Rare Book School

Rare Book School Lectures

Since 1972, the Book Arts Press and Rare Book School have offered more than 600 public lectures on a wide variety of bibliographical topics.

  1. Heather O'Donnell: "They Canโ€™t Buy It and They Canโ€™t Take It" (2026 Sue Allen Lecture)

    1d ago

    Heather O'Donnell: "They Canโ€™t Buy It and They Canโ€™t Take It" (2026 Sue Allen Lecture)

    ๐—ง๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐Ÿฎ๐Ÿฌ๐Ÿฎ๐Ÿฒ ๐—ฆ๐˜‚๐—ฒ ๐—”๐—น๐—น๐—ฒ๐—ป ๐—Ÿ๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐˜๐˜‚๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐—ณ๐—ผ๐—ฟ ๐—ช๐—ผ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ป ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐—•๐—ผ๐—ผ๐—ธ ๐—›๐—ถ๐˜€๐˜๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐˜† ๐‘ต๐‘ฉ: ๐˜‹๐˜ถ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ ๐˜ถ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ๐˜น๐˜ฑ๐˜ฆ๐˜ค๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ด๐˜บ๐˜ด๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ฎ ๐˜ถ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฅ๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ฆ, ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ค๐˜ฐ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฑ๐˜ถ๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ค๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ฅ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ด ๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ๐˜ค๐˜ต๐˜ถ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฃ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฐ๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ข๐˜ต 45:31, ๐˜ด๐˜ฉ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ต๐˜ญ๐˜บ ๐˜ฃ๐˜ฆ๐˜ง๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ๐˜ค๐˜ต๐˜ถ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ. ๐˜ž๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ท๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ค๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ฅ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ค๐˜ถ๐˜ต ๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ต ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฑ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ต๐˜ด ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ต ๐˜ธ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ญ๐˜ฐ๐˜ด๐˜ต ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ฑ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ท๐˜ฆ ๐˜ธ๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ต ๐˜ธ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ธ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ข๐˜ฃ๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜˜&๐˜ˆ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ต ๐˜ง๐˜ฐ๐˜ญ๐˜ญ๐˜ฐ๐˜ธ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ. Rare Book School is founded on a shared commitment to โ€œresponsible stewardship of the historical record in all its richness and many forms,โ€ a mission made more urgent by the present instability of our national institutions, from the Library of Congress to the Smithsonian to the National Endowment for the Humanities. This talk highlights a number of resourceful women in American book history, some celebrated and some whose names weโ€™ll never know, who found ways to preserve and share aspects of the historical record outside the established institutions of their own day. Whether barred from full participation in professional fields and private clubs on account of their sex, or simply focused on historical material deemed unworthy of serious attention, these women took the work of cultural preservation into their own hands in creative and surprising ways, to our collective benefit. In 2026, what practical and strategic lessons can we draw from the communities these women built? ๐—”๐—ฏ๐—ผ๐˜‚๐˜ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ฆ๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ธ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ: Heather Oโ€™Donnell has been an antiquarian bookseller for more than twenty years. She holds a Ph.D. in English from Yale, and was a member of the Princeton Society of Fellows before joining the book trade. In 2011, she founded Honey & Wax Booksellers, dealing primarily in literature, with an emphasis on the material history of printing, bookselling, and collecting. A graduate of Rare Book School and member of the Grolier Club, Heather helped launch the ABAA Gender Equity Initiative and Mentorship Program, and co-founded the Honey & Wax Book Collecting Prize for young women collectors. She currently serves on the faculty and board of the Colorado Antiquarian Book Seminar (CABS-Minnesota), the Council of the Bibliographical Society of America, and the Yale Library Associates Trustees. She is a member of the American Antiquarian Society, and writes about book history for the ๐˜•๐˜ฆ๐˜ธ ๐˜ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ฌ ๐˜™๐˜ฆ๐˜ท๐˜ช๐˜ฆ๐˜ธ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ๐˜‰๐˜ฐ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฌ๐˜ด.

    1h 4m
  2. Elizabeth Canning:  "Womenโ€™s Libraries & Their Afterlives" (2026 Kenneth W. Rendell Endowed Lecture)

    1d ago

    Elizabeth Canning: "Womenโ€™s Libraries & Their Afterlives" (2026 Kenneth W. Rendell Endowed Lecture)

    Elizabeth Canning delivered Rare Book School's 2026 Kenneth W. Rendell Endowed Lecture, "Womenโ€™s Libraries & Their Afterlives," on 10 June, 2026. Womenโ€™s book collections appear in a wide range of forms: as catalogued libraries; as groups of surviving books linked by inscription and family use; or as volumes dispersed but still traceable through the historical record. In some cases, a womanโ€™s library may never have existed as a traditional collection. Womenโ€™s commonplace books record reading livesโ€”and can produce something like a library in manuscript form. Considered together, these collections are not always bounded or stable. Some are large and well-documented; others survive only in small clusters or scattered traces. Drawing on examples ranging from the seventeenth century through the early nineteenth century, this lecture examines how these different modes of creation and survival complicate familiar ideas about what a library can be. Looking for such associationsโ€”and for the ways book collections are formed, dispersed, and remadeโ€”offers insight into how women and girls lived with books, and into the limits and possibilities of collecting these materials. ๐—”๐—ฏ๐—ผ๐˜‚๐˜ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ฆ๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ธ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ: Elizabeth Canning is a collector of early modern books and manuscripts, with a focus on how women used books to shape their intellectual, social, and professional lives. Her collection brings together printed and manuscript materials that document women as authors, readers, and participants in the book trade, with particular attention to evidence of ownership and use. Canning has studied book history at Rare Book School, London Rare Book School, and the Harvard Extension School, and holds a BA in English from Reed College. She serves on the board of the Book Club of Washington, where she helped launch a scholarship program supporting Washington students at Rare Book School. Her writing has appeared in the ๐˜‘๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ณ๐˜ฏ๐˜ข๐˜ญ of the Book Club of Washington and the ๐˜‘๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ณ๐˜ฏ๐˜ข๐˜ญ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜๐˜ฆ๐˜ญ๐˜ญ๐˜ฐ๐˜ธ๐˜ด๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ฑ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ๐˜ˆ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ค๐˜ข๐˜ฏ ๐˜‰๐˜ช๐˜ฃ๐˜ญ๐˜ช๐˜ฐ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ญ๐˜ช๐˜ค ๐˜š๐˜ฐ๐˜ค๐˜ช๐˜ฆ๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ฆ๐˜ด, and she has presented on book collecting at the Seattle Antiquarian Book Fair and early midwifery books at Bastyr University.

    1h 1m
  3. Douglas Fordham: "Aquatint Travel Books and the Haptic Picturesque" (2026 Kress Lecture)

    1d ago

    Douglas Fordham: "Aquatint Travel Books and the Haptic Picturesque" (2026 Kress Lecture)

    ๐—ง๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐Ÿฎ๐Ÿฌ๐Ÿฎ๐Ÿฒ ๐—ž๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜€ ๐—™๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ป๐—ฑ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป ๐—”๐—ฟ๐˜ ๐—ผ๐—ณ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—•๐—ผ๐—ผ๐—ธ ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐—˜๐˜‚๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—ฝ๐—ฒ ๐—Ÿ๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐˜๐˜‚๐—ฟ๐—ฒ When London viewers opened elegant folio books like Oriental Scenery or The Costume of China they were not just engaging with visual and cultural difference. They were also seeing an image process that was quite familiar. Polite interest in picturesque sketching meant that many Britons had experience drawing outlines, โ€œdead coloringโ€ shadows, and adding enlivening watercolor touches. This three-stage process also occurred in aquatint printmaking; a finely etched outline was made, broad washes of tone were added, and then strategic watercolor flourishes completed the print. This lecture frames that familiarity as the โ€œhaptic picturesque,โ€ which surely sounds like an oxymoron for those who think of the picturesque as a purely visual encounter. Aquatint travel books, which were at their height between 1780 and 1830, took the familiar process of โ€œtinted drawingsโ€ to distant lands. These luxury books enabled metropolitan viewers to imagine themselves sketching an Indian market or a Chinese temple. They constructed an empire of imaginative projections. As a term, the haptic picturesque unsettles rigid categories between periphery and center, and it suggests that landscapes of sense and sensibility were also landscapes of tactile sensation. ๐—”๐—ฏ๐—ผ๐˜‚๐˜ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ฆ๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ธ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ Douglas Fordham is Professor of Art History at the University of Virginia where he currently serves as Department Chair. As a historian of art and the British empire, Fordham is interested in a wide range of visual arts from the seventeenth century to the present in the Anglophone world. He is a co-editor of ๐˜ˆ๐˜ณ๐˜ต ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜‰๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ด๐˜ฉ ๐˜Œ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฑ๐˜ช๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ (2007) which helped to place empire at the center of the study of British art. His first monograph, ๐˜‰๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ด๐˜ฉ ๐˜ˆ๐˜ณ๐˜ต ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜š๐˜ฆ๐˜ท๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ ๐˜ ๐˜ฆ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ดโ€™ ๐˜ž๐˜ข๐˜ณ: ๐˜ˆ๐˜ญ๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ๐˜จ๐˜ช๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ค๐˜ฆ ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ˆ๐˜ถ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฎ๐˜บ (2010) examined the relationship of imperial politics to artistic organization in eighteenth-century London. His second monograph, ๐˜ˆ๐˜ฒ๐˜ถ๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ต ๐˜ž๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ญ๐˜ฅ๐˜ด: ๐˜›๐˜ณ๐˜ข๐˜ท๐˜ฆ๐˜ญ, ๐˜—๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ต, ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜Œ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฑ๐˜ช๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ (2019) considered how the newly discovered medium of aquatint printmaking conditioned the representation of cultures beyond Europe circa 1800. Douglas has worked with the Fralin Museum of Art and the Kluge-Ruhe Collection of Aboriginal Art on a number of exhibitions including Boomalli Prints & Paper: Making Space as an Art Collective (2022). His most recent article, โ€œEnglish Graffiti and the Printed Image,โ€ will appear shortly in the journal ๐˜ˆ๐˜ณ๐˜ต ๐˜๐˜ช๐˜ด๐˜ต๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜บ

    1h 1m
  4. Paul Needham, "The Catholicon Press Revisited: The Evidence of Nailheads," 29 July 2025

    08/15/2025

    Paul Needham, "The Catholicon Press Revisited: The Evidence of Nailheads," 29 July 2025

    RBS faculty member Paul Needham (Princeton Univ.) gave a public lecture on "The Catholicon Press Revisited: The Evidence of Nailheads" on 29 July 2025. You can watch the full recording of the lecture on YouTube at https://youtu.be/o4aMEB38slw?feature=shared. ๐—”๐—ฏ๐—ผ๐˜‚๐˜ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ง๐—ฎ๐—น๐—ธ: The ๐˜Š๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฐ๐˜ญ๐˜ช๐˜ค๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ, whose colophon states that it was printed in Mainz, 1460, has been the subject of controversy for more than fifty years. Paul Needham argues that it was printed from thin two-line stereotypes, used for three typographically identical impressions, dating to 1460, 1469, and 1472-73. Others maintain that it was printed directly from movable types, like all other incunables; that the colophon date is wrong; and that all copies were printed in 1469. Needham, working with Eric White, has recently discovered new evidence which strongly supports the stereotype hypothesis. ๐—”๐—ฏ๐—ผ๐˜‚๐˜ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ฆ๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ธ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ: Paul Needham became Scheide Librarian at Princeton University in 1998 and retired in 2020. Before coming to Princeton, he worked at Sothebyโ€™s and at the Pierpont Morgan Library. Among his books is ๐˜›๐˜ธ๐˜ฆ๐˜ญ๐˜ท๐˜ฆ ๐˜Š๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ต๐˜ถ๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ฆ๐˜ด ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ๐˜‰๐˜ฐ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฌ๐˜ฃ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ: 400โ€“1600 (1979). He has given Rare Book School courses on early printed books both at the Morgan and at the Huntington.

    1h 19m
  5. Christopher N. Warren, "What Is Computational Bibliography?" Malkin Lecture, 30 July 2025

    08/15/2025

    Christopher N. Warren, "What Is Computational Bibliography?" Malkin Lecture, 30 July 2025

    Christopher N. Warren delivered the 2025 Sol M. and Mary Ann Oโ€™Brian Malkin Lecture, โ€œWhat is Computational Bibliography?โ€, on 30 July 2025. You can watch the full recording of the lecture on YouTube at https://youtu.be/ElvNacFyoWQ?feature=shared. ๐—”๐—ฏ๐—ผ๐˜‚๐˜ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ง๐—ฎ๐—น๐—ธ: Book historians have long faced a methodological dilemma. Do we want to study particular material objects in granular detail, or are we primarily concerned with more general patterns connected to larger questions about politics, economics, censorship regimes, or ideology? While not strictly mutually exclusive, these two approaches nevertheless exist in tension, and scholars frequently orient themselves toward one side or the other. In this talk, Christopher N. Warren will explore how the new field of computational bibliography is helping to resolve this dilemma through its ability to connect granular, material details to larger, more consequential patterns. Computational bibliography, Warren argues, makes it newly possible to move fluidly between scalesโ€”bringing into focus material features like individual type sorts and paper stocks while also uncovering large-scale clandestine printing campaigns and historical print networks. Warrenโ€™s talk will show how such dynamic scaling is not merely a technical convenience but a methodological breakthroughโ€”one that enables book historians to ask and answer fascinating new questions. ๐—”๐—ฏ๐—ผ๐˜‚๐˜ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ฆ๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ธ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ: Christopher N. Warren is Professor of English and History and incoming Head of English at Carnegie Mellon University. Warren is the author of ๐˜“๐˜ช๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ถ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜“๐˜ข๐˜ธ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ๐˜•๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ๐˜ด, 1580โ€“1680 (2015), which was awarded the 2016 Roland H. Bainton Prize for Literature. A former member of the Modern Language Associationโ€™s executive committee for 17th-Century English, Warren co-founded ๐˜š๐˜ช๐˜น ๐˜‹๐˜ฆ๐˜จ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ๐˜๐˜ณ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ค๐˜ช๐˜ด ๐˜‰๐˜ข๐˜ค๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ and directed the National Endowment for the Humanities-funded digital humanities project โ€œFreedom and the Press before Freedom of the Press,โ€ which used machine learning and artificial intelligence to discover and center the anonymous craftsmen and -women responsible for printing controversial clandestine materials.

    1h 4m
  6. Rachael DiEleuterio, "Curious and Creative Women," 2025 Sue Allen Lecture

    08/15/2025

    Rachael DiEleuterio, "Curious and Creative Women," 2025 Sue Allen Lecture

    Rachael DiEleuterio gave the inaugural Sue Allen Lecture for Women in Book History, on โ€œCurious and Creative Women,โ€ on 28 July 2025. She was joined by Daphne Sawyer, who endowed the lecture in memory of her mother, Mary Sawyer (1925โ€“2024), and of longtime RBS faculty member Sue Allen (1918โ€“2011). You can watch the full recording of the lecture on YouTube at https://youtu.be/2YurCWdLYIo?feature=shared. About the Talk: What do mother-and-daughter book collectors, nineteenth-century book cover designers, and an art museum librarian have in common? Rare Book School, of course! But there's more to the story. All of them are women, deeply passionate about the history of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century publishers' book bindings. These bindings, many of which were designed by women, are stunning works of art. As the commercial book market boomed in the latter half of the nineteenth century, decorative bindings became an essential part of book production. These publishers' bindings showcased technological advancements in mass production while reflecting contemporaneous artistic movements. Book cover design was one of few creative professions open to women, whose innovations transformed the field until the more cost-effective paper dust jacket took over in the 1920s. By the 1960s, these beautiful covers had fallen out of fashion, relegated to attics and basements, and even destroyed. However, a few dedicated individuals began collecting these bindings as works of art, gradually identifying their unique design styles, designers, and histories. This presentation will focus on a few RBS alumnae who have made it their mission to preserve these remarkable bindings for posterity. About the Speaker: Rachael DiEleuterio has been Librarian and Archivist at the Delaware Art Museum since 2008, where she singlehandedly oversees the Helen Farr Sloan Library & Archives. She is a Certified Archivist and has B.A. and M.A. degrees from the University of Delaware and an M.S.L.S. from Clarion University of Pennsylvania. She first became fascinated with decorative book bindings in 2011, when she attended Sue Allenโ€™s class at Rare Book School and hasnโ€™t stopped talking about them since.

    1h 1m
  7. James H. Marrow, "Iconographic Disjunction in the Ruskin Psalter/Hours," 2025

    08/15/2025

    James H. Marrow, "Iconographic Disjunction in the Ruskin Psalter/Hours," 2025

    James H. Marrow gave a public talk on โ€œIconographic Disjunction in the Ruskin Psalter/Hours: A Flemish Illuminated Manuscript of ca. 1470โ€“80,โ€ on 23 July 2025, as part of Rare Book School's 2025 Summer Lecture Series. You can watch the full recording of the lecture on YouTube at https://youtu.be/LxIPOQ6ehss?feature=shared. ๐—”๐—ฏ๐—ผ๐˜‚๐˜ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ง๐—ฎ๐—น๐—ธ: Illustrated by a cycle of nine historiated initials of scenes from the Old Testament, which function typologically as prefigurations of events from the life of Christ, and by ten full-page miniatures of events from Salvation History, the Ruskin Psalter/Hours appears at first glance to be a sophisticated example of Flemish manuscript illumination from the turn of the third to the fourth quarters of the fifteenth century. On closer examination, the cycles of illumination are not correctly synchronized. In this lecture, James H. Marrow will discuss the iconographic โ€œslippageโ€ or disjunction found in the cycles of illustration of the Ruskin Psalter/Hours and propose a novel explanation for the striking anomalies in what otherwise appears to be a refined and deluxe manuscript of the period. Marrow suggests that the example of the Ruskin Hours can be viewed against the backdrop of the growing production of relatively high-end illuminated manuscripts at this time, qualified in this case by the exigencies of an atypical commission. ๐—”๐—ฏ๐—ผ๐˜‚๐˜ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ฆ๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ธ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ: James H. Marrow is Professor Emeritus of Art History at Princeton University and Honorary Keeper of illuminated Manuscripts (former Acting Keeper) at The Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge (UK). He has published widely on northern European art of the late Middle Ages, with special attention to questions of meaning in works of religious art, and on manuscript illumination in the Low Countries, Germany, and France.

    55 min
  8. E. M. Rose, "Books for Virginia 1620: America's First Public Library?" 2025 NEH-SHARP Lecture

    08/15/2025

    E. M. Rose, "Books for Virginia 1620: America's First Public Library?" 2025 NEH-SHARP Lecture

    This NEH-SHARP Living American History in Primary Documents Lecture by E. M. Rose was part of Rare Book School's 2025 Summer Lecture Series. You can watch the full recording of the lecture on YouTube at https://youtu.be/VaN2qqFnPto?feature=shared. ๐—”๐—ฏ๐—ผ๐˜‚๐˜ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ง๐—ฎ๐—น๐—ธ: What did American colonists need to know? What should they believe? The Virginia Company had clear ideas about such things as demonstrated by the significant sums spent on books for the use of the colonists. A recently unearthed list details 50 titles the Company purchased in December 1620 for shipment to America, most likely for a public library. E. M. Rose has been able to identify the author, title, edition, number of copies purchased, and cost per copy for most of the titles acquired for the benefit of the newest Americans. In this talk, Rose will review the assortment of religious texts for what they indicate about conventional Anglican orthodoxy in this period and will examine the agricultural and scientific texts intended for use in the colonies to get a sense of the technological interests and capabilities of the new Americans. Additionally, she will consider the books as a collection and library in contrast with other such collections and donations, discussing the medium of the printed book as an object for the light it throws on contemporary readers, book history, and the book trade. This lecture will further consider the role of the Virginia Company as an important publisher as well as a consumer of books and other printed ephemera. ๐—”๐—ฏ๐—ผ๐˜‚๐˜ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ฆ๐—ฝ๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ธ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ: E. M. Rose is a scholar of medieval and early modern Europe, whose work has been hailed as โ€œa model of thoroughgoing historical scholarship presented to a general audience and should be studied by scholars who wish to bring the humanities to the public square." Rose has taught at five universities in America and is currently Visiting Fellow at Murray Edwards College, Cambridge University. For the past three years, she was a Visiting Scholar at Oxford University. Her previous work in book history, โ€œBooks owned by a Renaissance Queen,โ€ an essay on 80 books sent by James I to his daughter, appeared in ๐˜‹๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ ๐˜Ž๐˜ถ๐˜ญ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ ๐˜—๐˜ข๐˜ด๐˜ด๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ (2020). Roseโ€™s articles have appeared in ๐˜—๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ญ๐˜ช๐˜ข๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ต๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜บ ๐˜๐˜ช๐˜ด๐˜ต๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜บ, the ๐˜๐˜ถ๐˜ฏ๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ๐˜ฏ ๐˜“๐˜ช๐˜ฃ๐˜ณ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜บ ๐˜˜๐˜ถ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ญ๐˜บ, the ๐˜๐˜ช๐˜ณ๐˜จ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ช๐˜ข ๐˜”๐˜ข๐˜จ๐˜ข๐˜ป๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ๐˜๐˜ช๐˜ด๐˜ต๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜บ, ๐˜š๐˜ต๐˜ถ๐˜ฅ๐˜ช๐˜ฆ๐˜ด ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ˆ๐˜จ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ๐˜Š๐˜ฉ๐˜ข๐˜ถ๐˜ค๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ, the ๐˜‘๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ณ๐˜ฏ๐˜ข๐˜ญ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ๐˜Œ๐˜ฏ๐˜จ๐˜ญ๐˜ช๐˜ด๐˜ฉ ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ ๐˜Ž๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ฎ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ๐˜ช๐˜ค ๐˜—๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ญ๐˜ฐ๐˜ญ๐˜ฐ๐˜จ๐˜บ, and ๐˜›๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜•๐˜ฆ๐˜ธ ๐˜ˆ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ค๐˜ข๐˜ฏ ๐˜ˆ๐˜ฏ๐˜ต๐˜ช๐˜ฒ๐˜ถ๐˜ข๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ข๐˜ฏ. Her most recent essay on Americaโ€™s first chart maker will appear in ๐˜”๐˜ข๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ ๐˜๐˜ช๐˜ด๐˜ต๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜บ this summer. Roseโ€™s first book, ๐˜›๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜”๐˜ถ๐˜ณ๐˜ฅ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ๐˜ž๐˜ช๐˜ญ๐˜ญ๐˜ช๐˜ข๐˜ฎ ๐˜ฐ๐˜ง ๐˜•๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ธ๐˜ช๐˜ค๐˜ฉ (2015) was named one of the โ€œTen Best History Books of the Yearโ€ by the ๐˜š๐˜ถ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฅ๐˜ข๐˜บ ๐˜›๐˜ช๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ๐˜ด of London and described by the ๐˜ž๐˜ข๐˜ญ๐˜ญ ๐˜š๐˜ต๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฆ๐˜ต ๐˜‘๐˜ฐ๐˜ถ๐˜ณ๐˜ฏ๐˜ข๐˜ญ as โ€œa landmark of historical research.โ€ The ๐˜ˆ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ค๐˜ข๐˜ฏ ๐˜๐˜ช๐˜ด๐˜ต๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ช๐˜ค๐˜ข๐˜ญ ๐˜™๐˜ฆ๐˜ท๐˜ช๐˜ฆ๐˜ธ called it โ€œa significant achievementโ€ and the ๐˜ˆ๐˜‘๐˜š ๐˜™๐˜ฆ๐˜ท๐˜ช๐˜ฆ๐˜ธ described it as โ€œa truly excellent book. It deserves to be read and studied by scholars in many if not all fields of medieval studies.โ€

    51 min

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Since 1972, the Book Arts Press and Rare Book School have offered more than 600 public lectures on a wide variety of bibliographical topics.