Rare Book School Unveils Summer 2026 Course Schedule
Rare Book School has announced its summer 2026 course schedule of nearly 50 in-person and online courses.
This year’s schedule includes nine new courses, and features online opportunities in addition to in-person courses in Charlottesville and partner institutions including new partnerships at York in England, North Bennet Street School in Boston, and the University of Texas at Austin’s Harry Ransom Center. Courses in Charlottesville will be offered at RBS’s home in the University of Virginia’s Edgar Shannon Library.
Course applications are already open and the first round deadline is February 17.
May 20-22 in Philadelphia, PA
Histories of the Book in the Age of Atlantic Revolutions with James N. Green and John H. Pollack
May 31-June 5 in Charlottesville, VA
Provenance: Tracing Owners & Collections with David Pearson
Printed Books to 1800: Description & Analysis with David R. Whitesell
Scholarly Editing: Principles & Practice with David Vander Meulen
The Identification of Photographic & Digital Print Processes with Ryan Boatright
Introduction to Paleography, 800–1500 with Lisa Fagin Davis
June 1-5 online only
Reference Sources for Researching Rare Books with Joel Silver
Institutional Book Arts Collections: Evaluating & Describing with Robert Riter
June 7-12 in Charlottesville, VA
Identifying and Understanding Twentieth-Century Duplicating Technologies with Brian Cassidy
Material Foundations of Map History, 1450–1900 with Matthew Edney
Book History, Bibliography, and Humanities Teaching with Michael F. Suarez
The History of Printed Book Illustration in the West with Erin C. Blake
Rare Book Cataloging with Deborah J. Leslie
June 7-12 in Ann Arbor, MI
Paper as Bibliographical Evidence with Cathleen A. Baker
June 7-12 in Austin, TX
Evidence in Handpress-Era Books, 1450–1830 with Aaron T. Pratt
Literary Manuscripts with Stephen Enniss and Megan Barnard
July 5-10 in Charlottesville, VA
The Printed Book in the West to 1800 with Martin Antonetti
The Printed Book in the West since 1800 with Eric Holzenberg
The Illustrated Scientific Book to 1800 with Caroline Duroselle-Melish and Roger Gaskell
Rare Book Cataloging with Deborah J. Leslie
The History of 19th & 20th Century Typography & Printing with John Kristensen, Katherine M. Ruffin, and Amelia Hugill-Fontanel
July 5-10 in Oxford, UK
Transmission of the Bible from the Beginnings to 1500 with Peter Toth
Researching Medieval Manuscripts: From Cataloging to Cultural History with David Rundle
6 – 10 July online only
Indigenous North American Cartographies with Caroline Wigginton
The Care of Photographic Prints & Negatives in Collections with Bryanna Knotts and Katherine Mintie
From Poggio to Mabillon: The Study of Latin Manuscripts in the First Age of Print with Anthony Grafton
July 12-17 in Boston, MA
Bookbinding for Book Historians with Jeff Altepeter and Todd Pattison
July 12-17 in New York City, NY
Histories of the Book, 200–2000 with Michael Inman and Charlotte Priddle
The History of Artists’ Books since 1950 with Tony White
July 12-17 in York, UK
The Rise of Periodical Print Culture, 1700–1830 with Jennie Batchelor
The Culture & Craft of Wood Type with Nick Gill and Helen Smith
July 13-17 online only
Indigenous Agency & Intervention in the Bibliographical Record with Brandon Castle and Michael Kelly
July 19-24 in Charlottesville, VA
The History of the Book in America: A Survey from Colonial to Modern with Scott E. Casper and Jeffrey D. Groves
The History of the Book in China with Yuzhou Bai and Soren Edgren
Book Illustration Processes to 1900 with Terry Belanger
Modern Special Collections Cataloging with Brenna Bychowski
The Handwriting & Culture of Early Modern English Manuscripts with Heather Wolfe
July 20-24 in Upperville, VA
Six Hundred Years of Botanical Illustration with Peter Crane and Roger Gaskell
July 20-24 online only
The Printing Press in Spanish America, 1500–1830 with Albert A. Palacios
The Photographic Book since 1843 with Richard Ovenden
July 26-31 in Charlottesville, VA
Introduction to the History of Bookbinding with Karen Limper-Herz
Introduction to the Principles of Bibliographical Description with David R. Whitesell
Seminar in Western Codicology with M. Michèle Mulchahey
July 26-31 in Princeton, NJ
Fifteenth-Century Books in Print & Manuscript with Paul Needham and Eric White
August 9-14 in Chicago, IL
A History of the Indigenous Book in the Americas: North of the Rio Grande with Will Hansen and Robert Warrior
Censorship from the Inquisition to the Present
with Ada Palmer
