Educational Programs | January 10, 2011

London Rare Book School 2011

The London Rare Books School 2011
Institute of English Studies, University of London

The London Rare Books School (LRBS) is a series of five-day, intensive courses on a variety of book-related subjects to be taught in and around Senate House, University of London.

The courses will be taught by internationally renowned scholars associated with the Institute's Centre for Manuscript and Print Studies, using the unrivalled library and museum resources of London, including the British Library, the British Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the University of London Research Library Services, and many more. All courses will stress the materiality of the book so you can expect to have close encounters with remarkable books and other artefacts from some of the world's greatest collections. Each class will be restricted to a maximum of twelve students in order to ensure that everyone has plenty of opportunity to talk to the teachers and to get very close to the books.

In 2011, the LRBS will run for two weeks: 27 June to 1 July and 4 July to 8 July. The courses planned are:

Week One: 27 June - 1 July

1. The Book in the Ancient World
2. Children's Books, 1470-1980
3. European Bookbinding, 1450-1820
4. A History of Maps and Mapping
5. An Introduction to Bibliography
6. The Medieval Book
7. The Printed Book in Europe 1450-2000

Week Two: 4 July - 8 July

1. The Anglo-Saxon and Carolingian Book, c.600-1050
2. An Introduction to Illustration and its Technologies
3. Modern First Editions: Dealing, Collecting and the Market
4. Modern Literary Manuscripts
5. Reading, Writing, and Sending Texts 1400-1919

Each course will consist of thirteen seminars amounting in all to twenty hours of teaching time spread between Monday afternoon and Friday afternoon. There will be timetabled 'library time' that will allow students to explore the rich resources of the University's Senate House Library, one of the UK's major research libraries. The evening programme will include an opening reception and talk, a book history lecture, and receptions hosted by major London antiquarian booksellers.

Postgraduate credit is available for these courses at the Institute, which is one of the ten member-Institutes of the University of London's School of Advanced Study. In order to achieve the award of credit a student will have to complete and pass a 5,000 word essay within two months of the course (an extra fee to cover marking and other costs will be charged).

The fee will be £550 which will include the provision of lunch, and coffee and tea throughout the week. A small number of bursaries are available.

A range of different sorts of accommodation will be available including cheap student housing (on a bed and breakfast basis) close by Senate House; Senate House is next to the British Museum in the heart of Bloomsbury.

Further details and application forms can be found at:  http://ies.sas.ac.uk/cmps/events/courses/LRBS/index.htm