Graduate
LIS 711: Early
Books and Manuscripts
3 Credit Hours
Spring semester
2008
February 9-10; March 1-2; April 12-13.
Instructor:
Robert D. Vega
E-mail:
rvega@dom.edu
Office Hours: By
appointment.
Course Description
From clay,
papyrus and parchment origins; ancient alphabets to the Roman; medieval
manuscript hands and illumination; book production and bookselling; foundations
of significant libraries; bibliographic sources. Prerequisite: 701.
Required Texts
The Medieval Book by Barbara A. Shailor, ISBN 0802068537
Medieval Craftsmen: Scribes and
Illuminators by Christopher De Hamel,
ISBN 0802077072
Medieval
ISBN 0072955155
Understanding Illuminated Manuscripts
by Michelle P. Brown,
ISBN 0892362170.
Optional Text
The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco, ISBN 0156001314
Other selected
readings will be provided in class.
Objectives
The preservation
of the written word in books – initially in manuscripts (literally
“handwritten” books) and eventually in printed books – is among the more
important developments in the history of the Western world.
Students in this
class will work with a variety of original and secondary resources and texts to
understand how the creation of books changed prior to the introduction of
movable type in the latter 15th Century. The physical production of
manuscripts – where, when, how, and by whom – will be examined. Students will
also learn about the context of book production through a brief but intense
study of Medieval Western European history.
Specifically,
students in this class will
• Gain an
understanding of
• Gain a
knowledge of manuscript production; and,
• Gain an insight
into the unique opportunities and challenges posed for
librarians working with
Late Antique and Medieval manuscripts.
Assignments
All students are
expected to participate in discussions during class meetings, and complete all
readings as a basis for discussion. These discussions and team projects will be
used as the basis for evaluation.
Team projects:
Over the course of the semester, the class will be divided into teams,
consisting of four students per team. There will be three projects over the
course of the semester. Total points for each team project = 25 points; Three
projects will be completed in the course of the semester for 75 possible
points.
As an example,
here is the project for Weekend One:
Each team will be assigned a political/cultural entity –
Discussion:
During formal class sessions, there will be ample opportunity for students to
ask and answer questions and to participate in discussions on reference
sources. All members of the class are highly encouraged to participate and will
be rewarded accordingly.
Total points
available for Discussion = 25 points.
Assessment
A grand total of
100 points is available to each student for four team projects (25 points per
project = 75 points) and class discussion (25 points).
Team projects:
These team projects will provide to each student a maximum of 75 points for the
semester.
NOTE:
Team projects do NOT mean that one can slide and count on teammates to pick up
the slack. Anyone who does not pull their weight on the team projects will see
their grade suffer accordingly.
In each class,
there will be abundant opportunities to ask questions of the instructor and to
answer queries from the instructor. Individual participation will provide the
potential acquisition of 25 points for the semester.
Each student
should make every effort to attend class for every session. Please notify the
instructor by e-mail if attendance is not possible.
No optional
assignments are available. All assignments must be completed on time;
inadequate preparation for each class session and of specific assignments will
affect your grade.
Syllabus
Saturday, February 9: Introduction; A crash
course in the history of Medieval Europe. Any study of the history of
manuscripts and early books must begin with an understanding of the culture
which produced them. The majority of this day will be spent discussing
European history from the Late Antique to Later Middle Ages (roughly 400-1500).
We will pay special attention to the people, places, and events which had an
impact on the development of manuscripts and early books.
Tasks: Student groups will be assigned a political
or geographical entity for their project. Time will be given in the afternoon for the
students to begin their research.
• Hollister and Bennett, Medieval
• Eco, The
Name of the Rose (optional).
__________________
Sunday, February 10: Wrap-up discussion of Medieval
European History and student presentations.
Tasks: The students will have more time to complete
their research and prepare for the afternoon Medieval European Union.
Presentations will be in the form of role play, with the students taking the
roles of different persons from their geographic entity (kings, popes, bishops,
nobles, etc.).
• Hollister and Bennett, Medieval
• Eco, The
Name of the Rose (optional).
• Resources to be determined by topic
For
example:
Making a living in the middle ages: the
people of
By
Christopher Dyer
Dictionary of the Middle Ages by Joseph
R. Strayer
The
ORB (On-line Reference Book for Medieval Studies) http://the-orb.net/
__________________
Saturday, March 1: The physical aspects of
manuscript production – the how, where, when, and why – will be the focus of
the second weekend.
Tasks: The class will be divided into the different
parts of medieval monastic scriptoria (preparation illumination, rubricating,
copying, etc.) in preparation for an exercise as a mock monastery. The class
will be required to produce sample mock pages from typical medieval texts of
the groups’ choice. Art supplies will be provided and the groups will not be graded on the artistic
quality of the work. Rather, they will be judged on how the work exemplifies
what the students have learned over the course of the weekend.
• Brown, Understanding Illuminated Manuscripts.
• De Hamel, Medieval Craftsmen: Scribes and Illuminators.
• Shailor, The Medieval Book.
__________________
Sunday, March 2: Wrap-up discussion of
manuscript production and student presentations.
Tasks: The students will have more time to complete
their manuscript samples and prepare for the afternoon where they will bargain
with each other in their role as representatives of different monasteries. The
purpose will be for the students, in their roles as monks from various
monasteries, to bargain with each other in exchanging various manuscript book
titles, as well as different types of handwriting in a variety of languages.
• Brown, Understanding Illuminated Manuscripts.
• De Hamel, Medieval Craftsmen: Scribes and Illuminators.
• Shailor, The Medieval Book.
• Resources to be determined by topic
For
example:
Medieval Latin Paleography by Leonard
Boyle
Medieval Illuminators and their Methods of
Work by J.J.G. Alexander
__________________
Saturday, April 12: An examination of early books, printed between
1450-1600. How are these early books, especially incunabula (books printed
before 1501), like their precursors and different?
Tasks: Students in will be divided into groups
again, and selected teams will be given Gutenberg’s Biblia (the Library of Congress vellum copy on compact disc) to
examine. In addition, early books will be brought into each section for
discussion and examination. Each group will represent a late-15th or
early-16th Century printing shop. Each group will determine which
manuscripts will become books under their imprint, and how they will compete
with their Renaissance rivals at the mock Frankfort Book Fair.
In class presentation: The Making of a Renaissance Book, film originally created in 1969
at the
• Malcolm Vale,
“Manuscripts and books,” In: Christopher Allmand (editor). The New
• David McKitterick, “The
beginning of printing,” In: Christopher Allmand (editor). The New
• Elizabeth L.
Eisenstein, The Printing Revolution in
Early Modern
• Lucien Febvre and
Henri-Jean Martin. The Coming of the Book.
__________________
Sunday, April 13:
Tasks: Students will have additional time to
prepare for their trip to the Frankfort Book Fair, the oldest book fair on the
planet. Here they will compete against their rivals. At the Fair, they will
present their new products (books!), secure authors, find new sources of type,
paper, and other raw materials as well as experienced pressmen and other
necessary personnel.
• Resources to be determined by topic
For
example:
Learn more about the modern Frankfurt Book Fair at their Web site
http://www.frankfurt-book-fair.com/en/portal.php