a new way, thanks to this course. 6: Looking at the actual books. 7: Overview (through time) of Western binding, with discussion of styles, materials, &c. NP's enthusiasm! His knowledge and ability to admit he doesn't know; his ability to make educated guesses when asked. Great slides and diagrams. Met some nice people. 8: Comprehensive and well-organized presentation, excellent slides, good examples from BAP collection. Instructor had a good sense of humor. Very congenial classmates. 9: Learning such a huge quantity, finding I can now recognize a time and country in a book. NP is a wonderful teacher. Everything was very clearly presented and full of life. I felt free to ask questions. 10: Enjoyed the wonderful slides and the vast amount of information -- very stimulating! 11: I liked looking at the slides and then getting the information reinforced by looking at genuine examples.

7. How could the course have been improved?

1: Having a larger room. Having another week, for there was so much material to examine and the speed was sometimes hard to follow. 3: More time for questions and discussion would be very useful -- perhaps 20 minutes at the end of each day. 4-5: Can't think of anything. 6: If we were allowed to handle the books and examine them ourselves and discuss them with the instructor. Also some sort of a time line would be very helpful. The course is structured so thatwe go through a book by its components, ie, endsheets, sewing, supports, &c., so that the dates of the books we are looking at jump around. The time line would add a continuity factor, enabling the student to see the individual book in a context. 7: This is not meant to be critical, just piggish!! More handouts (granted, we had some nice ones); say, for example, a definition list -- since even professionals have puzzles about terms at times. NP was gracious to address questions, but a bit more printed information would be nice. Also, a very general (to be fair!) handout of countries' styles, materials, &c., and then we/I could pay more attention to slides and discussion, not so much jotting down. More examples for us to handle. Even though we're binders/restorers, lots of things are little used/known by the whole group. There's nothing like seeing with fingers! 8: Add a laboratory session (90 minutes) when each student gets one or two books to examine thoroughly. Note and share observations and conclusions about all relevant structural features. Information acquired from excellent lectures needs to be applied, tested, and internalized promptly to be most useful. 9: By having available a published text by NP, complete with photographs. In other words, practically speaking it was a very thorough (for a week) un-improvable course. 10: A time line would be very helpful. All the information becomes somewhat confusing toward the end. Maybe also a brief summary at the end of each day, or at the end of the week. 11: A session in Special Collections was valuable, but perhaps just as only one class. If two are to meet, then don't show so many examples. It was disorienting to look at books and hear the instructors talk about others. Perhaps walking around the table at the end of the session would have been better.

8. Any final thoughts?

1: Not more than 11 persons. Read the suggested pre-course readings ahead. This course is a fantastic one and I would recommend it to anyone who has to work with rare books to understand better the way they were created. 2: Participants should be restricted to those with previous binding experience. There were several in the class who clearly were lost and hadn't a clue as to what was being said or what a certain material was. Thus, NP needed to explain a lot of basic stuff. 4: I am very intimidated by TB. I respect him professionally, but I feel so uncomfortable that I don't think I will come back. 5: Do the readings! I would have been really lost if I hadn't read at least some of the items on the reading list. 6: It's hard -- maybe impossible -- to get everything down in notes. Just watch and listen and let it sink in. 8: I would highly recommend it for conservators or anyone else involved with rare books. I suspect it was a good idea to have a section for conservators and one for non-bench professionals. It made it possible to make more uniform assumptions about the level of class knowledge and understanding and allowed the instructor to tailor some sections of the course. I would strongly suggest any non-binder/conservator taking the course read the manuals on the list very carefully. Highly technical information presented in the course needs a good foundation in the details of binding procedures. I was impressed with the organization and dedication of the RBS staff. Thank you. 9: Practice writing quickly in the dark. Become a friend of BAP so you'll get in. I got a lot out of the course, more than I even expected (which was a lot). Meeting fellow students was wonderful. 11: I would recommend this course to anyone. It is one of the best I have ever taken. It all was thoroughly enjoyable and an enriching experience.

Number of respondents: 11

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