22: The Printed Book in the West to 1800 [H-30]
7-11 March 2005
1) How useful were the pre-course readings?
1: Very useful. Although [I am] in the conservation field, it was still great to review terms plus learn new ones. 2: [John Carter’s] ABC for Book Collectors was helpful. Warren Chappell’s [Short History of the Printed Word] was less useful, although it did provide a general background. 3: Very useful. They introduced terms, people, and ideas that were defined and explored in the course. 4: Very helpful. Intensive -- I wish I could have read everything. 5: Fairly useful. 6: Useful as a very general introduction. I enjoyed reading Carter again. 7: Pretty useful, although Warren Chappell is not a great read. 8: Very good. 9: Very useful. 10: Very helpful. 11: Very useful. 12: ABC was entertaining and useful. Chappell was tedious and poorly presented. 13: Excellent.
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: Very useful. I plan to copy many of the handouts for coworkers unable to attend. 2-3: Yes. 4: Absolutely. An invaluable item that will be referred to many times in the future, I’m sure! 5: Superb guide to help with note-taking. 6: Yes, I plan to use the exit reading list. 7: Extremely useful, and I look forward to revisiting them at home. 8: Were very good for following lectures. 9: Very useful. 10: Yes. 11: Yes -- it was good to have some of the names and references in the lectures spelled out. 12: Excellent materials that will be invaluable for further study. 13: Excellent -- very useful.
3) What aspects of the course content were of the greatest interest or relevance for your purposes? Was the intellectual level of the course appropriate?
1: I was a history major, so the whole class topic was really a joy to revisit and explore. The intellectual level was appropriate, plus MA really created a friendly classroom environment, so discussion was never hindered/discouraged. 2: The combination of slides, videos, lectures, and time in Special Collections was very helpful. 3: Yes. The instructor provided an incredibly complete yet introductory-level course that appeared to speak to everybody’s interests and intellects. I learned more about my field, along with the history, art, and influence that surround it. There was no end to learning! 4: History of the type, binding, and printing process, and how that would help make treatment decisions in conservation work! The intellectual level was appropriate, and without excluding people or boring others. 5: The social context of the developments in printing history and literacy. 6: All-encompassing social history of printing and its effects were very useful beyond the mere chronological recitation of facts. The intellectual level was appropriate. 7: I particularly liked the way MA placed the topics in a broad but richly described cultural, social, historical, and political context, and also provided what he calls the ethnographic “minutiae” of everyday life. His architectural comparisons were also very interesting. 8: The course was a very good overview that helped make me aware of features to look for in my work. 9: The entire course was greatly interesting and relevant to my purposes. The intellectual level was exactly as the course was billed, and therefore appropriate. 10: All of it. 11: Yes -- appropriate level. Assumed some knowledge (from readings), which was good. 12: Yes. 13: Time in Special Collections; hands-on very important. MA is an excellent lecturer.
4) If your course had field trips, were they effective?
1: Absolutely -- always relevant and noteworthy. 2: In general, yes -- although I was often unclear what we were looking at and why. Perhaps this was a discovery technique of learning, but I would have benefitted from a list of items displayed and would also have liked to see comparisons (or binding, type, &c.) side by side. 3: Yes. We saw relevant material and continued to discover evidence supporting theories and creating new ones discussed in class. 4: Yes! 5: Fantastic -- really brought home that which we saw in PowerPoint and heard of in lectures. 6: Yes. Examples in Special Collections were well-chosen to illustrate lectures. 7: Extremely well-spent. It was very exciting to see the books MA showed us, and they were well-selected to illustrate and illuminate his lectures. 8: The examples talked about were seen in Special Collections. 9: Most definitely. 10: Yes. 11: Yes, but we were often behind (so what we were looking at was out of sync with the most recent lecture). 12: Very well-spent; an integral part of the learning experience. 13: Essential to class and very well-spent.
5) What did you like best about the course?
1: The variation of activities throughout the day; learning through lecture, but then seeing the books up close and personal. 2: The instructor, MA, was so wonderful he could have made the history of anything interesting. He really brought out the best in classmates and fostered a participatory and stimulating classroom experience. I also like the variation in activities. I learned more this week than I have in a long time. If only every week could be like this!!! 3: It was comprehensive and in-depth at the same time. The instructor was engaging and enthusiastic and was really responsible for making the course as informative and enjoyable as it was. 4: That we covered so much information so rationally in only a week. Without realizing -- everything really pertained to everything about my daily operations at the library. 5: The combination of bibliography and semiotics. The material was brought to life by the very engaging and compelling presentations by the instructor. What was dry and incomprehensible in readings became vital and clear in the classroom. I felt I ended up with a wonderfully lucid picture of this amazing subject and a desire to learn much more. 6: The instructor and his seemingly endless knowledge of the history of printing. 7: See no. 3 above. 8: The lectures discussing the world in which the books were made. 9: MA is a wonderful teacher. He taught the class the history of the book. Could not ask for more. 10: Trips to Special Collections and the class project. The slide presentations were helpful. In the future, leave out the old videos. 11: Discussion of books in Special Collections. Good content to lectures -- especially development of type. 12: MA’s presentation, lectures, and visuals were completely involving, and his integration of the technologies involved with the social, cultural, and economic contexts was fascinating. 13: The instructor was open to questions, approachable, and knowledgeable (but not pompous).
6) How could the course have been improved?
1: Possibly “smoother” logistics. 2: Comparing examples of letterforms, bindings, &c. in Special Collections. 3: It it could have lasted another day, month, week... 4: How could it possibly be longer? But we wanted more -- or perhaps this was just the excitement. 5: Break into two classes, each one week long. A lot of time, space, and material to cover! I would like to have spent more time on the c17 and c18, especially in northern Europe. There just wasn’t enough time for the material. 6: In terms of content, not at all. We got off track sometimes, but it’s easy to do when everything can be related to the subject of the course in one way or another. 7: Spread over a longer period or perhaps carved into two separate courses. There was too much to cram into five days. 8: Some slides could have been better -- the teacher mentioned this himself. 9: Handout of fonts -- examples as well as types. 10: Start class at 8 am, end class at 3:30 pm, run events from 6-8 pm. This would give time for dinner before events and time to meet others outside the class that you are taking. 11: Time management. 12: Make it longer. Otherwise, I couldn’t be more pleased. 13: Better time management.
7) We are always concerned about the physical well-being both of the RBS 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?
1: In general, I would say UVa’s Special Collections -- at least those favorites always pulled by curators and RBS teaching staff -- could at least get mylar jackets and/or custom boxes made, or even a four-flap folder of some sort: [either] by the staff; or order one through Custom Manufacturing Inc (cheap!). 2: Not an area of expertise for me. 3: I believe the staff was really conscientious and the books were controlled/handled well amongst such a large group. 4: “Futons” or some cloth “quilts” that can be adjusted, rolled, &c. for easy book cradling. Easy to store, squash, &c. Unbleached cotton with a polyester filling (fluff), we make them at the Newberry. 5: Use a large foam wedge under the two other ones to angle the books being viewed so that the whole class could see more easily. 6: None. 8: The materials were generally handled well. Sometimes students did more pointing with pencils than seemed necessary. 9: Didn’t see anything amiss. Perhaps students could have been reminded to wash hands if/when handling rare books. 10: They were handled appropriately. 12: None. 13: We were very conscious of materials. Some were conservators, and all handling was appropriately supervised.
8) If you attended the Sunday and/or Monday night lectures, were they worth attending?
1: Yes -- interesting material plus it wasn’t a direct repeat of what we were learning during the day. A learning experience, but more art history! 2: Yes -- both! 3: Yes. 4: Yes -- and much needed for the first-timer. 5: Sunday: good intro. Monday: not so much a lecture, really. 6: Yes, because this was my first time attending RBS. 7: Yes, very much so. 8: Attended both and felt they were worthwhile. 9: Sunday night lecture only. Quite worthwhile to listen to TB. 10: Monday evening -- too tired by that time. 11: N/A. 12: Yes. 13: The opening lecture is always the right kick-start to the week.
9) If you attended Museum Night, was the time profitably spent?
1: Yes. I thought making the format as a self-guided tour through the material was the most time-efficient and personally relevant way to go about it. 2: Yes. 3: Yes. Though there was way more information than time or energy would/could allow. 4: Yes -- thankfully it was offered twice, as the first day was information overload and I could not digest every museum item. 5: Very instructive. Incredibly useful. 6: Yes, also useful because it was my first time attending. Many of us don’t get a chance to see things like this up close and personal very often. 7: Yes, very much so. 8: Attended first and learned a lot. 9: Unfortunately, couldn’t go. 10-11: N/A. 12: Yes. 13: Did not attend.
10) Did you get your money’s worth? Any final or summary thoughts, or advice for other persons considering taking this course in a future year?
1: Absolutely -- I had a great week. I’ve learned so much that I can’t believe wasn’t part of my working knowledge before! 2: Yes. Take it!! 3: Yes. This is an essential course for anyone involved with books. The longer you have worked with them, collected them, or admired them from afar, the more this course will contribute to your study and appreciation of them. 4: Very much so. 5: The course was simply superb. To learn such interesting and essential information in such a short time was a great surprise, and the ability to teach it an accomplishment. Super. Bring mechanical pencils (a lot of notes and not many sharpeners, and pens are a no-no). I think it would really help to have some background -- [the class is] not for someone absolutely fresh off the street. The more you know, the more you get out of it, but you’d still get an awful lot out of it with only a little knowledge ahead of time. 6: Definitely got my money’s worth. Wish I could have stayed longer and learned more. I’ll be back! 7: Yes, absolutely -- one of the best courses I’ve ever taken. Divide the course into two parts, according to period. 8: Yes. 9: Absolutely got my money’s worth. I would just advise anyone interested in the history of the book to try to take a course by MA, if possible. 10: Yes. Please make sure all breaks and lunch times are the same for all students. 11: Yes -- very worthwhile week. There is much I will take into classes I teach. 12: Yes. 13: Absolutely -- there’s nothing else like it -- I will return time and again. Probably the most information I’ve gotten from any class here.
Number of respondents: 13
Percentages
Leave Tuition Housing Travel
Institution Institution Institution Institution
gave me leave paid tuition paid housing paid travel
85% 23% 38% 38%
I took vaca- I paid tui- I paid for my I paid my own
tion time tion myself own housing travel
0% 15% 62% 55%
N/A: self- N/A: Self- N/A: stayed N/A: lived
employed, re- employed, with friends nearby
tired, or had retired, or or lived at
summers off exchange home
15% 62% 0% 7%
There were 5 conservator/binder/preservation librarians (38%), 3 general librarians with some rare book duties (23%), 2 rare book librarians (15%), 1 book collector (7%), 1 editor (7%), and 1 special collections director/administrator (8%).