MA in History of the Book at Institute of Classical Studies University of London
The aim of the Core course is to provide a broad introduction to the discipline of Book History. This will involve introducing students to a number of historical approaches and methods, to a wide variety of textual materials spanning the 13th to the 20th centuries, and to a range of libraries and archives containing these materials. By the end of the course students should not only have a good working knowledge of the techniques and materials of Book History but also some idea of the areas or periods on which they might wish to concentrate in their later work.
Scheme of Classes
The course will occupy 40 hours of formal classes (20 sessions) spread over two terms. Although it contains a wide range of materials, the Core course is integrated by the idea of the ‘life cycle’ of a text. More precisely, this involves looking at five major aspects of this cycle: Publication, Manufacture, Distribution, Reception, and Preservation that together constitute what has been called the ‘circuit of communication’.
The Core Course’s teaching programme uses three different approaches.
Introductory Surveys
The Course begins with three ‘introductory surveys’, each of which takes a part of the ‘circuit of communication’ and offers a broad introduction to it:
Book Structures/Manufacture (Induction Week and Week 1)
Publication/Distribution (Induction Week and Week 2)
Reading/Preservation (Induction Week and Week 3)
Each Introductory survey will consist of two seminars, one of which will be offered in the Induction Week and the other in Week 1 (Book Structures/Manufacture), Week 2 (Publication/Distribution) and Week 3 (Reading/Preservation).
Case Studies
Following this series of Introductory surveys will be the main part of the course which consists of a series of chronologically ordered Case Studies:
Case Study 1: The Medieval Book
Case Study 2: Books of Hours
Case Study 3: Shakespeare’s Quartos and First Folio
Case Study 4: The Illustrated Book
Case Study 5: The Novel 1830-1895
Case Study 6: Elkin Mathews/Penguin/Publishing 1960s-2000
Case Study 7: From Papyrus Roll to Scrolling Screen
Case Studies usually last between two and three weeks. These case studies will aim to draw on as many different types of written and printed text as possible in order to give students a wide range of Book History experience.
However, in order to ensure continuity and coherence, all case studies will have common and recurrent features that will bind them together. These common features will include:
The provision of an historical context in which the case study can be set.
The relation of the individual case study to as many of the five aspects of the circuit of communication as are relevant to the period under study.
A strong emphasis on the ‘materiality’ of the text, that is, on the book and other textual materials as manufactured objects that are distributed, bought and sold.
Each Case Study will be the responsibility of a Case Study Leader, although more than one teacher (and sometimes more than one institution) may be involved in the teaching of a specific Case Study. Continuity between case studies will be ensured by the Course Director and/or Course Tutor who will be present at most teaching sessions.
The final Case Study will be somewhat different. It will last just one week and will take a single ancient text, following it through all its evolutions from papyrus roll to its existence as an electronic text accessible through the Internet. This is designed both to pull all the other case studies together, and to suggest possibilities in Book History beyond the geographical and chronological boundaries of the other case studies.
Workshops
The third and final element of the Core course is the workshop. There is one workshop in the first term and one in the second. These give students the chance to step back from their detailed studies and discuss a major intellectual or scholarly issue arising from them. The Autumn term workshop will address the historiography of Book History in order to foreground the various theoretical models Book Historians use to account for the things they observe and evaluate. The workshop in the second term will tackle the tricky historical issues raised by the attempt to define and establish the nature and distribution of literacy in past populations.
Organised Visits and Practical Sessions
Most of these will run in the summer term and will normally occupy the vacated teaching slot on Wednesdays. Visits to the libraries in London, Oxford and Cambridge will be included in this scheme. This is part of the teaching programme (not an optional extra) and is a vital means of broadening stduents’ experience of Book History materials and locations.
Assessment
There will be one diagnostic essay (of 1,500 words) to be submitted in the first term. This diagnostic essay is ungraded and is there to give you and the University the chance to assess your progress at an early stage (and take early remedial action in the unlikely event of that being necessary).
The Core Course will be examined by one essay (of 5,000 words) to be handed in at the beginning of the summer examining term (by Wednesday 23 April 2008). Coursework may be submitted at any time before this date for comments and suggestions that may be taken into account before the final submission. Core course essays are expected to be distinct in topic and period from essays submitted for a candidate’s chosen option.