RBS Course H-25 Advance Reading List: Fifteenth-Century Books in Print & Manuscript

Description This course is intended to serve as a general introduction to bibliographical analysis. Its examples and methods are primarily derived from fifteenth-century manuscripts and printed books at the University of Pennsylvania’s Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, as this is a period commonly overlooked or only summarily treated by the standard guides. The use of a wide variety of evidence—paper, parchment, type, script, rubrication and illumination, bindings, ownership marks, and annotations—can shed light both on questions of analytical bibliography and on wider questions of book distribution, provenance, and use. There will be a fairly detailed discussion and analysis of both good and bad features in existing reference works on manuscripts and early printing.

AudiencesGraduates, Professionals, Scholars

Tagsrare book school, Reading lists, western book history