Announcing several short courses to be offered at Rare Book
School (RBS) at the University of Virginia this summer:
INTRODUCTION TO MEDIEVAL AND EARLY RENAISSANCE BOOKBINDING STRUC-
TURES. An explanation of the diversities of European bookbinding
structures, up to and including the early period of more gener-
alized practice and divisions of labor. Topics include: identifi-
cation (where possible) of the main types of binding structures;
their dating and provenance; the recognition and recording of
materials and techniques. Instructor: Christopher Clarkson.
Dates: 7-11 August
LATIN PALEOGRAPHY, 1100-1500. An introduction to this neglected
field of paleography, including reading (and expanding abbrevia-
tions proper to various disciplines), identification, classifica-
tion, dating and localization of the principal kinds of Gothic
and humanistic script. Examples of Latin texts (and, exceptional-
ly, French and English ones) will be studied from photographs,
photocopies, and slides. Designed for all those who have to deal
with late medieval MSS. Applicants should have a good basic
knowledge of Latin and of paleography. Restricted to persons who
have already had previous formal exposure to paleography. In-
structor: Albert Derolez. Dates: 7-11 August
EUROPEAN DECORATIVE BOOKBINDING. An historical survey of decora-
tive bookbinding in England and on the European Continent, con-
centrating on the period 1500-1800, but with examples drawn from
the late c7 to the late c20. Topics include: the emergence and
development of various decorative techniques and styles; rea-
dership and collecting; the history of bookbinding in a wider
historical context; the pitfalls and possibilities of binding re-
search. Enrollment in this course is limited to those who have
taken Nicholas Pickwoad's RBS course in European bookbinding
structure. Instructor: Mirjam Foot. Dates: 31 July - 4 August
CHRISTOPHER CLARKSON directs the Book and Manuscript Conser-
vation Workshops and their related internship program at West
Dean College, Sussex. Formerly Conservation Officer at the
Bodleian Library, Oxford, he also helped develop rare book
conservation at the Library of Congress. He has taught this
course in RBS since 1984.
ALBERT DEROLEZ is a professor at the Free Universities of
Brussels. He retired last year as Curator of Manuscripts and
Rare Books at the Library of the State University of Ghent. A
specialist in medieval and Renaissance manuscripts, he is the
author of _Codicologie des manuscrits en criture humanistique
sur parchemin_ (1984) and other books.
MIRJAM FOOT is Director of Collections and Preservation in the
British Library. She is the author of many books and articles
on the history of bookbinding, including _Studies in the
History of Bookbinding_ (1993) and (with Howard Nixon) _The
History of Decorated Bookbinding in England_ (1992).
Admission to these five-day non-credit courses is by competitive
application. For an electronic copy of the RBS 1995 brochure,
email biblio@virginia.edu.
-- Terry Belanger : University Professor : University of Virginia Book Arts Press : 114 Alderman Library : Charlottesville, VA 22903 Tel: 804/924-8851 FAX: 804/924-8824 e-mail: belanger@virginia.edu