Rare Book School sponsors a number of free, open-to-the-public evening lectures each year at the University of Virginia on a wide variety of bibliographical topics; please browse our list of past lectures for a sampling. RBS lectures are usually held Mondays and Wednesdays while RBS is in session, at 5:30 p.m. in the Dome Room of the Rotunda or in the Auditorium of the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library. A reception follows each lecture.

• Jul
  31

  2023
  Pacific Encounters in Print: Revisiting James Cook Voyage Publications – The Kress Foundation Art of the Book in Europe Lecture

  Lecturer: Kailani Polzak - Assistant Professor of History of Art and Visual Culture, University of California, Santa Cruz
  Dome Room, UVA Rotunda • 5:30 p.m.
  
• Jul
  26

  2023
  The Typesetting and Designs of the Declaration of Independence Broadsides

  Lecturer: Craig Welsh - Associate Professor of Communications & Humanities, Penn State Harrisburg
  UVA Special Collections • 5:30 p.m.
  
• Jul
  24

  2023
  A Nexus of Learning—Museums and the Importance of Public History

  Lecturer: Christy S. Coleman - Executive Director of the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation
  Dome Room, UVA Rotunda • 5:30 p.m.
  

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.

• Dec
  5

  2023
  The Circulating Lifeblood of Ideas: Author Holly Borham in Conversation with Aaron Hyman

  Presented by: The Andrew W. Mellon Society of Fellows in Critical Bibliography
  Zoom • 12:00–1:00 p.m. ET
  
• Nov
  15

  2023
  Reimagining Christendom: Author Joel Anderson in Conversation with Damian Fleming on Iceland’s Bishops and the Roman Church

  Presented by: The Andrew W. Mellon Society of Fellows in Critical Bibliography
  Zoom • 12:00–1:00 pm ET
  
• Nov
  2

  2023
  Communication, Technology, and Environment in the Indian Ocean World

  Presented by: The Andrew W. Mellon Society of Fellows in Critical Bibliography at Rare Book School
  Zoom • 11:00 a.m.-12:15 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.

• Sep 28
  /
  Dec 23
  

  
  2022
  Building the Book from the Ancient World to the Present Day: Five Decades of Rare Book School & the Book Arts Press

  Curated by: Barbara Heritage & Ruth-Ellen St. Onge
  The Grolier Club, 47 East 60th Street, New York
• Jun 6
  /
  May 1
  

  
  2019
  Comics in Circuit

  Curated by: Ruth-Ellen St. Onge, Jennifer Camp, Elizabeth Dorton, Devon Shannahan, Katherine Smith, and Zach Tauscher
  Dome Room, UVA Rotunda
• Jun 13
  /
  Apr 30
  

  
  2018
  An Archipelago of Readers: Forming a Literary Culture in Digital Media

  Curated by: Katherine McNamara, with the assistance of Will Norton
  Dome Room, UVA Rotunda