Erin Blake
I-10: History of Printed Book Illustration in the West
17–21 June 2013
Detailed Course Evaluation
1) How useful were the pre-course readings? Did you do any additional preparations in advance of the course?
1: I read all the pre-course reading assigned for this class. Although dry and a bit tedious at points, I felt that it prepared me well for the class and I was better able to absorb EB’s teachings. 2: The readings varied in usefulness, but became more valuable as EB walked us through techniques and periods. 3: Very useful for an overview, but the in-class explanations and reinforcements were critical to my understanding. 4: Very useful. Yes. 5: I read all the readings, and they were all useful background. 6: Nice overviews. 7: Very useful. A nice mix of technical and historical survey material. 8: Very good overview, found Harthan’s The History of the Illustrated Book: The Western Tradition a bit tedious because there were no figure numbering of plates being discussed in the text. 9: Very useful. I read all of the books closely before arrival, and it was helpful to have that basic understanding of the course content prior to class. I didn’t do any additional readings. 10: Extremely useful. Yes, I reviewed our collection against the readings to determine what questions I wanted to be certain to ask. 11: The major text was slow going for me—and not all that useful. The How Prints Look book (Ivins) was most helpful, and I kept referencing back to it during the course. I did no other preparations for the class. 12: Very useful. If occasionally repetitive.
2) Were the course workbook and other materials distributed in class appropriate and useful (or will they be so in the future, after you return home)?
1: Really great! Having a record to refer to will be very helpful. 2: Excellent. Right down to EB color-coding the worksheets for SC. 3–4: Yes, and yes. 5: All the materials helped to provide bibliography on the topic. 6: Yes, all material is useful and applies to content. 7: Yes, very useful. 8: Extremely useful and appropriate. Very well prepared. 9: Absolutely! I plan to take all the class materials (and the pre-course readings) to work to supplement my personal reference collection. 10: Yes, I made copious notes and will transcribe these and use as an important reference source for my work. 11: Very helpful during class, and I know they will be useful to me in the future. For sure. 12: Yes, and yes.
3) Have you taken one or more RBS courses before? If so, how did this course compare with your previous coursework?
1: N/A. 2: This was my first course. 3: This was my first. 4: Yes. Similar coursework. Very happy with the amount I’ve learned. 5–6: No. 7: Taken five others, this had the same strong quality as all the others. I love the academic rigor combined with the hands-on examples and good discussion. 8: I have and I’m immensely pleased with both classes. 9–10: No. 11: Yes. Hard for me to compare the two. Overall, I thought both were excellent and for the most part met my expectations. 12: No.
4) What aspects of the course content were of the greatest interest or relevance for your purposes?
1: For professional development reasons, I was most interested in learning print production techniques and how to identify different production techniques. Also, the “great names” will be helpful. 2: Some parts were directly relevant to my period of study, but overall the course was simply an informative and entertaining overview of five hundred plus years of illustration. 3: c19 techniques. 4: Hands-on and eyes-on actual materials. 5: Early-modern printed book illustration. 6: c19 I think RBS should have a course on this century and the advancement of print technologies, how they relate to how people experienced books and literacy. 7: Identification of print processes and periods of production. 8: Illustrations, printing processes, a great deal better understood by myself. 9: Discussion of techniques with copious example to help make the information stick in my head. 10: Readings, bibliorama, examples in class, SC hours with books, and EB—awesome! 11: Explanations of the way prints are made as well as the way in which individual illustrators and sculptors made their prints; and, of course, the identifications of individual presentations and seeing examples of the books. 12: All, especially c19 and c20.
5) Did the instructor(s) successfully help you to acquire the information, knowledge, and skills that the course was intended to convey? Was the intellectual level of the course appropriate?
1: EB definitely taught what I expected and lived up to my expectations. The intellectual level was appropriate. 2: Yes, and yes. 3: Yes. 4–5: Yes, and yes. 6: Yes. All material was stimulating, clear, and not overly laden with jargon. 7: Yes, very successful at conveying the curriculum. 8: Excellent, very engaged and engaging. 9: Yes, and yes. It was perfectly appropriate to the subject matter. 10: Highly intellectual, however, everyone seemed to be at ease to ask anything. We learned so much from EB and asked her so many questions. 11: Yes, and yes. 12: Yes, and yes. EB was terrific.
6) What did you like best about the course?
1: The hands-on materials and being able to ask EB specific questions about various features of the books and prints. She is very knowledgeable. 2: EB’s in-class manner: she was knowledgeable but unpretentious; she mixed lecture, question and answer, and discussion masterfully. 3: I loved handling the materials and being able to look closely at them with the scope. 4: Hands-on and eyes-on actual materials. 5: I liked best the hands-on aspect of the course, the attention to technique, and the time in SC. 6: Regular schedule of introduction, then reinforcement of material. Being in SC every day and having biblioramas were great ways to experience the texts. 7: All of the examples we saw in the SC and in bibliorama! 8: Comradery, discussion, and the knowledgeable running descriptive presentation by the instructor. 9: The variety of activities throughout the day. I enjoyed the lecture, SC, and bibliorama equally but enjoyed have each section each day especially. It helped make the long hours go by quickly. 10: Everyone participated so we had a true community of scholars. But the BEST part of the course was the superb instruction done by EB. I really needed help and she knows EVERYTHING on the topic presented or will find it out. 11: The expert commentary of the instructor; the wonderful things we saw up close in SC; and the many items we were permitted to see and handle in class from the RBS collections. 12: Bibliorama!
7) How could the course have been improved?
1: As this is my first RBS course, I have no suggestions. Perhaps a room with a window? 2: No suggestions. 3: Only if we had more time. 5: Too little time for so much material. But what can one do? The nature of the beast. 6: Maybe a brief overview of related art movements and important moments in printing history. I’m just “thinking out loud” here, the course was absolutely excellent. 7: Perhaps more slides of printing plates during each process—relief, intaglio, planographic. 8: Don’t know. 10: Can’t think of anything way beyond my expectations. 11: As a personal preference, I would have liked more information in the various techniques by which prints are made and roles played by the various persons involved in the process. 12: More space for “Why?” and “So what?” questions along with “What? and “How?” questions. More time for general discussion, especially closing discussion. Then again, we covered so much in five days….Maybe no need to double-up on materials seen both in slides and in person.
8) Did you learn what the course description/advertisement indicated you would learn? Additional comments optional. Y/N
1–5: Yes. 6: Yes. Great overview of illustration, printing techniques, and how the interplay between text and image has changed. Really excellent. 7–11: Yes. For the most part. I think we covered too much ground (five centuries) in one week. I would have preferred covering less ground in more depth, especially c19 and c20. 12: Yes.
9) Did you learn what you wanted in the course? Additional comments optional. Y/N
1–5: Yes. 6: Yes. See above. I personally wanted to learn more about photogravure, but this is purely a specialized interest. 7–9: Yes. 10: Yes. Yes, very happy with how clearly the content met my specific needs. 11–12: Yes.
10) How do you intend to use or apply the knowledge or skills learned in this course?
1: By assisting in the evaluation (dating, production technique, &c.) of book illustrations. 2: As both a scholar and a teacher. I plan to return to this base of knowledge throughout my career. 3: I am working on an annotated bibliography of a small rare book collection, and this course will help me describe the illustrations in a more accurate and standard way. 4: In my business as a rare book dealer and appraiser. 5: I found this course useful for thinking about how to construct undergraduate seminars on the history of illustration. 6: Revising a dissertation chapter for publication and teaching. 7: During bibliographic instruction sessions, exhibitions, and cataloging. 8: Cataloging a children’s book collection. 9: In teaching classes. I will be better able to explain illustration processes to undergraduate visitors to my library. 10: In curating from soup to nuts a large special collection. 11: To better understand the works in my library and to try to build on what I learned in this class. 12: Both for my own research and for my teaching.
11) If your course left its classroom, was the time devoted to this purpose well spent?
1: Time well spent in SC. 2: Yes. SC was very useful. 3: Yes—SC visits were very important. Sometimes a book is unremarkable on slides, but spectacular in person. 4: Yes. (SC.) 5: N/A. 6–7: N/A. 8: Yes. 9–10: N/A. 11: YES, to SC. 12: SC—yes. Absolutely.
12) If you attended the evening events (e.g., RBS Lecture, Video Night, RBS Forum, Booksellers’ Night) were they worth attending?
1–4: Yes. 5–6: N/A. 7: Yes. 8: Very much. Thanks. 9: Yes, enjoyed both lectures especially. 10: Yes—attended all but not Booksellers’ Night as I was tired. 11: The Barry Moser film was the best for me. The Malkin Lecture was hard for me to follow. 12: Yes, on the whole. Malkin Lecture a little outside my area, but generally interesting nonetheless.
13) 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: No, not concerned. 2: None. 5: None. 6: Thought they were handled well. 9: No suggestions. 10: Seems quite expertly handled. No suggestions. 11–12: None.
14) Did you (or your institution) get your money’s worth? Would you recommend this course to others?
1: Yes, and yes! 2: Yes, and yes. 3: Yes! Yes! 4: Yes, and yes. 5: Yes. 6: Yes, a good experience. 7: Yes—very much so. A great survey course. 8: Yes, and yes. 9: Yes, and yes! 10: Yes, and I got far beyond it. I would recommend it most certainly especially with this instructor. 11– 12: Yes, and yes.
15) Any final or summary thoughts, or advice for other persons considering taking this course
in a future year? (If you have further praise/concerns, please speak with Amanda Nelsen or Michael Suarez.)
1: Be advised that this is a survey course of general book illustration composition and technique. Each day covers a different century. Great for beginners, but not for those who want intense instruction on one type and genre. 2: EB was an exemplary instructor. She is phenomenally well organized and endlessly knowledgeable. I would recommend to anyone working on the period 1450–2010 3: Read a basic book about book history first. We asked a lot of questions in class that probably should have been asked in other classes. 4: Advice: do the pre-course reading, relax, have fun. 5: No. Thank you for an educational week! 6: Thanks so much to EB! She does a great job, such a lovely teacher! Also thanks to the RBS staff for their good cheer and professionalism. Thanks as well to MFS for setting a wonderful tone. 7: Do all of the reading—there are many processes that are examined—a solid foundation helps to keep them straight. 9: How about a shuttle to the airport on Saturday? It seems that most of us are leaving at the same time so this would be most helpful. 10: Do the advance readership. You will get so much from the course if you do. 11: Consider breaking courses into two; consider combining technique and history (easier said than done).
Aggregate Statistics
Number of respondents: 12
Leave
Institution gave me leave: 5 (42%)
I took vacation time: 1 (8%)
N/A: self-employed, retired, or had summers off: 6 (50%)
Tuition
Institution paid tuition: 5 (42%)
I paid tuition myself: 5 (42%)
N/A: self-employed, retired, or scholarship: 2 (16%)
Housing
Institution paid housing: 3 (25%)
I paid for my own housing: 6 (50%)
N/A: stayed with friends or lived at home: 3 (35%)
Travel
Institution paid travel: 4 (33%)
I paid my own travel: 6 (50%)
N/A: lived nearby: 2 (17%)
Which one category most closely defines what you do for a living, or why you are at RBS? (Please check only one category)
Antiquarian bookseller: 2 (17%)
Book collector: 1 (8%)
Cataloguer: Polyglot: 1 (8%)
Ph.D. (humanities): 3 (25%)
Student, Post Doctoral: 1 (8%)
Librarian with some rare book duties: 2 (18%)
Library assistant/clerk:1 (8%)
Rare book librarian: 1 (8%)
How did you hear about this course?
RBS website: 6 (50%)
Work colleague: 3 (25%)
RBS faculty or staff recommendation: 2 (17%)
Other, Return Student: 1 (8%)