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History of Art and Visual Culture 153: History of the Book
SYLLABUS
Winter Quarter 2009
UC Santa Cruz
time: 2:00-3:45 pm Tuesdays and Thursdays
place: second floor instruction room McHenry Library or to be arranged: check class
wiki daily!
Instructor: Elisabeth Remak-Honnef
McHenry Library (first floor)
459.2459
remak@ ucsc.edu
office hours: 1-3 pm Fridays
This course will provide a survey of about a thousand years of the history of the book in the West
from ca. 600-1600. We will look at different types of books and examine: Who made them? How? For
whom? How were they used? How and why were they decorated? How have they survived? The
course will concentrate primarily on the medieval illuminated manuscript and the first century of
printing and focus on the relationship between text and image. We will make use of the manuscript
fragments, facsimiles and our excellent collection of 15th and 16th century books housed in Special
Collections to examine the evolution of book production. We will take a field trip to the International
Antiquarian Book Fair in San Francisco on February 14 where you will have a chance to examine and
handle manuscripts and printed books from the last millenium. There will also be a guest lecture on
chemical analysis of medieval pigments.
The purpose of the course is to familiarize you with both the "greatest hits" of western
illuminated books from 600-1600 as well as with basic techniques of book production and also to
introduce you to basic notions of codicology or "archeology of the book" including materials
used, provenance, life and travels of individual books, important libraries and collections.
Reading assignments and lists of technical terms and other handouts will be given to you
regularly, both in class and via email. Readings should be completed promptly; lectures and
discussions will assume familiarity with them. Please keep all handouts in a binder and bring it
to class along with Michelle Brown's Understanding Illuminated Manuscripts.
Texts are available at Bay Tree Bookstore
Required:
Introduction to Manuscript Studies (Clemens and Graham)
Understanding Illuminated Manuscripts: a guide to technical terms (M. Brown)
The Medieval Book (B. Shailor)
A History of Illuminated Manuscripts (C. de Hamel)
From Abacus to Zeus: A Handbook of Art History (J. Pierce)
NIV Study Bible (or any other version of the Bible that you already have)
Recommended:
Medieval Illuminators and Their Methods of Work (J. Alexander)
British Library Guide to Manuscript Illumination: History and Techniques (C. de Hamel) or
Scribes and Illuminators (C. de Hamel)
Reserve Readings at McHenry: see handout -- please make use of these books.
Handouts: You will receive a packet today -- please bring it to class regularly.
Evaluation and Grading will be based on:
class participation, 2 short Special Collections assignments, one short in-class presentation, one
manuscript description, one printed book description, and one exhibit project. The exhibit will
be installed in McHenry Library during the last week of the quarter and your work will be on
display during the spring of 2007. Class members will work in groups of five to prepare cases.
We will choose the topic of the exhibit together. You must be present on the day of the final
exam (March 19, 7:30-10:30pm) to install the exhibit which takes the place of a final exam. There
will be quizzes if I think that you are not keeping up on the reading.
Important dates:
January 8: pick up Lindisfarne assignment in Special Collections
January 15: Lindisfarne assignment due
January 15: pick up Lorsch assignment in Special Collections; choice for ms project due
January 22: Lorsch assignment due
February 14: field trip to International Antiquarian Book Fair in San Francisco
February 19: Manuscript description due; choice for printed book project due
March 5: printed book description due
March 19: installation of class exhibit from 7:30-10:30pm.
Lecture schedule (rough outline):
Week 1 (January 6, 8 –nota bene: January 9 in Special Collections)
Introduction
Late Antique and Early Christian books
Read: De Hamel introduction, pp 8-13; Richard Clemens web essay on medieval book production;
Bible reading: Book of Genesis
Week 2 (January 13, 15)
Insular manuscripts; introduction to codicology
Books for missionaries
Read: Clemens & Graham chapters 1 and 2, De Hamel chapter 1; Bible: one of the gospels (either
Matthew, Mark, Luke or John)
Week 3 (January 20, 22)
Carolingian manuscripts; introduction to paleography
Books for emperors
Read: Clemens chapters 5 and 6, De Hamel chapter 2. Start reading Clemens chapter 10
Week 4 (January 27, 29 – nota bene: January 29 in Special Collections)
Ottonian manuscripts; more codicology
Books for emperors
Read: Clemens chapters 3, 4 and 8; De Hamel chapter 2; Bible: Book of Psalms
Week 5 (February 3, 5)
Romanesque manuscripts; more codicology
Books for monks
Read: Clemens chapters 7, 9 and finish chapter 10; De Hamel chapter 3; Bible: Book of Psalms
Weeks 6 and 7 (February 10, 12, 17, 19)
Gothic manuscripts; liturgical calendar; liturgical and secular books
Books for students; Books for priests; Books for aristocrats
Trip to International Antiquarian Book Fair in San Francisco on February 14
Read: Clemens chapter 11, De Hamel chapters 4 and 7 (week 6)
Read: Clemens chapter 12, De Hamel chapter 5; Bible: Apocalypse (week 7)
Week 8 (February 24, 26)
Humanist books
Books for everybody; Books for collectors
Read: Clemens chapters 13 and 15, De Hamel chapters 6 and 8
Weeks 9 and 10 (March 3, 5, 10, 12)
Early printed books and exhibit preparation
Final Project: Exhibit Installation
March 19 7:30-10:30 pm: attendance mandatory