School of History, Classics and Archaeology
Proposal for new or revised course
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All sections in bold and shaded yellow are mandatory and must be answered. No information is
required in grey shaded boxes. All sections marked * are additionally mandatory for EUCLID CCAM
data entry and must be completed.
Questions within the “Information for Subject Area Meeting / Board of Studies approval” section are
offered as a prompt for discussions that will take place to prepare a course for approval and when the
proposal is discussed at the Board of Studies. Not all of these questions will be relevant to all proposals,
or for both UG and PG courses. However, proposers and reviewers should ensure that all relevant
issues are addressed.
Once a course has been approved by the Board of Studies, this form will be used to generate the new
course details on EUCLID CCAM.
1.
UG course
PG course
2.
Proposal for a New Course
Proposal for a Revised Course
3. Course Name *
Print Culture and the Enlightenment: Edinburgh and London, 17101814
4. Course Code
Before presenting this proposal to the appropriate Board of Studies, please ensure that:
 consultation with the appropriate Subject Area/s has been undertaken
 relevant support services (e.g. Library, Computing Services) will be able to support the course
5.
Approval
The new course has been discussed within, and is supported by, the
Subject Area
YES
NO
The School Liaison Librarian has been consulted and is satisfied that the
proposed reading list can be supported
YES
NO
The School IT Manager has been consulted and is satisfied that the
course IT requirements can be supported
YES
NO
Please give date of Subject Area meeting which discussed this proposal
To be considered at Board of Studies:
Undergraduate
(date)
Postgraduate
(date)
Approved without changes
YES
NO
Approved with amendments
YES
NO
Finalised copy of proposal passed for entry onto EUCLID
(date)
Course code confirmed and form passed to School Student
Administration Officer
(date)
EUCLID information
(this information will be available to students via EUCLID/DRPS)
6. Normal Year Taken *
Year 1 UG
Year 2 UG
Year 3 UG (or 3/4)
Year 4 UG
PG
7. Course Level *
UG
8. Visiting Student
Availability *
Not available to Visiting Students
Available to All Students
Available to Part-year Visiting Students only
9. SCQF Credits *
10. Credit Level (SCQF) *
PG
20
Other: •
40
UG
07
08
09
10
PG
11
11. Home Subject Area *
(for UG courses)
Ancient History
Archaeology
Classical Art/Classical Archaeology
Common Course (HCA)
Classics General
Classical Literature in Translation
Economic and Social History
Greek
History
Latin
Scottish History
12. Other Subject Area(s)
(for UG courses)
Ancient History
Archaeology
Classical Art/Classical Archaeology
Common Course (HCA)
Classics General
Classical Literature in Translation
Economic and Social History
Economic History
Social History
Greek
History
Latin
Scottish History
13. Programmes to which
course is to be
available (for PG
courses)
14. Course
Organiser/Proposer
15. Course Secretary
(Area)
Postgraduate
Please list the programmes to which this course should be available
Dr Adam Budd
UG
Archaeology
Classics
British History
Economic and Social History
European History
Medieval / Scottish History
American / Asian / African History
PG
Archaeology / Classics
History
16. % not taught by this
institution
17. Collaboration
Information (School /
Institution)
18. Total contact teaching
hours *
19. Any costs to be met by
students
0%
One two-hour workshop would be held at the Centre for Research
Collections, Main Library. It will be taught by the course organiser.
22
Pre-requisites, Co-requisites and Prohibited Combinations
20. Pre-requisites
Standard pre-reqs for this level in this Subject Area
Or other (please specify):
•
21. Co-requisites
22. Prohibited
Combinations
23. Visiting Students Prerequisites
24. Short Course
Description *
(200-250 words)
Standard VS pre-reqs for this level in this Subject Area
Or other (please specify):
•
A. This course studies the cultural history of the Enlightenment,
focussing on the circulation of manuscripts, correspondence, and
printed books. We will consider the ways in which authors,
publishers, readers, literary patrons, and civic trustees facilitated
the circulation of ideas between its principal cultural centres:
Edinburgh and London, from enactment of the world’s first
copyright law (An Act of Anne, 1710) to industrial adoption of the
steam-powered press (at The Times, 1814).
B. Description with List of Topics
This course studies the cultural history of the Enlightenment,
focussing on the circulation of manuscripts, correspondence, and
printed books. Featuring unique resources held in the university’s
Centre for Research Collections, we will consider the ways in
which authors, publishers, readers, literary patrons, and civic
trustees facilitated the movement of Enlightenment ideas within
and between its principal cultural centres: Edinburgh and
London. The chronological reach of this course will extend from
enactment of the world’s first copyright law (An Act of Anne,
1710) to industrial adoption of the steam-powered press (at The
Times, 1814). Readings will include classic statements in the
historiography of the Enlightenment, with particular emphasis on
their meaning for historians of eighteenth-century Britain.
Seminars will address: definitions of Enlightenment among
intellectual, social, and cultural historians; early copyright law and
its interpretations; the social emergence of authorship and
publishing as professions; the extension of social networks from
Scottish towns to the London metropolis through print trades; the
construction and expression of moral controversies through
manuscript and print; the changing technologies of print; the
importance of coffee house culture; the roles of literary patrons
and civic trustees in the circulation of Enlightenment and antiEnlightenment ideas.
Students will learn how to handle, examine, and describe
manuscripts and early-printed books that document the cultural
history that our course readings discuss.
All of the course readings will be available online through the
Learn interface; materials for preparation of student work are
held in the University Library and National Library of Scotland.
25. Keywords
26. Fee Code
27. Course Type *
course secretary will input for SMART
not used
Standard
Dissertation
Online Distance Learning
Year-abroad
28. Default Course Mode
of Study *
Classes & Assessment incl. centrally-arranged exams
Classes & Assessment excl. centrally-arranged exams
Class only
Exam only (centrally-arranged)
29. Default delivery
period *
30. Marking Scheme *
Semester 1
Semester 2
Full year
CMS1: Undergraduate degree assessment (except BVM&S and
MBChB)
CMS4: Taught Postgraduate Assessment Mark
31. Taught in Gaidhlig? *
No
32. Intended Learning Outcomes:
After completing the course, students will be able to:
 Through verbal, written, and group work: demonstrate a critical understanding of the
social and material forces that enabled the circulation of ideas through print in
eighteenth-century England and Scotland;
 exhibit a meaningful understanding of the cultural significance of authors and
booksellers in contemporary Edinburgh and London;
 handle, describe, and examine materials that document 18th-century print culture;
 arrive at independent, well-argued, well-documented conclusions in an extended
essay, which properly reference primary and secondary sources.
33. Special Arrangements
34. Components of Assessment, ‘Parent’ course *
One 3,000 word essay (40%), oral assessment based on contributions in seminar discussions
and one formal presentation (10%), and one two-hour examination paper (50%).
The following may be included in the course handbook regarding the oral contribution:
Informal oral contributions
It is fully appreciated that speaking in front of others is a skill that comes more easily to some
than others, but it is an important skill in terms of securing employment as so it is a skill that all
should strive to acquire. The most significant issue are to attend and to participate. Students
will be assessed on the relevance of their comments, analytical skills, and knowledge and
understanding of the subject. Students should be aware that it is the quality rather than the
quantity of the contribution that is being assessed. Unexplained absences will result in
reduced seminar participation and a lower oral grade.
Formal Assessed Oral presentations
Students will be assessed on content, clarity and delivery. Where appropriate, students are
encouraged to make use of overhead projectors, whiteboards, and PowerPoint.
The formal presentation should remain within the time limit stipulated by the course organiser.
The following regulations apply:
a. Students who fail to deliver their presentation must within five days provide the course
organiser with an alternative written presentation. Written versions handed in more
than five days late will incur the same penalties as late essays.
b. Students who for good reason cannot deliver their presentation must inform the course
organiser immediately and, if at all possible, prior to the seminar. In such cases the
tutor will attempt to re-arrange the presentation for another date or will give the
student an alternative presentation topic. Should that not be possible, the student will
be asked to submit a write-up in lieu of the presentation. Write-ups submitted after the
agreed hand-in date will be subject to the same penalties as late essays.
In addition an Oral Assessment Report will be used in order to allow a degree of transparency
for the oral grade (and will be made available to the external examiner) and will be made
available to the students in order to facilitate constructive feedback.
35. Components of Assessment for a ‘Visiting Student Instance’ of this course *
One 3,000 word essay (40%), oral assessment based on contributions in seminar discussions
and one formal presentation (10%) and one two-hour examination paper (50%).
36. Syllabus (for EUCLID)
Week 1: Introduction:
What is Enlightenment? What is Print Culture? Why 1710-1814?
Week 2: Scotland in The Strand: Cultural Exchange between Edinburgh and London.
Week 3: What Is Copyright? Concept, law, practice: from high ideals to piracy.
Week 4: Methods of Circulation: Patronage, Subscription, Contract.
Week 5: Places of Circulation: Tea-table, coffee-house, and privacy.
Week 6: Considering the Library and the Sale by Auction.
Week 7: Print Culture and Controversy I: The Case of Hume and Millar.
Week 8: Print Culture and Controversy II: The Case of Hume and Warburton.
Week 9: Printers and the Classics: The “Brief Copyright Window,” 1774-1808.
Week 10: Editors, Booksellers, and Dead Authors: Printing the Past in the 18th Century.
Week 11: Conclusion:
Steam Technology and the Circulation of Newsprint
37. Academic Description
not used
38. Study Pattern
not used
39. Transferable skills:
The study of the past gives students a unique understanding of the present that will enable
them to succeed in a broad range of careers. The transferable skills gained from this course
include:
 understanding complex issues and how to draw valid conclusions from the past;
 ability to analyse the origins and development of current historiographical debates;
 demonstrate bibliographical research skills that enable access to restricted-access
archival materials, including the safe handling, examination, and technical description
of historical manuscripts and handpress books;
 make effective use of IT-based online research skills, using closed-access scholarly
resources that are not searchable through Google;
 develop a range of skills in material and textual analysis;
 ability to question and problematise evidence, considering relationships between
evidence and interpretation;
 ability to assemble arguments coherently and concisely, both orally and in prose;
 ability to deliver a presentation before an audience of peers;
 ability to design and execute written projects and to present them suitably, as
evidenced by the assessed essay of 3,000 words.
40. Study Abroad
not used
41. Reading List (for EUCLID)
• Please include a maximum of 12 books or articles that represent exemplary or essential reading for
the course, this list will be published on EUCLID.
Allan, D. “Reading Hume’s History of England: Audience and Authority in Georgian England,”
David Hume: Historical Thinker, Historical Writer, ed. M. G. Spencer, (University Park, PA:
Penn State UP, 2013), 103-20.
Blagden, C. “The English Stock,” The Stationers Company: A History, 1403-1959, (Cambridge,
MA: Harvard UP, 1960), 92-109.
Brown, S. W. and W. McDougall, eds. The Edinburgh History of the Book in Scotland, 17071800, (Edinburgh: U of Edinburgh P, 2012) 23-40; 118-143.
Jackson, I. “Approaches to the History of Readers and Reading in Eighteenth-Century Britain,”
Historical Journal, 47 (2004)” 1041-54.
Mandelbrote, G. and K. A. Manley, The Cambridge History of Libraries in Britain and Ireland,
1640-1850, (Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2006) 241-263; 2850313; 405-437.
Raven, J. “The Book as Commodity,” Oxford History of the Book in Britain, 1695-1830, eds. M.
Suarez and M. Turner, (Oxford: Oxford UP, 2009) 85-118;
--. “The Industrial Revolution of the Book,” The Cambridge Companion to the History of the
Book, ed. L. Howsam (Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2015) 143-161.
R. B. Sher, “Toward a Book History of the Scottish Enlightenment,” The Enlightenment and the
Book, (Chicago: Chicago UP, 2007) 1-40.
W. St Clair, The Reading Nation in the Romantic Period, (Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2004).
Selections.
M. Towsey, “‘The Book Seemed to Sink into Oblivion’: Reading Hume’s History in EighteenthCentury Scotland,” David Hume, ed. M. Spencer. 80-102.
Van Horn Melton, J. “Drinking in Public: Taverns and Coffeehouses,” The Rise of the Public in
Enlightenment Europe, (Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2001) 226-250.
M. Walsh, Shakespeare, Milton, and Eighteenth-Century Literary Editing, (Cambridge:
Cambridge UP, 1997) 4-29.
Upload Supporting Documents – finalised copy of this form to be uploaded
Course Instance Information
42. Exam Information
Summative Exams
not applicable (“Classes & Assessment excl centrallyarranged exams” or “Class only” course)
1st Sit Diet Month:
Result Due
December
April/May
Resit Diet Month (if any):
Due
August
September
1st Sit Assessment
January
June
Resit Assessment Result
Exam Duration in hours and minutes (per exam paper)
2 hours
Special requirements
•
Stationery Requirements
•
Keywords information also to be input by course secretary
43. Assessment Methods *
Whole numbers only and must add up
to 100
44. Learning and Teaching Hours *
Whole numbers only and total hours for
the whole course
Written Exam *
Coursework *
(including written assessment / report /
portfolio / dissertation / research project)
Practical Examination *
(including practical-based assessment /
oral assessment and presentation)
50
40
10
Lecture Hours
0
Seminar / Tutorial Hours
22
Dissertation / Project Supervision Hours
Supervised Practical / Workshop / Studio
Hours
Fieldwork Hours
External Visit Hours
Virtual Learning Environment /
Scheduled Online Activities
Feedback / Feedforward Hours
Formative Assessment Hours
Summative Assessment Hours
Scheduled Revision Session Hours
Other Study Hours
Programme Level Learning and
Teaching Hours
Placement / Study Abroad Hours *
Directed Learning and Independent
Learning Hours
Additional Notes
automatically calculated
automatically
calculated
Information for Subject Area Meeting / Board of Studies approval
(this information will not appear on EUCLID/DRPS)
Rationale
45. Why is this proposal being made?
Our students learn to define “the Enlightenment” primarily an intellectual phenomenon,
whose ideas contributed to revolutions in politics and in political philosophy. This course
meets a growing interest in the historical foundations of its related cultural legacies: the
emergence of “the author” as a commercial as well as a creative agent; the legal
codification yet limited cultural acceptance of copyright as a means to define intellectual
property; book publishing as a business of unique national importance; the increasingly
global recognition of Edinburgh – in addition to London – as a centre for the production of
British and European culture. Although students expect to consume “culture” using digital
devices, a growing number of students in History are expecting to learn how to access,
handle, examine, and describe early-modern documents and printed books. These are skills
that this course will provide, in collaboration with the Centre for Research Collections.
At present, HCA does not offer undergraduate courses that address the broader culture of
the cultural, technological, or economic history of the book.
46. Comment on the alignment of this proposed course with the Subject Benchmark
Statement.
• This course is in accordance with the principles laid down in the Subject Benchmark
Statement. It seeks to develop students’ skills of textual analysis (3.1), using a range of
contemporary sources that require students to engage with unfamiliar beliefs and patterns
of argument (4.4, 3.1). It requires students to reflect critically on historiographical debates
(3.3, 4.5), to improve their oral and written presentation (3.3) and to marshal arguments in
written work (3.1).
47. Indicate the links between teaching and research in the proposed course.
The course makes extensive use of primary sources that I have collected and edited for my
forthcoming book, Bookseller of the Enlightenment: Andrew Millar, 1709-68 (Oxford: OUP);
methodology and engagement with related sources draw on papers presented at my
RSE/AHRC funded colloquium, Negotiating the Enlightenment, held in Old College, July
2015.
48. Is this an additional course, or is it a replacement course?
Additional
49. What are the steps needed to secure external validation, if appropriate?
Course Aims and Objectives
50. What balance of knowledge, understanding and skills does the course aim to achieve?
The course aims to introduce students to debates concerning the history of Enlightenment in
Britain by focussing on its cultural and documentary legacies. As well as historiographical
analysis, students will learn to locate, examine, and describe original materials; therefore this
course will enhance each students’ ability to analyse contemporary and historical sources.
The course also aims to develop the students’ research and communication skills, both
through class discussion and through written work, including the final exam.
51. Do the course aims and objectives complement those of existing courses?
The School has a number of courses, at all levels, that address the social and intellectual
history of the Enlightenment; eighteenth-century politics; and political debates covering this
same period. The aims of this course will prepare students for numerous Taught MSc courses
offered by this School.
52. If there is overlap with other courses, can duplication of effort be justified?
Intended Learning Outcomes
53. Comment on the alignment of the ILOs with the descriptors for the relevant SCQF level:
The course has been designed for Level 10 students, and as such will fully adhere to SCQF
Level 10 guidelines for learning outcomes. For example, the essay assessment will require
students to execute a ‘defined project of research development’, more sophisticated than
the ‘routine lines of enquiry, research or investigation’ required at level 8.
Knowledge and understanding:
- a critical understanding of historical debates surrounding the development of British
foreign policy
- a critical understanding of a range of specialised literature
- detailed knowledge of particular sub-fields within this area of study
Practice:
- planning and practical execution of a defined project of research, drawing on a
range of materials learned in this course
Generic cognitive skills:
- critical engagement with this subfield of the discipline of History and thereby with
issues central to the discipline as a whole
- critical analysis of relevant primary source material, thereby dealing with
complicated issues and making judgments about the available materials in a
creative way, in the absence of compete data
Communication, ICT and numeracy:
- communication with student peers and with more senior colleagues through written
work and seminar discussions
- effective use of electronic and online resources and of computer programmes such
as PowerPoint
Autonomy, accountability, working with others:
- exercise of autonomy, leadership and initiative in the context of individual written
work and class discussion
- practice in working with others and in reflecting constructively on others’
contributions, roles, and responsibilities in the context of class discussions
Student Intake
54. At what students is the course aimed?
This course is designed as a level-10 3/4 MA course. It is designed to be attractive to
students interested in British History, Intellectual History, Political History, and Cultural History.
55. Is it to be offered on-campus, distance-learning or both?
On-campus.
56. Is the course likely to be taken by students on programmes outside of the School?
57. Are there additional attainments needed to undertake the course?
•
58. What is the minimum number of students the course must attract if it is to be viable?
5
59. What is the maximum number of students that can realistically be accommodated?
25
Content of the Course
60. Please outline an indicative teaching programme
See question 36 above
61. Can the topics be handled on the basis of the presumed previous knowledge and experience of
students?
Yes
62. Is the content within the expertise of the staff available?
Yes
Organisation of Teaching
63. What teaching methods will be used?
The course will be taught solely by the course organiser through eleven two-hour seminar
sessions. One of these sessions will be held in the Centre for Research Collections, University
Library. Students will be expected to prepare for seminars by reading specified materials,
many of which will be available online through Learn. The seminar sessions will provide
training and experience in the analysis of primary sources, consideration of historiographical
debates, and discussion of specified seminar questions.
This means that teaching materials and methods will extend from hands-on examination of
printed objects (including manuscripts) to close analysis of critical editions of historical texts,
and discussion of secondary materials.
64. Beyond participation in timetabled teaching, what independent study activities (and associated
time commitments) will be expected of students?
Students will be expected to conduct independent study in preparing for seminars and in
their coursework for the course. They will be invited to discuss their preparation for the
assessed essay, in advance of submission in the course organiser’s office hours.
65. Comment on the appropriateness of teaching and learning strategies proposed in the light of:
 programme/course objectives
 intended learning outcomes
 programme/course content and structure
 the students taking the programme/course
 staffing arrangements (including, where applicable, frequency and size of tutorial groups,
ratio of tutors to students)
66. What aspects of the teaching and learning proposed are innovative or enhance existing good
practice?
•
67. Have checks been made for potential timetable clashes with other relevant courses?
Teachability
68. Discuss the course’s ‘teachability’.
The course organiser will ensure awareness of the individual learning needs of students with
specific learning profiles and adjustments, contact them individually, and endeavour to
ensure that electronic materials, the online class VLE, and the written assessment
requirements are suitably adapted to provide equality of access to learning.
Support/adjustments will be catered for on a case-by-case basis.
Students holding adjustments exempting them from oral participation will be exempted
from this element of the assessment, according to School guidelines (for it is weighted at
10%). The course Handbook will clarify this, and students will be asked to note this to their
Personal Tutor and/or the course organiser, according to their preference.
Student Assessment and Guidance
69. Comment on the alignment of the Components of Assessment with the descriptors for
the relevant SCQF level.
The proposed course would seek to enhance: (a) knowledge and understanding: through
an appreciation of relationships between historical contexts—social, cultural, legal,
technological—that enabled the circulation of knowledge during the Enlightenment; (b)
practice (applied knowledge and understanding): by bringing historical concepts to bear
through studying cultural and documentary history of England and Scotland this period; (c)
general cognitive skills: by requiring students to relate empirical material to historical
problems in this area; (d) communication, by encouraging students to engage in seminar
discussion; (e) autonomy, accountability and working with others: by working with other
students in a seminar format in which students act as discussants of each other’s work.
70. How will coursework, examinations (including class exams) and any other assessed work be
timetabled?
This will be done in line with standard practice within the History subject-area.
71. What provision is made, where appropriate, for resit examinations or for resubmission of
coursework?
This will be done in line with standard practice within the History subject-area.
72. How will the course be externally examined?
This will be done in line with standard practice within the History subject-area.
73. How will students be kept regularly informed on their progress?
Each student will have an individually tailored session with the Course Organiser to discuss
aspects of the course and to give specific advice about the class essay. Students will
receive extensive written feedback on their essays. They will also have ample opportunity
to discuss that feedback with the course organiser in his designated office hours or by email.
74. What help with difficulties will students be given?
Office hours, via email and by appointment.
Feedback and Evaluation
75. How will the effectiveness of the course in meeting its objectives be determined?
The students will be able to provide feedback about the course to the course organiser at
the individual sessions described above, through the student questionnaires that will be
distributed electronically at the end of the semester. The students can also provide
feedback and criticism to the course organiser at any point during the semester, either
individually or collectively. Their feedback will be taken into consideration each time the
course is updated for delivery in a new academic year.
Written or oral feedback from external examiners will be scrutinised carefully and taken into
consideration each time the course is updated for delivery in a new academic year.
76. What feedback will be sought from students and others (e.g., those involved in teaching)?
See question 75 above
77. What course monitoring procedures will be followed?
See question 75 above
Resource Requirements
78. Will the course require significant new resources or additional funding?
In its proposed format, the University Library and its Centre for Research Collections is well
stocked in the relevant fields, and the course has no unusual IT requirements.
However, the course organiser wishes to propose a one-day trip to the Leighton Library,
Dunblane, the oldest private library in Scotland (1684) and the oldest subscription library of
its kind (1734). Its curator has agreed to allow the seminar full access to its historical reading
room and to consult eighteenth-century collections, including manuscript records of its
lending ledgers.
The cost of this trip would be limited to return travel by private coach (£315); justifications for
this expense rest on pedagogical and Impact-related grounds: the Leighton will allow
students to examine an original 18th-c library, peruse its lending catalogue, and discuss
curatorship with its Director. The course organiser and the Leighton’s Director are applying
for funds to develop collaborations for KE/Impact, for which this trip may form an important
basis.
If this cost is approved, revision will be made to sections 17 and 44.
79. How will the course be staffed (including provision for tutors)?
By the course organiser.
80. What lecture theatres and other teaching space will be needed and what laboratory, computing
or other facilities will be required?
Apart from a session held in the teaching seminar at the Centre for Research Collections, there are
no unusual spaces required.
81. Are there any other significant resource implications?
See no. 78.
82. Any costs to be met by students?
Not as proposed at present.
Documentation
83. In addition to standard course documentation made available to students, external
examiners, staff running other related courses, Personal Tutors and to other Colleges (if
appropriate), what other steps, if any, will be taken to outline and publicise the course?

The course organiser will discuss this course among colleagues in History in Art (ECA)
and English Literature (LLC), to actively encourage their students to apply for
registration.
Indicative Bibliography
84. This indicative bibliography should identify the core library resources for this course.
Nothing additional to question 41 above.