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, 10 October at 11:59 p.m. ET.

In this seminar, students will strengthen their bibliographical skills by looking at books together (albeit through a document camera) and considering what questions the material aspects of printed texts can help us ask about the circumstances of their creation, their potential uses and meanings, and their passage through time to us today. The course will be organized around specific materialities—including paper, type, format, and bindings—so students can learn skills to identify key characteristics and recognize situations in which such knowledge is useful. Because this is an online course, special attention will also be paid to digital facsimiles and other digital tools that can help us explore (or sometimes hinder our study of) bibliographical features. The course’s three-hour meetings will combine active class discussion with group work and bibliographical exercises.

Course instructor Sarah Werner is the author of Studying Early Printed Books, 1450–1800: A Practical Guide and Editor of the Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America. An independent scholar based in Washington, D.C., she worked at the Folger Shakespeare Library for nearly a decade, teaching undergraduates and leading digital strategy. Her current research focuses on feminist bibliography, a wide-ranging project that aims to expand both how and why we do bibliographical work.

For more information about the course, including how to apply, please visit rarebookschool.org/courses/general/g15v.