News Archives

RBS Now Accepting Applications for Mellon SoFCB Junior Fellows Program

Rare Book School’s Andrew W. Mellon Society of Fellows in Critical Bibliography (SoFCB) invites applicants to its 2026 cohort of Junior Fellows. The SoFCB is a community of scholars working across disciplines to advance the study of texts, images, and artifacts as material objects. Ten Junior Fellows will be selected to join the SoFCB in 2026; they may become Senior Fellows after completing two years of the fellowship’s required activities in good standing. The application deadline for the SoFCB Junior Fellows Program is Wednesday, 19 November 2025 at 11:59 p.m. ET. […]

Call for Submissions: 19th ILAB Breslauer Prize for Bibliography 2026

The World’s Leading Prize Honoring Original Contributions to the Fields of Bibliography and Book History

Authors, publishers, academics, scholars, and the book trade are invited to submit publications for the ILAB Breslauer Prize for Bibliography 2026! Please share this information widely in your circles.

The prize is awarded every four years, with a first prize of US$10,000 and second and third prizes of US$5,000 and US$3,000 respectively. In addition to the prize, the judges may, at their discretion, award Honourable Mentions to other deserving entries.

For the 2026 prize, a special award of US$1,000, […]

RBS Offers Fall Online Course About Thinking Bibliographically

Paying attention to the physical characteristics of texts is broadly useful for studying any printed works of the Western hand-press period (roughly 1450-1800). But how does one start to think bibliographically, noticing such characteristics and knowing what questions they might lead to?

Applications are currently being accepted for Rare Book School’s Fall 2025 online course, G-15v: A Bibliographical Introduction to the Hand-Press Period, which answers this question and more. This 22-hour course, taught by Sarah Werner, runs on Sunday afternoons from 19 October to 14 December (except for 30 November). The application deadline is Friday, […]

RBS Scholarship and Fellowship Applications Are Now Open

Rare Book School at the University of Virginia is now accepting applications for its 2025 scholarship and fellowship cycle.

Applications are open for:

• All RBS-awarded scholarships (for both first-time and returning RBS students). See the Scholarships page for descriptions of the various scholarships available. For questions about scholarships, please email rbs_scholarships@virginia.edu. Scholarship applications are due by 11:59 p.m. ET on Sunday, 2 November 2025.
• The M. C. Lang Fellowship in Book History, Bibliography, and Humanities Teaching with Historical Sources. The Lang Fellowship is a two-year program open to faculty and librarians at liberal arts colleges and small universities in the United States (i.e.,

[…]

Video and Audio of RBS Summer 2025 Lectures Now Available

Rare Book School proudly presents the video and audio recordings of talks from our Summer 2025 Lecture Series. The list, with links, is below.

A Parallel History of Books and Blooks
Watch on YouTube
Listen on SoundCloud
Mindell Dubansky, Conservator, Thomas J. Watson Library, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Jane Austen on the Cheap
Watch on YouTube
Listen on SoundCloud
Janine Barchas, Chancellor’s Council Centennial Professor in the Book Arts, University of Texas at Austin
The 2025 Kenneth W. […]

Fame Isn’t Forever: 160-Year-Old Card Game Uncovers History of Changing Literary Trends

RBS to Open New Exhibition This Summer

Life is sometimes likened to a game of cards: luck can change, forcing us to play the hand we’re dealt. But, as a new exhibition reveals, one historic card game can be a mirror of life, reflecting the literary reputations of once-famous writers and the bookish interests of past readers.

This fall, Rare Book School will open a new exhibition, Famous and Forgotten: The Game of Authors, on the second floor of UVA’s Edgar Shannon Library. An opening reception is scheduled for Friday 12 September at 5:00 p.m., […]

Save the Date: Attingham Trust Course on “From College Library to Country House”

The Attingham Trust for the Study of Historic Houses and Collections will offer a residential five-day course, “From College Library to Country House,” from 7 to 11 September 2026. The course, based in the surroundings of St Catharine’s College (a constituent college of the University of Cambridge) will visit a series of iconic libraries. For more information, please read the course’s fact sheet [PDF]. […]

Support RBS Students through the Annual Fund Matching-Gift Challenge!

Rare Book School has concluded another successful summer of courses both at home and far afield. We welcomed some 570 students to 43 courses, which took place in Charlottesville, at nine partner institutions—including our first international courses at the Bodleian Library in Oxford—and around the globe with eight course offerings available online. RBS also hosted ten free public lectures, which examined topics such as a Renaissance publisher’s profit/risk strategies and the role that inexpensive editions played in making Jane Austen famous.

Even as our School continues to thrive, we recognize a growing crisis of financial access for our students. […]

Durham University Collections Fellowships, 2025–2026

Deadline: September 3, 2025

Durham University is delighted to invite applications from researchers for Visiting Fellowships of one month in duration. The aim of the Durham Collections Fellowships is to enable and foster research across the historic collections of Durham, notably Archives and Special Collections at Palace Green Library, the Oriental Museum, the library and archives of Ushaw College (the former Roman Catholic seminary just outside the city), the Cathedral Library, and the archives of Durham Priory and Cathedral.

The resources available to scholars include not only libraries and archives, but also collections of visual and material culture, […]

RBS in Oxford: “A Match Made in Library/Book History Heaven”

This summer, Rare Book School hosted its first-ever international courses at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. H-195 Transmission of the Bible from the Beginnings to 1500 was taught by Peter Toth, the Cornelia Starks Curator of Greek Collections at the Oxford’s Bodleian Libraries and former Curator of Ancient and Medieval Manuscripts at the British Library. David Rundle, Senior Lecturer in Latin and Palaeography in the Centre for Medieval and Early Modern Studies at the University of Kent, taught
M-60 Researching Medieval Manuscripts: From Cataloging to Cultural History.  […]

Study Days for Blooks

Mindell Dubansky, Conservator at The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Thomas J. Watson Library, would like to offer an opportunity for a small group of established scholars and educators in the area of book history, the book arts, and material culture to visit her private collection of blooks during a two-day study period. The collection includes over 1,000 objects made in the form of books, from the 18th century to the present.

The event will occur in Tivoli, New York, on 12 and 13 September 2025.

To apply, send a brief bio and description of your experience with the subject and the reasons you are interested in attending. […]

Watch Newly Posted RBS Summer 2025 Lecture Videos

Video recordings of our first two summer lectures are now available to watch online!

A Parallel History of Books and Blooks
Watch on YouTube
Mindell Dubansky, Conservator, Thomas J. Watson Library, The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Jane Austen on the Cheap
Watch on YouTube
Janine Barchas, Chancellor’s Council Centennial Professor in the Book Arts, University of Texas at Austin
The Kenneth W. Rendell Endowed Lecture         

If you like what you see, please join us—either in person or over Zoom—when our lecture series resumes in July. […]

Summer Protocols Regarding Infectious Illness

Rare Book School Guidelines and Recommendations Regarding Infectious Illness

Rare Book School is very excited to welcome back to Charlottesville—and to our partner institutions in Ann Arbor, Chapel Hill, Chicago, New Haven, Oxford (England), Philadelphia, Princeton, and Upperville, VA—the faculty, students, and lecturers who form the RBS community. In order to protect the health and well-being of this wonderful community of like-minded learners, we ask all those attending in-person courses and programs this summer to adhere to some basic public health precautions recommended by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and local health experts at each course location. […]

Watch RBS Executive Director’s UVA Commencement Address, “The American University: A Celebration”

Rare Book School Executive Director Michael F. Suarez, S.J. delivered the 2025 commencement address, on the vital importance of American higher education, at the University of Virginia’s Final Exercises this past weekend. 

On Saturday, 17 May, Suarez addressed more than 4,600 graduates, along with faculty and guests, of the university’s College and Graduate School of Arts & Sciences, Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy, and School of Education and Human Development. 

A Jesuit priest, Suarez also serves as Professor of English, University Professor, and Honorary Curator of Special Collections at the University of Virginia (UVA). […]

RBS Announces Summer 2025 Lecture Series

Rare Book School is thrilled to announce the lineup for this summer’s lecture series at the University of Virginia.

All lectures are free and open to the public. Unless noted, these talks will take place at 5:30 p.m. ET. Lectures are 30–40 minutes in length, with approximately 10 minutes for Q&A. Each lecture will be followed by a reception in UVA’s Edgar Shannon Library Room 230 (RBS Suite). RSVPs to attend in person are not required.

This year, for the first time, RBS will offer an option to attend a livestream of the in-person lectures via Zoom. […]

Mindi Zhang Receives Inaugural Jon A. Lindseth Fellowship

Rare Book School’s Andrew W. Mellon Society of Fellows in Critical Bibliography (SoFCB) is pleased to announce its new Jon A. Lindseth Fellowship, along with the Society’s inaugural Lindseth Fellow, Mindi Zhang.

A businessman with a background in mechanical engineering, Lindseth is passionate about book collecting and bibliography. He has developed multiple landmark collections that he has gifted to public institutions, often working in close collaboration with scholars, bibliographers, and editors as part of his endeavors. Over the years, Lindseth has gifted multiple collections to his alma mater, Cornell University, including a collection on women’s suffrage, […]

Announcing the 2025–27 RBS-Mellon SoFCB Junior Fellows

The Andrew W. Mellon Society of Fellows in Critical Bibliography (SoFCB) at Rare Book School is pleased to welcome its 2025–27 cohort of Junior Fellows. Many congratulations to all the new Junior Fellows; we look forward to seeing you at RBS! […]

Rare Book School Executive Director Michael F. Suarez, S.J. To Give 2025 UVA Commencement Address

Rare Book School is delighted to announce that Michael F. Suarez, S.J. will deliver the 2025 commencement address at the University of Virginia’s Final Exercises on 17 May.

A Jesuit priest, Suarez serves as Executive Director of Rare Book School (RBS), Professor of English, University Professor, and Honorary Curator of Special Collections at the University of Virginia (UVA). He previously held a joint appointment as J. A. Kavanaugh Professor of English at Fordham University and as Fellow and Tutor in English at Campion Hall, Oxford University. Former UVA President John T. Casteen III appointed Suarez to succeed RBS Founding Director Terry Belanger in 2009. […]

RBS at the New York International Antiquarian Book Fair

Rare Book School will be at the 65th annual New York International Antiquarian Book Fair, which runs from Thursday, 3 April to Sunday, 6 April.

RBS Executive Director Michael F. Suarez, S.J., along with Barbara Heritage and Zoe Langer of the RBS Collections team, will be “on the ground” at the Park Avenue Armory. So, if you see them, be sure to say hello! […]

Remembering John T. Casteen III, Bibliophile and UVA President Emeritus

It is with profound sadness that we announce the death of John T. Casteen III on 18 March 2025, after a brief illness. A scholar of medieval literature and an advocate for public education, Casteen served with great distinction as the seventh president of the University of Virginia. Over the course of two decades (1990–2010), he guided UVA to greater national prominence, significantly expanded programs and facilities on Grounds, and led the University through two enormously successful capital campaigns. 

A visionary leader, Casteen brought Rare Book School to UVA from Columbia University in 1992, hiring RBS Founding Director Terry Belanger as University Professor and Honorary Curator of Special Collections and giving the School a new home in Alderman Library (now known as Shannon Library). […]