5-Day Courses on History of Books/Maps/Typography

[Cross-posted. Please excuse any duplication.]

RARE BOOK SCHOOL (RBS) is pleased to announce its Winter and Early
Spring Sessions 2004, a collection of five-day, non-credit courses on
topics concerning rare books, manuscripts, the history of books and
printing, and special collections to be held at the University of
Virginia.

FOR AN APPLICATION FORM and electronic copies of the complete brochure
and the RBS Expanded Course Descriptions, providing additional details
about the courses offered and other information about RBS, visit our
Web site at:

   http://www.rarebookschool.org

Subscribers to the list may find the following Rare Book School
courses to be of particular interest:

11 (B-10). INTRODUCTION TO THE HISTORY OF BOOKBINDING. (MONDAY-FRIDAY,
5-9 JANUARY). A bookbinding has two main functions. It protects its
text block against wear and tear, and, by its structure, it makes a
book out of a heap of otherwise separate leaves or quires. Through the
ages, the covers, spine, fore-edge and other parts of the book have
been decorated in almost every conceivable manner, technique, and
material, thereby turning the binding into a work of decorative art.
This introductory course, which will discuss the principal techniques
and materials used in the West over binding's long history, is
intended for those who wish to develop a better understanding of the
history of the field; it is not a practical binding course. It is
aimed at historians, special collections personnel, collectors,
dealers, conservators and bookbinders, and others with an interest in
the binding and its history. Instructor: Jan Storm van Leeuwen.

JAN STORM VAN LEEUWEN is Keeper of the Binding Collection at the Dutch
Royal Library in The Hague. He has published widely in Dutch, English,
French, and German on the history of bookbinding. He gives courses in
the history of bookbinding at the Amsterdam Restoration School and at
the Plantin Society in Antwerp. He is honorary member of the
International Association of Bibliophiles and the Amis de la Reliure
d'Art.


14 (T-10). INTRODUCTION TO THE HISTORY OF TYPOGRAPHY. (MONDAY-FRIDAY,
5-9 JANUARY). A survey of European and American typographic history
from 1450 to the present, but concentrating on the period 1480-1950.
Topics will include: the development of Roman and italic; from Old
Style to Transitional to Modern (Italian, French, Dutch, and English
developments); display types; the coming of machine composition and
the historic revivals; typeface nomenclature; and techniques for
dating pre-1885 hand-set typefaces and for naming post-1885
machine-set typefaces. In laboratory sessions, students will have a
chance to set type by hand, proof, and print. Instructor: Stanley
Nelson.

STANLEY NELSON has been a specialist for many years in the Graphic
Arts Collection of the National Museum of American History,
Smithsonian Institution, and he has given many demonstrations and
lectured widely on various aspects of typographic history. He is both
author and presenter in the 1985 Book Arts Press videotape, From Punch
to Printing Type: The Art and Craft of Hand Punchcutting and
Typecasting.


22 (H-65). INTRODUCTION TO THE HISTORY AND PRESERVATION OF MAPS
(MONDAY-FRIDAY, 8-12 MARCH) This course is intended for those who seek
a general overview of the technical and cultural aspects of the
history of maps so these documents can be effectively understood and
described as both artifacts and cultural texts. This course will
consist of multimedia lectures, with workshop exercises using original
materials. The first two days address questions related to the
authenticity and physical quality of maps, globes, and atlases and how
these were drawn, printed, and colored from pre-classical times to the
pre-digital era. This section will build an introductory vocabulary
and understanding of the map as artifact. The remaining days provide
an overview of why maps, plans, views, and charts were made and how
these objects were used historically: taxation; administration;
warfare; wayfinding; and organizing geographical and cultural
knowledge in both literal and metaphorical ways. Major format changes
and technological transitions in mapmaking and their cultural impact
will be discussed. The course will introduce some theoretical issues
in the current scholarship on map history, but its focus will be on
developing an appreciation for maps as material objects.

DAVID WOODWARD is Arthur H. Robinson Professor of Geography Emeritus
at the University of Wisconsin. He is the General Editor of the
University of Chicago Press's multi-volume History of Cartography. His
many books and articles include Maps As Prints in the Italian
Renaissance (1996 [the 1995 Panizzi Lectures]) and The All-American
Map (1977).<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->