Lectures and seminars in Oxford

Seminar on the History of the Book 

The History of the Book and Numismatics, Arabic, Early Modern Publishing Policies, Trade, Popular Literature, History of Art, Digital typography

Weston Library, Visiting Scholars’ Centre (VSC) – Hilary Term, Fridays 2.15 [except NOTE Tuesday 23 Jan.]

Convenor: Dr Cristina Dondi (Lincoln College and 15cBOOKTRADE) http://15cbooktrade.ox.ac.uk/news-events-dissemination/

Tuesday 23 Jan. Numismatics – Dr Alan Stahl (Curator of Numismatics, Princeton University) 'Coins, Money and Prices in Renaissance Italy' 

26 Jan. Arabic – Prof. Julia Bray (Laudian Professor of Arabic, University of Oxford) 'Scrolls into codices: Jilyani’s picture-poems for Saladin' 

2 Feb. Early modern publishing policies – Prof. Ian Maclean (All Souls College) 'Andreas Frisius of Amsterdam and the search for a niche market, 1664-75' 

9 Feb. Trade – Dr Irene Ceccherini (Lyell-Bodleian Research Fellow in Manuscript Studies, Bodleian Library, Dilts Research Fellow in Palaeography, Lincoln College, University of Oxford) 'Merchants’ books of Venice and Florence'

23 Feb. Popular literature – Dr Laura Carnelos (Marie Curie Fellow, CERL and British Library) 'From ephemeral to rare: 16th-Century Italian Popular Books in the British and the Bodleian Libraries'

2 Mar. History of Art – Prof. Lilian Armstrong (Wellesley College) 'The De Spira Brothers vs. Nicolaus Jenson, 1469-1472: A Rivalry Traced through Hand-illuminated Copies of their Editions'

9 Mar. Digital Typography: Dr Falk Eisermann (Gesamtkatalog der Wiegendrucke, Staatsbibliothek, Berlin) '“Did you mean incurable?" Searching and Finding Incunabula in the World Wide Web'

Bodleian Fellows Seminar

This seminar is offered to those who hold a Bodleian reader card or University card

1 Feb.  Dr Sara Miglietti (Johns Hopkins/Bodleian Libraries David Walker Memorial Fellow), 'Astrology and climate theory in seventeenth-century England’
5:15-6:30 pm, Weston Library, Visiting Scholars’ Centre (Level 2)
Open to those who hold a University card or Bodleian reader card. Enter via the readers' entrance at Parks Road, and take the lifts to Level 2, having checked any bags into a locker (£1 returnable deposit) before you head upstairs.

Bodleian Libraries material texts series: Telling sheep from goat

This series is offered to those who hold a Bodleian reader card or University card

David Pearson (Lyell Reader in Bibliography, Oxford, 2017-18, and Research Fellow, Institute of English Studies, University of London)

2 Feb: The importance of bookbindings for humanities researchers: the questions we should ask of bindings, and key principles for interpretation
9 Feb: Materials and structures: what bindings are made of, and how to recognise that
16 Feb: Dating bindings, I: the chronological development of decorative styles
23 Feb: Dating bindings, II (including cheap and temporary structures) 
4 pm to 5:15 pm in the Horton Room, Weston Library

Open to those who hold a University card or Bodleian reader card. Enter via the readers' entrance at Parks Road, and meet at the seminar room on Level 1, having checked any bags into a locker (£1 returnable deposit) before you head upstairs. 

Oxford Bibliographical Society Meetings

Monday, 22 Jan. Michael Philllips (York)  'William Blake's "Illuminated Printing": a demonstration of Blake's method of printing word and image together from relief-etched copper-plates
5:15 pm, Christ Church Upper Library 

Monday, 5 Mar. Robin Darwall-Smith (Oxford) 'The history of the College history'
5:15 pm, Lecture Theatre, Weston Library 

Monday, 7 May Dunstan Roberts (Cambridge) 'Lord Herbert of Cherbury (1582-1648), his library, and his bequest to Jesus College, Oxford'
5:15 pm, Lecture Theatre, Weston Library

Monday, 21 May Lucy Razzall (Cambridge) '"A boxe of balme full swete": books and boxes in early modern England' 
5:15 pm, Lecture Theatre, Weston Library

Thursday, 31 May Richard Gameson, Ralph Hanna, Peter Kidd and David Rundle: A round-table discussion of Oxford's medieval manuscripts, their catalogues and cataloguing, chaired by Prof. Henry Woudhuysen
5:15 pm, Lecture Theatre, Weston Library

Wednesday, 13 June Christopher Edwards 'A bookseller's life'
5:15 pm, McKenna Room, Christ Church

Thursday 22 February 2018 The annual D.F. McKenzie Lecture

Professor Stefan Collini (Cambridge) 'The idea of "the reading public": literary history or cultural criticism?'
5pm, Lecture Theatre 2, English Faculty, St Cross Building
All welcome 

The Lyell Lectures 2018

David Pearson, ‘Book Ownership in Stuart England’

The importance of books in shaping society should be considered not only by studying their content and publishing histories, but also the ways in which they have been collected and owned.  Private libraries created documentary storehouses for their time, and shaped our literary heritage by feeding institutional ones.  This lecture series will explore seventeenth-century personal book ownership from numerous angles, looking not only at book acquisition patterns but also investigating motives and collecting cultures.  While drawing on sources of all kinds, a key theme will be the use of material evidence from books themselves to help to enhance our understanding of seventeenth-century values.

I: Setting the scene: trends and patterns

II: Books for use and books for show

III: Women and books in the seventeenth century

IV: Books for the common man

V: Cultures of collecting in the seventeenth century

Tuesdays and Thursdays, 24 April to 8 May, 5 pm, Lecture Theatre, Weston Library
All welcome. Register for tickets at  http://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/whatson/whats-on