Course description

From Gutenberg to the present; introduction to publishing, printing processes, book design (typography, illustration, binding) and distribution.

Prerequisite: LIS 701.

Required texts

Elizabeth L. Eisenstein.
The printing revolution in early modern Europe.
New edition.
New York: Cambridge University Press, 2005.
Paperback, ISBN 0–521–60774–4.

Strongly recommended

John Carter and Nicolas Barker.
ABC for book collectors.
Eighth edition.
New Castle, Del.: Oak Knoll, ISBN 1–584–56112–5.

Geography

The first class meeting will take place at Dominican University, but subsequent sessions will occur in the Lenhardt Library and adjacent rooms in the Regenstein Center of the Chicago Botanic Garden in Glencoe, Illinois; for information about the Library at the Garden, see http://www.chicagobotanic.org/library/index.php. For directions to the Garden, see http://www.chicagobotanic.org/visit/directions.

Please note! Admission to the Chicago Botanic Garden is free but there is a parking fee of $20 per car (see http://www.chicagobotanic.org/visit/admission). Parking is free for members of the Garden. I strongly suggest carpooling!

Objectives

The book is one of the most important inventions of all time. In this course, you will explore the history of the book from the fifteenth to the twentieth centuries, examining its construction, content, and uses.

Students in this class will work with a variety of books originally printed from 1483 to the present to understand how printing and publishing changed over time. The physical production of books will be examined as well as the changing relations between authors, publishers, and their readers. The impact of books on society, largely with a focus on books created in Western Europe, will be treated, with a special emphasis on the role of books in the dissemination of scientific discoveries and ideas.

Specifically, students in this class will

• understand how to examine a book in order to decipher its history and context;
• recognize broad trends in publishing over the past 500 years; and,
• develop an appreciation of books as objects, as historical documents, and as significant intellectual and cultural resources.

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 several students per team. There will be three projects over the course of the semester. The first team assignments will be based on books from the Lenhardt Library of the Chicago Botanic Garden published between 1500 and 1699 (Project I). For the second project, books from the collection will be selected as representative of books produced between 1700 and 1800 (Project II). For the third and final project, teams will work with books from the collection that were published between 1801 and 1900 (Project III).

Each team will then direct their efforts in class by examining a given book in detail. Members of each team will collaborate to decide which aspect or aspects of each book will be the focus of the team’s research paper — the author or authors; the printer; the illustrations; the binding; the subject matter of the book itself and its historical significance; or, some combination of all of these aspects. Each team will have several weeks for further research, with presentations ultimately made in class of each team’s findings. Each team will send their paper to the instructor as an attachment in an e–mail message. Each paper should be no longer than 10 double–spaced pages in length, based on the team’s collective research on an assigned book. Total points for each team project = 30 points; Three projects will be completed in the course of the semester for 90 possible points.

Discussion

During formal class sessions, there will be ample opportunity for students to ask and answer questions. All members of the class are highly encouraged to participate and will be rewarded accordingly.
Total points available for Discussion = 10 points.

Assessment

A grand total of 100 points is available to each student for three team projects (30 points per project = 90 points) and class discussion (10 points).

Team projects give each student unique opportunities to work with rare books (and in some cases, journals) rarely accessible to students. Directed research on selected books from the Chicago Botanic Garden’s collection allows students to understand specific books as historical objects and as documents encapsulating specific events and trends in intellectual history. Hence, students will develop an appreciation of scholarship in a number of diverse areas, related to the history of the book. These team projects will provide to each student in each team a maximum of 90 points for the semester.

In each class, there will be abundant opportunities to ask questions of your instructor and to answer queries from your instructor. Your efforts in stimulating discussion in class can earn you an additional 10 points; if you fail to ask or answer queries, your opportunities to earn these points will be greatly diminished.

Given the limited number of classes scheduled at Dominican University and the Chicago Botanic Garden, 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 absolutely affect your grade. Team projects demand equal efforts by all members of each team. If you do not complete your assignments as part of a team, your specific grade will suffer as well as the grade of the entire team.

Academic Integrity Policy

Students of the University must conduct themselves in accordance with the highest standards of academic honesty and integrity. Failure to maintain academic integrity will not be tolerated. For further details, please see the Dominican Student Handbook and Planner.

Syllabus

Readings required in advance of the first class meeting on September 10:
Eisenstein, Chapters 1–3.

Saturday morning, September 10:

• Introduction; How to look at a book.
  Tasks: The stories of several different books will be described in class, using in part each book as evidence.
• In–class viewing of the 30–minute film How To Operate a Book.
• Anatomy of a book (terminology)
  Tasks: Several varieties of books will be examined in class (editions of Evelyn’s Sylva and Gerard’s Herball), in order to understand the production, layout, and history decipherable in each book.

Saturday afternoon, September 10:

• Books before Gutenberg; Gutenberg’s Revolution: Typography and mass production; Impact, 1455–1501. Digital copies of Gutenberg’s Biblia Latina (ca. 1455) will be examined in class (if you have a laptop you can access Gutenberg’s magnum opus on CDs provided in class or via the Internet at http://rarebookroom.org/).
• In–class viewing of the 22–minute film The Making of a Renaissance Book, describing briefly the operation of the Plantin Press in Antwerp.

Sunday, September 11:

• Team research on books (published between 1500 and 1699) from the collection of the Lenhardt Library of the Chicago Botanic Garden. Brief preliminary reports from each team will be given and discussed at 3:15 PM.

Friday, October 7: First team reports due no later than 5 PM as an attachment in an e–mail message to ejv [at] dom [dot] edu.

In advance of class on Saturday, October 8, read Eisenstein, Chapters 4–8.

Saturday morning, October 8:

• Project reports by teams.
• Illustrations in books: Woodcuts and engravings.
  Tasks: Review of illustrations in a variety of books published between 1500–1799.

Saturday afternoon, October 8:

• The rise of science, 1501–1799 and the invention of scholarly communication.
  Tasks: Examination of botanical monographs and early scientific periodicals.

Sunday, October 9:

• Team research on books (between 1700 and 1800) from the collection of the Library of the Chicago Botanic Garden published. Brief reports from each team at 3:15 PM.

Friday, November 18: Second team reports due no later than 5 PM as attachment in e–mail message to ejv [at] dom [dot] edu

In advance of class on Saturday, November 19, read Philip Gaskell, A new introduction to bibliography, pp. 189–200, 214–250, 266–273, 289–310 (provided in class Oct. 9).

Saturday morning, November 19:

• Project reports by teams.
• The rise of books for children.
  Tasks: Examination of books created for children printed since 1800.
• Books by machine, 1801–1900: Readers and the rise of copyright and modern publishing.
  Tasks: Review of books, journals, magazines, and newspapers created for consumption and disposal.

Saturday afternoon, November 19:

• Future of the book.
  Tasks: Review of digital books and Internet–based journals.

Sunday, November 20:

• Team research on books (published between 1801 and 1900) from the collection of the Library of the Chicago Botanic Garden. Brief reports from each team at 3:15 PM.

Friday, December 16: Third team reports due no later than 5 PM as attachment in e–mail message to ejv [at] dom [dot] edu