INF 385T
Information Science and Knowledge Systems:
STUDIES IN THE BOOK ARTS
Unique ID: 28055
University of Texas at Austin
FALL 2009
INSTRUCTOR: Michael Laird
Classroom: HRC 2.212 Feldman Room
Times: Mon. 1:00pm - 3:45pm
512-668-4621
laird.rarebooks@gmail.com
TEACHING ASSISTANT: Doug Rice
Office hours: Mondays 12-1pm and 4-5pm
douglas.rice@gmail.com
Students must first meet at the reception desk on the 2nd floor (HRC 2.200).
GOALS:
Utilizing primary source materials from the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center,
the course will offer an introduction to the Book Arts. The student will become familiar
with specialized research tools and techniques that are daily utilized by Special
Collections Librarians, rare book dealers and collectors. The course seeks to foster a
sense of connoisseurship in the Books Arts in the broadest sense, including (but not
limited to) the medieval manuscript, Incunabula and other early printed books, Gothic
and Renaissance bookbindings, emblem books of the 17th-century, the French Illustrated
book (18th-century), English Color-Plate Books (19th-century), the English Private Press
movement, Children’s Books, Modern Illustrated books. Throughout the course the
relationship between the antiquarian book trade, private collectors, and Special
Collections Libraries will be explored.
TEXTBOOKS:
ABC for Book Collectors / John Carter. London: Hart-Davis, 1952. 8th ed., revised by
Nicolas Barker, New Castle, Del.: Oak Knoll Press, 2004. The 8th ed. is available free of
charge as a downloadable PDF file:
http://www.ilab-lila.com/images/abcforbookcollectors.pdf
2
Glaister's Glossary of the book: terms used in papermaking, printing, bookbinding and
publishing. Glaister, Geoffrey Ashall.
PCL Reserves -- Z 118 G55 1979.
EVALUATION:
Grades will be based on written assignments and oral presentations (45%), “Executive
Summaries” of the Readings, to be posted on BLACKBOARD (10%), “Acquisitions
Committee” Presentation (15%), term project (20%), and class participation (10%) as
below:
Assignment 1 (due Sept. 28, 2009): Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts
(Observations) = 15% (written: 10%, oral: 5%)
Assignment 2 (due Oct. 26, 2009): Early Printed Books (Observations) = 15% (written:
10%, oral: 5%)
Assignment 3 (due Nov. 16, 2009): Early Modern Books (Observations) = 15% (written:
10%, oral: 5%)
“Curator’s presentation to the Acquisition Committee” (5-8 min. oral presentation, with
written notes to be distributed to the instructor and to each member of the class) = 15%
(Nov. 30, 2009)
Final Project: Aspects of the Book Arts (Exhibition Catalog) = 20% (due before Dec. 7,
2008, 1:00pm CST); NB: topics for Final project must be approved by Instructor on or
before Nov. 16, 2009
Executive Summaries / BLOG entries: 10% (see below)
Class Participation (throughout Semester) = 10%
Class 1
August 31, 2009 (Monday)
Introduction / Medieval Manuscripts
Proper Handling Techniques of Rare Materials
Presentation by Mary Baughman (HRC Conservation)
Introduction to “Studies in the Book Arts”
Discussion of Assignment 1
Sign-up for BRIEF meeting with Instructor / TA week of August 31, 2009
Readings:
Scribes and illuminators / Christopher De Hamel. Fine Arts Library Reserves -- ND 2920
D4 1992.
3
The British Library guide to manuscript illumination : history and techniques /
Christopher de Hamel. Fine Arts Library Reserves -- ND 2920 D39 2001.
September 7, 2009 (Monday)
Labor Day holiday (no class)
Post BLOG entries for readings of August 31, 2009
Class 2
September 14, 2009 (Monday)
Manuscripts
Presentation: Doug Rice (“Book Structure Terminology”)
Review BLOG entries for Weeks of August 31, 2009
Continue Manuscript production
Examination of HRC manuscripts
Readings / BLOG posts:
A history of illuminated manuscripts / Christopher De Hamel. PCL Reserves -- ND 2900
D36 1994.
Class 3
September 21, 2009 (Monday)
Ranuzzi Manuscripts
Examination and discussions of HRC Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts from the
Ranuzzi Collection
Readings / BLOG posts:
Latin bookhands of the later Middle ages, 1100-1500 [by] S. Harrison Thomson. PCL
Reserves: -Q- Z 114 T53.
Scriptura Latina libraria, a saeculo primo usque ad finem medii aevi, LXXVII imaginibus
illustrate. Kirchner, Joachim. PCL Reserves: -Q- Z 114 K5 1970 (study the plates and
transcriptions of different historical scripts).
Historical scripts : from classical times to the Renaissance / Stan Knight. PCL Reserves: Q- Z 43 K65 1998.
4
A Guide to Western Historical Scripts from Antiquity to 1600 / Michelle P. Brown. HRC
REF – Z 105 B769 1990 REF.
Class 4
September 28, 2009 (Monday)
Manuscript Presentations
Introduction to Early Printed Books
Assignment Due: Manuscript Observations (informal oral report: 5% final grade)
Assignment Due: Manuscript Observations (formal written report: 10% final grade)
Examination and discussion of HRC Incunabula
Readings / BLOG posts:
The British Library Guide to Printing: History and Techniques / Michael Twyman. PCL
Reserves and HRC -- Z 124 T89 1998.
The Coming of the Book. The Impact of Printing 1450-1800 / Lucien Febvre & HenriJean Martin. PCL Reserves -- Z 4 F413 1976 cop. 1 (pp. 9-108).
A short history of the printed word.
(pp. 3-83).
Chappell, Warren. PCL Reserves -- Z 124 C47 c.3
A New Introduction to Bibliography / Philip Gaskell. HRC REF – Z 116 A2 G27 REF
and HRC REF -- Z 116 A2 G27 1995 REF (pp. 6-153)
REVIEW ESSAY: Paul Needham (review of Elizabeth Eisenstein’s “Printing Press as an
Agent of Social Change” 1979) in: Fine Print (7:1) pp. 23-35 – available as a
BLACKBOARD course document.
Class 5
October 5, 2009 (Monday)
Incunabula & Post-Incunabula
Examination and discussion of Early Printed Books in the HRC Collections
Readings / BLOG posts:
Printing and the mind of man, assembled at the British Museum and at Earls Court,
London. PCL Reserves -- Z 121 L73 1963.
5
Printing and the mind of man: a descriptive catalogue illustrating the impact of print /
Carter, John. PCL Reserves: -Q- Z 4 C3 (pp. xv-xxxiiii and skim catalogue entries).
The art & history of books / Levarie, Norma. PCL Reserves: -Q- Z 4 L58 (pp. 67-168)
Art of the printed book, 1455-1955; masterpieces of typography through five centuries /
Pierpont Morgan Library. PCL Reserves: -Q- Z 121 P58 1973 c.3 (pp. 1-51 and passim.)
Class 6
October 12, 2009 (Monday)
16th and 17th-century Printed Books (including Emblem Books)
Examination of Renaissance and Baroque books in the HRC Collections
Examination and Discussion of Emblem books in the HRC Collections
Readings / BLOG posts:
A short history of the printed word / Chappell, Warren. PCL Reserves -- Z 124 C47 c.3.
pp. 84-170.
The art & history of books / Levarie, Norma. PCL Reserves: -Q- Z 4 L58 (pp. 168-215)
The printed book of the Renaissance; three lectures on type, illustration, ornament /
Goldschmidt, E.P. PCL Reserves: -Q- Z 124 G6 1966.
The Typographic Book 1450-1935 / Stanley Morison. Fine Arts Reserves -- Z 250 M862.
The history of the illustrated book: the Western tradition / John Hartham. Fine Arts -- NC
960 H27 and HRC REF -Q- NC 960 H27 (Chapters 2-7).
Studies in Seventeenth-Century Imagery / Mario Praz. HRC REF – N 7740 P72 REF.
Emblem Books in the Low Countries / John Landwehr. PCL Reserve – Z 1021.3 L34
Class 7
October 19, 2009 (Monday)
Historic Bookbindings
Examination and Discussion of Pre-1700 Bookbindings in the HRC Collections
Readings / BLOG posts:
6
The British Library Guide to Bookbinding: History and Techniques / P. Marks. PCL
Reserves -- Z 269 M37 1998.
Fine and historic bookbindings from the Folger Shakespeare Library / Frederick A.
Bearman. PCL Reserves: -Q- Z 269 B43 1992.
Twelve centuries of bookbindings, 400-1600 / Paul Needham. PCL Reserves -- -Q- Z 269
N37.
Sixteenth-century gold-tooled bookbindings in the Pierpont Morgan Library / Howard M.
Nixon. PCL Reserves: -Q- Z 269 N67.
English Restoration bookbindings: Samuel Mearne and His Contemporaries / Howard M.
Nixon. HRC REF – Z 270 E5 N5.
History of English Craft Bookbinding Technique / Bernard Middleton. PCL Reserves – Z
270 G7 M53
Class 8
October 26, 2009 (Monday)
Presentations: Pre-1700 Printed Books
18th-Century Illustrated Books
Assignment Due: Early Printed Books Observations (informal oral report: 5% final grade)
Assignment Due: Early Printed Books Observations (formal written report: 10% final
grade)
Examination and Discussion: 18th-century Illustrated Books in the HRC Collections
Readings / BLOG posts:
The printed book in America / by Joseph Blumenthal. PCL Reserves -- Z 208 B58 c.2
(pp. 1-26)
The Art of the French Illustrated Book 1700 to 1914 / Gordon N. Ray. HRC REF: -Q- NC
978 R37 REF
Class 9
November 2, 2009 (Monday)
18th and 19th-century Bookbindings
Examination of 18th and 19th-century Bookbindings from the HRC Collections
7
Readings / BLOG posts:
Trade bookbinding in the British Isles, 1660-1800 / Stuart Bennett. PCL Reserves: -Q- Z
270 G7 B46 2004.
Victorian publishers' book-bindings in cloth and leather. McLean, Ruari. PCL Reserves: Q- Z 269 M14 1974.
Class 10
November 9, 2009 (Monday)
19th-century Book Arts
Examination and Discussion of 19th-century materials from the HRC Collections
Readings / BLOG posts:
A New Introduction to Bibliography / Philip Gaskell. HRC REF – Z 116 A2 G27 REF
and HRC REF – Z 116 A2 G27 1995 REF (pp. 189-250)
Five hundred years of printing / Steinberg, S.H. HRC REF -- Z 124 S8 1996 REF.
REQUIRED READING: Chap. III-V, pp. 137-250 for 19th-Century and 20th-Century.
A short history of the printed word. / Chappell, Warren. PCL Reserves -- Z 124 C47 c.3.
pp. 171-202 (pp. 203-244)
Fleuron Anthology. -- Fine Arts Reserves -- q Z 123 M47. REQUIRED READING: pp.
300-325 ("An Unacknowledged Movement in Fine Printing: Typography of the EighteenNineties") for 19th-CENTURY.
The printed book in America / by Joseph Blumenthal. PCL Reserves -- Z 208 B58 c.2
(pp. 26-54)
The Illustrator and the Book in England 1790-1914 / Gordon N. Ray. HRC REF: -Q- NC
978 R37 REF.
English Books with Colour Plates / R.V. Tooley – PCL Reserve 016.096 T618S
Travel in Lithograph & Aquatint / J.R. Abbey – HRC –Q- NE 143 A58
Class 11
November 16, 2009 (Monday)
Private Press Movement: Kelmscott / Doves / Ashendene
8
Examination and Discussion of Private Press materials from the HRC Collections
Readings / BLOG posts:
The Ideal Book. Essays and Lectures on the Arts of the Book by William Morris /
William S. Peterson (ed.). Fine Arts Reserves -- Z 116 A3 M65425 1982 (pp. 75-88, and
passim.)
Fleuron Anthology. -- Fine Arts Reserves -- q Z 123 M47. REQUIRED READING: pp.
91-94 ("Emery Walker"), pp. 95-98 ("Mr. C.H. St. John Hornby's Ashendine Press")
The printed book in America / by Joseph Blumenthal. PCL Reserves -- Z 208 B58 c.2
(pp. 55-157)
The private press / Roderick Cave. PCL Reserves -- Z 231.5 P7 C37 1983 (pp. 85-347)
The private presses / Colin Franklin. PCL Reserves -- Z 231.5 P7 F7 1991 (pp. 9-182)
Class 12
November 23, 2009 (Monday)
Presentations: Early Modern Books
Modern Illustrated Books
Assignment Due: Early Modern Books -- Observations (informal oral report: 5% final
grade)
Assignment 3 Due: Early Modern Books -- Observations (formal written report: 10%
final grade)
Examination and discussion of Modern Illustrated Books
Readings / BLOG posts:
A Century of Artists Books / Riva Castleman. Fine Arts and HRC -- N 7433.3 C38 1994.
The Artist and the Book, 1860-1960, in Western Europe and the United States. Fine Arts
and HRC – NC 960 B7 1962.
Class 13
November 30, 2009 (Monday)
Curator’s Presentations to the Acquisition Committee
Modern Illustrated Books
9
Artists’ Books
Assignment Due: Curator’s Presentations to the Acquisitions Committee (15% final
grade). Participants deliver informal oral presentation (5-8 minute) to the “Acquisition
Committee” in order to solicit support for major acquisition. Presentations are to be
accompanied by notes which will be distributed to each “member of the Committee.”
Brief discussion to follow each presentation.
Examination and discussion of Modern Illustrated Books and Artists’ Books from the
HRC Collections
Readings / BLOG posts:
Fleuron Anthology. Fine Arts Reserves -- q Z 123 M47. (pp. 139-159: "On the Work of
Bruce Rogers")
Artists Books in the Modern Era 1870-2000: The Reva and David Logan Collection of
Illustrated Books / Robert F. Johnson. HRC N 7433.3 J64 2002b.
Artists Books: A Critical Anthology and Sourcebook. HRC N 7433.3 A75 1985.
Term Paper Due (20% of final grade)
Due: December 7, 2009 (Monday)
Studies in the Book Arts (Exhibition Catalogue)
Students will submit 10-15 page term paper (Exhibition Catalogue) in which illustrates
and describes ONE aspect of the Book Arts that was NOT discussed in class. Suitable
formats of the Exhibition Catalogue: MS WORD, PDF or website. Possible topics of
interest.
Executive Summaries
In order to generate a greater degree of class participation from each student in the
“Studies in the Book Arts” Seminar:
The “Executive Summary” will be posted on the BLACKBOARD web-log (BLOG)
consisting of at least ONE unique question and ONE unique criticism of any of the
assigned readings for a particular week. This means:
1. a specific QUESTION you might have about the reading(s)
2. a specific CRITICISM you might have of the reading(s)
10
Please be mindful that “Executive Summaries” are not essays, but very brief Questions
and Criticisms in a list format. Quality takes precedence over quantity.
At the beginning of each weekly seminar we will discuss your questions and criticisms
about the readings in a round-table format. Posted “Executive Summaries” will be graded
for content, and will count toward your fulfillment of the “Executive Summary”
Requirement (10%).
A note on Plagiarism
Please do not plagiarize, as instances of plagiarism will result in an automatic F (fail) for
the entire course. Plagiarism is defined here:
http://www.plagiarism.org/learning_center/what_is_plagiarism.html
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Students with disabilities may request appropriate academic accommodations from the
Division of Diversity and Community Engagement, Services for Students with
Disabilities, 471-6259.