The London Rare Books School (LRBS) came to a close in its third week. Week three saw a number of varied courses on offer, from Book Illustration to European Bookbinding – students could choose from a plethora of topics. Although it had reached the end of LRBS, it appeared no one was slowing down.
The third week saw the usual, and very damp, walking tour from Alice Ford-Smith and Maggs Bros reception, but also welcomed a number of trips from course tutors.
Keep reading if you’d like to find out more about week three of LRBS and see photos of what went on in the week!
It was no wonder students needed to find some form of fuel before coming to London this time!
The third week of LRBS ran the following courses:
First was Medieval Women and the Book with Professor Michelle Brown, which reviews the evidence for the role of women in the creation of medieval manuscripts, as scribes, illuminators, patrons and authors. These range from the 4th-century pilgrim Egeria to Elizabeth I and include writers such as Hildegard of Bingen, Margery Kempe, Mother Julian and ‘desktop publisher’ Christine de Pizan.
The third week also ran The Digital Book with Dr Daniel Boswell. The course provides an introduction to digital book culture from the vantage point of the twentieth century onwards. The historical basis for the development of digital technology and its application to creative industry will be explored, as well as the after-effects of digitisation on work processes and the publishing economy.
With Professor Nicholas Pickwoad, European Bookbinding follows European bookbinding from the end of the Middle Ages to the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, using the bindings themselves to illustrate the aims and intentions of the binding trade.
History of Colour Printing with Dr Elizabeth Savage offers an interdisciplinary, introductory course provides an overview of colour printing techniques in the West from manual techniques c.1400 through the development of chromolithography in the mid-1800s. Discussions will be based on the close analysis of many kinds of content, including text, images, music, diagrams, maps, scientific tools and mathematical figures.
Watch a video about History of Colour Printing
Finally, The Book in the Renaissance with Dr Paolo Sachet aims to provide participants with a comprehensive overview of the printed book during the Renaissance, broadly intended as the trans-European cultural renewal relying on the recovery of antiquity and spanning from mid-fourteenth century to mid-seventeenth century.
Here’s a gallery of photos from Dr Elizabeth Savage and Robert MacLean.
LRBS is a series of five-day, intensive courses on a variety of book-related subjects taught in and around Senate House, University of London. London Rare Books School 2017 will take place from 26 – 30 June (week one), 3 – 7 July (week two), and for the first time the School will run a third week of courses from 10-14 July. Each course lasts five days. Bookings cannot be made for individual days.
Our courses are taught by internationally renowned scholars using the unrivalled library and museum resources of London, including the Victoria and Albert Museum, Senate House Libraries, and many more.
For further information, including course descriptions, please click here.