News Archives

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). […]

RBS General and Buice Scholarship Awards for 2025 Announced

Rare Book School is pleased to announce the 2025 recipients of its General Scholarship Committee awards, as well as the winners of the Buice Scholarships for returning RBS students. Congratulations to these recipients! […]

Breaking Bread and Building Catalogs: How an RBS Course Led to a Years-Long Bibliographical Collaboration

On a summer day in 2017, Szilvia Szmuk-Tanenbaum and Jay Moschella sat down to discuss Spanish plays over lunch at a Korean restaurant near the grounds of the University of Virginia. 

The two were in Charlottesville for the week, attending Stephen Tabor’s Rare Book School (RBS) course G-45 Analytical Bibliography. For Szmuk-Tanenbaum, a longtime RBS supporter, one of the School’s great strengths is the way it brings people together, not in a commercially minded way, but rather for “something much more familiar and casual and friendly,” fostered through shared meals and breaks with other RBS students.  […]

RBS Fellowship to Offer Prize for Winning Essay on Bibliographical Scholarship

The Andrew W. Mellon Society of Fellows in Critical Bibliography (SoFCB) is pleased to announce its annual Essay Prize for 2025, to be awarded to a scholarly article that exemplifies the Society’s mission of advancing the study of texts, images, and artifacts as material objects through capacious, interdisciplinary scholarship. The $500 prize seeks to recognize innovative scholarship that brings together multiple fields of study and that strives to be accessible to the bibliographical community at large.

Articles published in any format (journal, edited collection, book chapter, digital platform), in any field, and of any time period are eligible for consideration. […]

Special Collections Cataloging Librarian – Wesleyan University

Wesleyan University is now accepting applications for a Special Collections Cataloging Librarian. Reporting to the Head of Special Collections, the Cataloging Librarian is responsible for ensuring the accurate and appropriate bibliographical description of Special Collections material. Specific tasks include cataloging new acquisitions; processing backlogs; reviewing, revising, and updating existing metadata as appropriate; creating and modifying authority records through the Library of Congress Name Authority Cooperative Program; and performing related research. The full posting and application instructions can be found here. For full consideration, please apply by 1 April 2025. […]

New RBS Course on Censorship Added to Summer 2025 Schedule

Rare Book School is excited to announce a newly added course to its Summer 2025 schedule. H-205 Censorship from the Inquisition to the Present will run 3–8 August 2025 at the University of Chicago. The first-round deadline to apply for H-205 is Friday, 7 March 2025. 

H-205, taught by the University of Chicago’s Ada Palmer, will examine the histories of censorship and information control, with a focus on books and on changes in information technologies. Many sessions will specifically explore censorship in early modern Europe, including the Inquisition and its practices, the impact of the printing press, […]