Report of the Bodleian Libraries Centre for the Study of ...® Report of the Bodleian Libraries Centre for the Study of the Book 2015-16 The Centre for the Study of the Book is the

Report of the Bodleian Libraries

Centre for the Study of the Book

2015-16

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Report of the Bodleian Libraries

Centre for the Study of the Book

2015-16

The Centre for the Study of the Book is the academic outreach arm of Bodleian Special Collections, contributing to

the library’s educational programmes and supporting academic outreach with the aim of increasing knowledge and

understanding of Bodleian special collections. The CSB schedules conferences, symposia, classes, and workshops

focussed on Bodleian Special Collections, in partnership with University faculties and external research projects.

The Visiting Fellows Programme welcomes more than 25 scholars each year on grants supported by donations to the

library or by external funds. These are researchers in a wide range of academic disciplines who make use of the Bod-

leian’s Special Collections. A handful of scholars on longer-term research grants are affiliated to the CSB itself, by

virtue of the close connection of their research with the library’s book, manuscript, or archival collections.

Centre for the Study of the Book: Projects supported in 2015-16

Stuart Successions The project used images of Bodleian collection material to illustrate films describing 17th-century

politics, for classroom use. A study day for secondary school teachers was held in January 2016 at the Weston Li-

brary.

The History of the Book Index (Dennis Duncan, British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow at the Centre for the Study of

the Book). Outputs in 2015-16 include the Paratexts Podcast and an article in the TLS, January, 2016, and several

lectures on the subject. Dr Duncan was a Folger Library Visiting Fellow in August 2015.

Woodblock printing: history, art, and science (Giles Bergel, the Katharine Pantzer Fellow of the American Biblio-

graphical Society). Workshop in June 2016.

15th-century Booktrade (Cristina Dondi). The Visiting Scholars’ Centre hosts the postdoctoral researcher on this pro-

ject and the Weston Library hosted the launch of the database in June 2016. The project continues the association of

book illustration studies at the Bodleian with the Visual Geometry Group in the University of Oxford Department of

Engineering.

The Bodleian’s Bibliographical Press workshop supports classes and courses for students and members of the public.

Special printing projects and free workshops for schools are supported by a generous donation from Lisa Baskin.

Sonnets 2016 Printers around the world responded to a call for any of Shakespeare’s sonnets, printed in this 400th

anniversary year of his death, by any method of relief printing. All 154 sonnets are expected to be collected and de-

posited in the Bodleian Rare Books collection.

Printing of Martin Luther’s 95 theses at the Bodleian’s Bibliographical Press, by students and members of the Facul-

ty of Medieval and Modern Languages, led by Henrike Lähnemann. The printing project was supervised by Richard

Lawrence.

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Academic outreach events & public lectures, 2015-16

These events showcase academic research relating to Bodleian collection material. Audiences are approximately 25

for seminars, and 75 or more for public lectures. Lunchtime lectures are linked to displays and exhibitions on the

central Bodleian site.

Conference: Catholic Legacies, 1500-1800: Uncovering Catholic Lives and Records (Nick Davidson), History

Conference: Mesoamerican codices (Virginia Llado-Buisan, Bodleian Conservation)

Conference: Speaking in absence: letter-writing in the digital age (Student-led conference)

23 Oct.: Symposium: The new Boccaccio: scholar, scribe, reader (Irene Ceccherini and Angelo Piacentini, Bodleian

Visiting Fellows Programme)

2 Nov.: Symposium: Mr Gough's 'curious map' of Britain: old image, new techniques (Nick Millea, Bodleian)

20 Jan.: Symposium: Julia Margaret Cameron: Victorian networks, empire and the history of photography today

(Mirjam Brusius, Bodleian and History of Art)

22 Jan.: Symposium: Medingen Manuscripts (Henrike Lähnemann, Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages)

[podcast]

11 May: Symposium: Launch of 15c BOOKTRADE (Cristina Dondi, Faculty of Medieval and Modern Languages)

[podcast]

Study Day (11 May): Non-Western Photography (Mirjam Brusius)

Study Day (17 June): The Charnley-Dodd Woodblocks (Giles Bergel)

Annual McKenzie Lecture: ‘Authorship in transnational perspective’ (Gisele Sapiro)

Annual Lyell Lectures 2016: ‘Public reading and its books: monastic ideals and practice in medieval England’ (Tessa

Webber)

Lecture: ‘Books for mind and community in 12th-century Cirencester’ (Andrew Dunning) [podcast]

Lecture: ‘Collector, dealer and forger: the perils of collecting bindings in the 19th century’ (Mirjam Foot)

Lecture: ‘Eloquence vault mieulx que force': Vernacular Translations of Plutarch and Political Argument in Renais-

sance France (Rebecca Kingston, Royal Bank of Canada Foundation Fellow) [podcast]

Lecture: The science of woodblock illustrations (S. Blair Hedges, Temple University); lecture to accompany the

workshop on woodblocks

Bodleian Fellows Seminar: Susan Rennie and Earle Havens

Bodleian Fellows Seminar: Nasrin Askari and Keith Small [film of Nasrin Askari]

Bodleian Fellows Seminar: A Humument: metamorphosis of a book. Gill Partington, Humfrey Wanley Fellow

Material Texts seminar: Eighteenth-century material texts (Tina Lupton)

Material Texts seminar: Modernist marginalia (Amanda Golden)

Exhibitions lectures:

Richard Ballam, ‘200 years of fun and games’ [podcast]

Bart van Es, ‘1594: Shakespeare's Most Important Year’ [podcast]

David Crystal, ‘How to talk like Shakespeare’

Jonathan Bate, ‘The Magic of Shakespeare’ [podcast]

Steven Gunn, ‘Everyday death in Shakespeare’s England’ [podcast]

Peter McCullough, ‘Donne to Death’ [podcast]

Katherine Duncan Jones, ‘Venus and Adonis’ [podcast]

Emma Smith, ‘Memorialising Shakespeare: The First Folio and other elegies’ [podcast]

Simon Palfrey, ‘Shakespeare’s Dead : Women’

Simon Palfrey, ‘Shakespeare’s Dead : Men’

Steven Gunn, ‘War and death in Shakespeare’s England’

Lauren Kassell, ‘Astrology in Shakespeare’s England’ [podcast]

Panel discussion: Capability Brown’s landscapes in the 21st century [podcast]

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University learning, 2015-16

Academic classes offered to Oxford and external university students and to advanced learners. In 2015-16, the De-

partment of Special Collections taught all sessions of a Master of Studies B-course for the English Faculty, present-

ing a range of material to support teaching of bibliographical knowledge to student in World Literature and Ameri-

can Literature. The Bodleian Bibliography Room provided teaching in practical printing for English MSt students in

both Michaelmas and Hilary terms, as in previous years. The Department also supported many other class sessions

for University of Oxford Faculties, in the seminar rooms of the Weston Library. Those listed below were sessions

arranged via the Centre for the Study of the Book and which were open to learners from outside the University.

Master class series, Hilary Term 2016

Stephen Greenblatt (Harvard): The rise and fall of Adam and Eve

Irene Ceccherini (Bodleian Library/Lincoln College) The palaeography of the Latin classics in 14th-century Italy

Michael Rossington (Newcastle) Shelley's Poetical Essay on the Existing State of Things: some manuscript contexts

Elizabeth Solopova (Faculty of English/Brasenose College) The Wycliffite Bible: beloved but banned bestseller

Jim McCue (independent) T. S. Eliot, Vivien and 'F. M.'

Daniela Mairhofer (University of Vienna) Manuscripts from German religious houses in the Bodleian

Benjamin Wardhaugh (All Souls, Music) 17th-century musical manuscripts

Eleanor Giraud (Faculty of Music/Lincoln College) Square chant notation: identifying and distinguishing scribes

Deirdre Serjeantson: 'The ioyes of heauven delivered in sonnetts': an unpublished sonnet sequence in the Rawlinson

collection'.

English MSt printing course x6 weeks in each of Michaelmas and Hilary Terms

Shimer College student printing course x 10 weeks in Michaelmas and Hilary Terms

Printing workshop for Southampton U. English Faculty

Printing workshop, Wartburg College

Printing workshop for Warwick U. French Faculty

Printing workshop, Middle Tennessee State

Printing workshop for Traherne Edition undergraduate interns

Library object class: First Folio, for Utah University

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Public engagement, Adult learning and Schools learning

Public engagement initiatives aim to share University and Library research and collections with individuals and

groups who are not within higher education. As well as public lectures, these are events which engage audiences

through performance and participation. The CSB has supported public engagement events structured around the his-

tory of the book and printing; outputs from library-supported research with Bodleian collections; and Visiting Fel-

lows and Affiliated Scholars’ research.

Family-friendly events:

Printing workshop open for Oxford Open Doors (Oxford Preservation Trust)

Blackwell Hall Printing Press for Big Draw launch (The Big Draw)

Dance: ‘Performing the treasures’ (Menaka Bora)

Family workshop: Adam Dant, printing a globe

Family-friendly event: Shakespeare’s birthday, 23 April: sonnets written, printed and spoken: printing press, scribe

with quill pens, Creation Theatre sonnet booth

Adult learning:

Film: Beatus: the Spanish Apocalypse (Murray

Grigor)

Christmas card printing workshop for families

Valentine card printing workshop for adults

Hand-press printing 4-week evening course for

adults

One-day linocut workshop for adults:

‘Architecture of Oxford’ (Wytham Printers)

Six printing workshops for Bodleian staff

Two printing workshops for college librarians

Summer school in History of Printing and practi-

cal printing. A week of daily seminars on type,

paper, illustration, layout and printers’ errors, parallel with a practical printing project to produce extracts from Lau-

rence Sterne’s Tristram Shandy.

Sessions for school pupils and teachers include library object classes and printing workshops.

The study day for secondary-school history teachers, ‘Monarchy and Power in the Stuart Age,’ was devised and pre-

sented by the AHRC-funded project, ‘Stuart Successions,’ which the Bodleian supports, and was presented in part-

nership with the University Education Faculty and the Historical Association. The programme for that day was de-

vised and presented by the project ‘Stuart Successions’.

26 Jan. Shakespeare 6th form conference: lectures by Emma Smith and Simon Palfrey and exhibition visit (organized

by, and in partnership with, The Story Museum)

30 Jan. Study day for secondary school teachers: Monarchy and Power in the Stuart age (organized by the Stuart

Successions project, in partnership with the OU Education Faculty, and advertised by the Historical Association; 68

attended)

5 Feb. Printing workshop, Oundle School, Yr 6 (teacher initiative, OUSB)

11 Feb. Printing workshop, Pegasus School, Yr 6 (library-initiated contact)

8 Apr. Target Oxbridge students printing workshop (OU office of Widening Access)

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Book collecting and practical printing

The Colin Franklin Prize for Book Collecting

Paul Ostwald 2nd year BA in Politics, Philosophy, and Economics, at Regent's Park College, for his collection of books from

the publisher Georg Bondi. Paul found the products of Bondi’s publishing house in Berlin his key to discovering a form of

intellectual biographies - of Caesar, Frederick the Great, Shakespeare, and others - that were compelling reading and also

reflected the concerns of Jewish intellectuals in early 20th century Germany.

Fergus McGhee, 3rd year English BA at Harris Manchester

College, for a collection of books on Venice, which he

presented as an unfolding to him, or perhaps enfolding

him in, the myth of that city; the art, history, and legends

of Serenissima. Fergus's collection ranges from "a first

edition of the fashionable, gilt-edged Legends of Venice

(1841)" to the Companion Guide to Venice (1965) with its

explanation of the exotic foodstuffs such as lasagne.

The prize is named in honour of Colin Franklin, and is

funded by Anthony Davis

The Oxford University Society of Bibliophiles

The CSB supports printing of the termcard.

Projects in the Bibliographical Press

Luther’s Theses: Luther’s 95 theses, set and printed as a

broadside, by postgraduate students in Medieval Ger-

man. This project was initiated and supported by Henrike

Laehnemann.

Sonnets 2016: a collection of Shakespeare’s 154 Sonnets

printed by letterpress printers around the world. Acces-

sion ceremony, 10 November 2016.

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Bodleian Visiting Fellows, 2015-16

Bahari Visiting Fellows in the Persian Arts of the Book NASRIN ASKARI, Postdoctoral Research and Teaching Fellow, University of British Columbia, Canada. Elite

Folktales: An Exquisite 16th-Century Illustrated Kitāb-i Dāstān in the Ouseley Collection of the Bodleian Libraries.

Working with: MS. Ouseley Add. 1. [Academic year 2015-16] [film of Dr Askari in conversation with Alasdair Wat-

son]

ADEELA QURESHI, Independent Researcher, UK, The Hunt as Metaphor in Mughal Painting (c.1556-1707),

Mughal manuscripts, albums and paintings. Working with: MSS. Elliot, MSS. Pers., MSS. Douce, MSS. Ouseley.

[Academic year 2015-16]

The Royal Bank of Canada Foundation-Bodleian Visiting Fellows ANDREW DUNNING, PhD Candidate, University of Toronto, Canada. Defining a Corrector as Author in English

Manuscripts of the Early 13th Century. Working with: Medieval manuscripts of Alexander Neckam, Abbot of the Au-

gustinian abbey of Cirencester, and Samuel Presbiter, a student of William de Montibus at Lincoln. RBC-Bodleian

Lecture on Books for Mind and Community in 12th-century Oxford and Cirencester [Hilary Term 2016]

REBECCA KINGSTON, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Toronto, Canada. Plutarch’s Prism.

Working with: early books from the collections P.S. Allen, Holkham, Brian Lawn, John Locke, Bartholomew pam-

phlets, Radcliffe, Rawlinson, Shackleton. RBC-Bodleian Lecture on Eloquence Vault Mieulx que Force [Trinity

Term 2016]

Sassoon Visiting Fellows ANGELO PIACENTINI, Research Fellow, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Milan, Italy. Boccaccio’s Latin

Poems:Buccolicum Carmen, Versus ad Affricam and Carmina. Working with: Manuscript collections MSS. Bodley,

MSS. Canonici. [Michaelmas Term 2015]

DEIRDRE MCMAHON, Lecturer, University of Limerick, Ireland. British Perspectives on the 1916 Rising. Work-

ing with: Papers of H.H. Asquith, Augustine Birrell and Sir Matthew Nathan. [Hilary Term 2016]

ROSA COMES MAYMO, Lecturer, University of Barcelona. First Critical Edition, Translation into English and

Commentary of De Scientia Stellarum, Plato Tiburtinus’ Latin Translation of al-Battānī ’s Kitab al-Zīj al Sābi’, Com-

mentary on Ptolemy's Almagest. Working with: MSS. Canonici, MSS. Digby. [Trinity Term 2016]

Byrne-Bussey Marconi Fellows INÊS QUEIROZ, Researcher and PhD candidate, Institute for Contemporary History, NOVA University, Portu-

gal.Marconi’s “Latin” Projects: Wireless Communications over The South Atlantic. Working with: Marconi Archive.

[Hilary Term 2016]

NOAH ARCENEAUX, Associate Professor of Media Studies, San Diego State University School of Journalism and

Media Studies, USA. Wireless Telegraphy - Commercial Uses Prior to 1920. Working with: Marconi Ar-

chive. [deferred to 2016-17]

GIOVANNI PAOLONI, Professor, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy. Between Two Worlds: Marconi in Italy and

in Britain, From World War I to Radio and Television. Working with: Marconi Archive. [Trinity Term 2016]

Humfrey Wanley Fellows GILLIAN PARTINGTON, Associate Research Fellow, Birkbeck, University of London. The Book Between Artwork and

Literature: Tom Phillips’s A Humument. Working with: Tom Phillips Papers. [Trinity Term 2016]

KATHRYN RUDY, Senior Lecturer, University of St Andrews, Scotland. Targeted Wear: Why Medieval Readers

Rubbed and Kissed their Manuscripts. Working with: Medieval manuscripts collections. [Hilary Term 2016]

DAVID SHANKLAND, Director, Royal Anthropological Institute. Marett, Myres and the Internationalisation of

Anthropology: 1910-1955. Working with: MSS. Myres. [Academic year 2015-16]

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David Walker Memorial Fellows in Early Modern History VICTORIA PICKERING, PhD candidate, QMUL, Natural History Museum, London. Botanical Networks and Col-

lecting Practices in Early Modern Britain: The Correspondence of Richard Richardson (1663-1741). Working

with: MSS. Radcliffe Trust. [Hilary Term 2016]

VANESSA HARDING, Professor of London History, Birkbeck, University of London. Richard Smyth and Early

Modern London. Working with: MSS Rawlinson, Gough Adds. Rare books. [Hilary Term 2016]

Albi Rosenthal Visiting Fellows in Music CLAIRE HOLDEN, AHRC Research Fellow in the Creative and Performing Arts, University of Oxford. Chamber

Music and Musicians in Oxford 1800-1860. Working with: Alan Tyson Collection, John Johnson Collection, John

Ella Collection. [Michaelmas Term 2015]

JONATHAN WAINWRIGHT, Professor of Music, University of York. Online Catalogue of the Music School Col-

lection of the Bodleian Library, Oxford. Working with: Music School manuscript collection. [Hilary/Trinity Term

2016]

Renaissance Society of America (RSA) Research Grant Fellows 2015 MICHELLE MOSELEY-CHRISTIAN, Associate Professor and Chair, Art History, Virginia Polytechnic Institute &

State University. Anthropoids and Questions of “Human Uniqueness” in Early Modern European Image and

Text. [Summer 2015]

EARLE HAVENS, William Kurrelmeyer Curator of Rare Books and Manuscripts at the Sheridan Libraries, and Ad-

junct Assistant Professor, Department of History, Krieger School of Arts and Sciences, Johns Hopkins Universi-

ty.Reconstructing an Underground English Catholic Manuscript Coterie, c. 1580-1630. [Michaelmas 2015]

BSECS-Bodleian Fellow 2016 JOANNA WHARTON, Postdoctoral Research Associate, Centre for Eighteenth Century Studies, University of

York. The Material Culture of Scientific Educationalism: The Edgeworth Papers, 1778-98. [Hilary Term]

Dunscombe Colt Research Fellow 2016 CAROLINE STANFORD, Historian and Head of Engagement, The Landmark Trust, London. Before Coade: The

Origins of Artificial Stone in the Long Eighteenth Century. [Hilary Term]

Affiliated Scholars, 2015-16 Mirjam Brusius, The History of Photography, W.H. Fox Talbot

Irene Ceccherini, The Shaping of the Latin Classics in 14th-century Italy

Geri Della Rocca De Candal, The 15th Century Booktrade Project

Dennis Duncan, The Index and its Discontents

Richard Mulholland, Painting by Numbers: Decoding Ferdinand Bauer's Colour Code

Larry Schaaf, Catalogue Raisonné of William Henry Fox Talbot

Menaka Bora, ‘Dancing the Treasures’

Keith Small, Koranic expert

Karina de la Garza Gil, Madan Fellow of the Bibliographical Society

Giles Bergel, Katharine Pantzer Fellow of the Bibliographical Society of America