News Archives

Making the Early Modern Illustrated Scientific Book

Assisted by Caroline Duroselle-Melish

Length: 10 hours
Format: Online

This online course will concentrate on the production history of illustrated books in the fields of science, medicine, technology and natural history between 1500–1800. Topics will include letterpress book production; woodcut and engraved illustration; the cutting of woodblocks and the engraving of copperplates; the printing of woodcuts with text and the separate printing of engravings; and bibliographical analysis and description. We will look at online books and discuss what can—and cannot—be learned from digital surrogates, how to research the production of illustrated books, […]

The History of Artists’ Books since 1950

Course Length: 30 hours
Course Week: 14–19 July 2024
Format: in person, Grolier Club in New York City, NY
Fee: $1,495

This course will review the history of twentieth- and twenty-first century artists’ books and related publications, focusing on transformations in publishing that led to deeper engagement among various communities of artists. Starting in the 1950s and continuing to the present, this course will consider how this genre was formed and what influences it. We will take time to discuss the readings, review selected artists’ books, survey popular book types, […]

The Photographic Book since 1843

“The course gave me a different perspective on early photography and the development of the photobook.” — 2017 student

This course will explore the evolution of the photographically-illustrated book from the first commercially available example (William Henry Fox Talbot’s The Pencil of Nature) to the present day. We will focus on the technical developments in the production of photographically-illustrated books, covering both photographic processes themselves and—in greater depth—the developments in photomechanical printing that have driven the historical expansion of the field. Students will look at key examples, exploring the books themselves and their surviving archival evidence for the technical, […]

Material Foundations of Map History, 1450–1900

Course Length: 30 hours
Course Week: 1–6 June 2025
Format: in person, University of Virginia in Charlottesville, VA
Fee: $1,495

Materiality is the foundation for the productive study of all aspects of maps and mapping, from the bibliographic to the interpretive to the digital. This course considers the widely variable material conditions of early maps to offer a new introduction to map history that counters the restrictive and flawed teleology inherent to “the history of cartography” or “historical cartography.” It does not presume any prior knowledge of maps and mapping and is suitable for graduate students and established scholars—including librarians, […]

Introduction to Illuminated Manuscripts

This course is aimed at those who, whether by professional or personal interests, seek some basics on what can be a difficult field. Because of their light-sensitive nature, manuscripts are almost never on permanent exhibition anywhere; furthermore, their consultation is often restricted to the learned few. The course will emphasize illumination, and will thus discuss chronological and stylistic development, iconography, nomenclature (how all those “Masters of ?” get their names) and other pertinent terminology, and text/picture relationships. The course will concentrate on liturgical service books, and thus lectures will treat such relevant topics as Medieval Catholic dogma, liturgical practices, calendars and concepts of time, […]

Hokusai & Book Illustration

Books figured significantly in the formation of the reputation of Katsushika Hokusai (1760–1849) among his contemporaries and subsequently in Europe and America. He provided illustrations for over 260 titles, encompassing novels, anthologies of Japanese and Chinese poetry, erotica, warrior tales, bilingual editions of Chinese classics, gazetteers, copybooks for aspiring artists, pattern books for artisans, model letter books, dance manuals and picture anthologies. For many decades after his death, publishers kept his books in print and even issued posthumous titles to cash in on his marketability.

This course will consider Hokusai as a publishing phenomenon. His achievement as a book illustrator—and print artist—will be situated squarely in the world of Edo-period publishing. […]

The Art of the Book in Edo & Meiji Japan, 1615–1912

The illustrated woodblock printed books produced in Japan in the Edo and Meiji periods represent a remarkable achievement in terms of their technical perfection, broad range of styles and subject matter, and their beauty. No comparable sustained tradition of artistically significant printed illustrated books existed in China or the West.

The course will combine daily lectures and discussions with hands-on sessions in which students will have the opportunity to examine outstanding examples of some of the most significant books produced in Edo and Meiji Japan. Topics to be covered include: key features of the history of the period; […]

Japanese Prints and Illustrated Books in Context

Course Length: 30 hours
Course Week: 1–6 June 2025
Format: in person, University of Pennsylvania Libraries in Philadelphia, PA
Fee: $1,495

Japanese woodblock prints and illustrated books from the seventeenth through the twentieth centuries are celebrated for their high technical and aesthetic achievements. In this course, we will look closely at both formats, putting these into their historical and cultural contexts. We will also think through how these materials were designed for their broad and largely literate audiences. By engaging a wide range of materials, we will consider how the goals for printed materials varied from transferring information to delineating artistic trends. […]

The Illustrated Scientific Book to 1800

“This course was an excellent balance of lecture, book examination, historical techniques instruction, and discussion.” — 2016 student

Course Length: 30 hours
Course Week: 7–12 July 2024
Format: in person, University of Virginia in Charlottesville, VA
Fee: $1,495

This course will consider the production, formal qualities, and role of images in scientific books. The focus of the course will be on how and why images were made. Students will be asked to consider images with the same attention to the techniques and conditions of production given to verbal texts. […]

The Identification of Photographic & Digital Print Processes

Course Length: 30 hours
Course Week: 1–6 June 2025
Format: in person, University of Virginia in Charlottesville, VA
Fee: $1,495

This course will offer instruction in identifying and dating all major processes used in creating photographs, photomechanical prints, and digital prints. It will utilize original examples from the instructor’s collection, as well as those from RBS and the UVA library. Students are encouraged to bring their own objects for examination and discussion. The processes considered will fall into four broad categories: nineteenth-century, twentieth-century black and white, twentieth-century color, and twenty-first-century digital. The course will discuss methods for distinguishing photomechanical and digital prints from actual photographs. […]

Advanced Seminar in Book Illustration Processes

This seminar provides those who have already taken Book Illustration Processes to 1900 (I-20) with a further opportunity to work with files and packets containing original illustrations (the basic course uses only about a quarter of the school’s 400 illustration packets), and to look at some of the notable illustrated books in the UVA and RBS collections. The seminar will concentrate on book illustration between 1770 and 1914, though there will also be discussion of framing prints, ephemera, and maps, and some mention of earlier prints. More time will be spent on the historical contexts in which illustrations are produced than was the case with the basic course, […]

The Art & Science of Cartography, 200–1550

The foundations of modern cartography begin with the researches of the Greek astronomer Claudius Ptolemy in the second century and the re-discovery of his texts in the late Middle Ages and Renaissance. Ptolemy invented the concepts of latitude and longitude and also the idea of a map projection. Early mapmakers used Ptolemy’s ideas and extended them to account for the new discoveries made by explorers in the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries. These early modern maps also took full benefit of the developments in mathematics, navigation and astronomy to display the world visually in innovative ways.

Parallel to the tradition of Ptolemy was another and more mysterious form of cartography that appeared around 1250 and died out in the mid-sixteenth century. […]

Modern Art of the Book

This course considers the codex book as a work of deliberate, self-conscious art production from the very beginning of the nineteenth century to the present. Taking William Blake as the point of departure, the course asks what makes a book modern and what distinguishes a work of art from other forms of publication. The course will look at illustrated books in the nineteenth century, the Arts and Crafts movement and notions of the “Ideal Book,” and continue with focused discussion of works that reflect the private press movement, art nouveau, the avant-garde, fine press, documentary impulses, livres d’artistes, […]

The History of Printed Book Illustration in the West

Course Length: 30 hours
Course Week: 21–26 July 2024
Format: in person, University of Virginia in Charlottesville, VA
Fee: $1,395

This introduction to printed book illustration in the European tradition from the fifteenth century to the present day presents a chronological overview of techniques, genres, styles, and artists. The course centers on illustrations in typical publications, with an eye to changing technology and changing reader expectations rather than aesthetic appreciation, although private press books and major artists are also touched on. The focus of the course is mainly English, French, and American material, […]

Book Illustration Processes to 1900

“If you want to learn the ‘how to’ of illustrations, this is the course for you.” — 2017 student

Course Length: 30 hours
Course Week: 20–25 July 2025
Format: in person, University of Virginia in Charlottesville, VA
Fee: $1,495

The identification of primarily European illustration processes and techniques, including (but not only) woodcut and wood-engraving, etching, line engraving, stipple, aquatint, mezzotint, lithography, steel engraving, collotype, gravure and aquatint photogravure, and process line and halftone black-and-white and three-color relief printing.

Almost the sole medium of instruction in this lecture course will be actual examples of original prints drawn from the extensive RBS collections. […]