London Rare Books School

The University of London's Institute of English Studies announces the first London Rare Books School (LRBS), a series of four-day, intensive courses on a variety of book-related subjects. The courses will be taught by internationally-known 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 from some of the world's greatest collections. Each class will be restricted to no more 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 its first year the LRBS will be running in just one week: 23-26 July 2007. The courses (note that the titles themselves are provisional) that are currently planned for 2007 are:

1 The Medieval Book (Course Tutor: Professor Michelle Brown)

2 A History of Bookbinding (Course Tutor: Professor Nicholas Pickwoad)

3 A History of Writing 2000BC-2000AD (Various tutors)

4 The Italian Book to 1600 (Course Tutor: Professor Jane Everson)

5 The History of the Printed Book in the West 1455-2000 (Course Tutor: Professor John Feather)

Application forms will be available in the next month or two but you are invited to register your interest in a course or courses now (given the likely demand you would be well-advised to list a second choice). Those who register now will be the first to receive application forms. You can register your interest in LRBS by emailing your name and address (with an indication of preferred courses) to Zoe.Holman@sas.ac.uk

Further details available here