All Rare Book School summer lectures are free, open to the public, and hosted on Grounds at the University of Virginia. Lectures begin at 5:30 p.m. and are followed by a reception. Monday lectures are held in Room 330 of UVA’s Edgar Shannon Library, and Wednesday lectures are held in the Auditorium of UVA’s Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library.
Recordings of this summer’s lectures will be made available later this year.
Please email contactRBS@virginia.edu with any questions.
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Jul
92025Publishing in the Renaissance: Christophe Plantin’s Business Strategy – The 2025 Kenneth Karmiole Endowed Lecture on the History of the Book TradesLecturer: Mark McConnell - Associate Research Fellow, Virginia Fox Stern Center for the History of the Book in the Renaissance, Johns Hopkins University
UVA Special Collections (Auditorium) or Zoom • 5:30 p.m. ET
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Jul
212025Books for Virginia 1620: America’s First Public Library? – The 2025 NEH-SHARP Living American History in Primary Documents LectureLecturer: E. M. Rose - Visiting Fellow, Murray Edwards College, Cambridge University
UVA Edgar Shannon Library (Room 330) or Zoom • 5:30 p.m. ET
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Jul
232025Iconographic Disjunction in the Ruskin Psalter/Hours: A Flemish Illuminated Manuscript of ca. 1470–80Lecturer: James H. Marrow - Professor Emeritus of Art History, Princeton University
UVA Special Collections (Auditorium) or Zoom • 5:30 p.m. ET
Rare Book School sponsors and co-sponsors a range of programming at various times throughout the year, including activities at book fairs, symposia at UVA and other locations, and more. These include events organized by members of the Andrew W. Mellon Society of Fellows in Critical Bibliography at their home institutions.
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May
222025SoFCB Keynote Lecture: Transporting Visions, Transcending BoundariesPresented by: The Andrew W. Mellon Society of Fellows in Critical Bibliography at Rare Book School
McNeil Center for Early American Studies, Lecture Hall, 3355 Woodland Walk, Philadelphia, PA 19104 • 9:15–10:45 am
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Mar
52025Bibliographic Performances and Surrogate Readings: Author Janelle Rebel in Conversation with Alison FraserPresented by: The Andrew W. Mellon Society of Fellows in Critical Bibliography
Zoom • 12:00–1:00 p.m. ET
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Feb
112025Faces of God: Author Murad Mumtaz in Conversation with Holly Shaffer on Images of Devotion in Indo-Muslim Painting, 1500-1800Presented by: The Andrew W. Mellon Society of Fellows in Critical Bibliography
Zoom • 12:00–1:00 p.m. ET
Since 1992, Rare Book School has been responsible for a rotating series of exhibitions in the Dome Room of the Rotunda at the University of Virginia, many curated by UVA undergraduate and graduate students. The books and other materials shown in these exhibitions are drawn both from the RBS collections and from the UVA Library, supplemented by occasional loans by other institutions and individuals.
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May 19
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Nov 12ends in
2025Famous & Forgotten: The Game of AuthorsCurated by: Barbara Heritage & Zoe Langer
Held by Rare Book School on the second floor of the Edgar Shannon Library of the University of Virginia -
Sep 28
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Dec 23
2022Building the Book from the Ancient World to the Present Day: Five Decades of Rare Book School & the Book Arts PressCurated by: Barbara Heritage & Ruth-Ellen St. Onge
The Grolier Club, 47 East 60th Street, New York -
Jun 6
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May 1
2019Comics in CircuitCurated by: Ruth-Ellen St. Onge, Jennifer Camp, Elizabeth Dorton, Devon Shannahan, Katherine Smith, and Zach Tauscher
Dome Room, UVA Rotunda