London Rare Books School 2010
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, which is the centre of the University of London’s federal system.

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 2010, the LRBS will run for two weeks: 28 June to 2 July and 5 July to 9
July. The courses planned are:

Week One: 28 June - 2 July

1. The Book in the Ancient World
2. The Medieval Book
3. The Printed Book in Europe 1450-2000
4. A History of Maps and Mapping
5. An Introduction to Bibliography
6. Children’s Books, 1470-1980
7. The Early Modern Book in England: Exploring the Evidence

Week Two: 5 July - 9 July

1. Type and its Uses 1455-1830
2. European Bookbinding, 1450-1820
3. Modern First Editions: Dealing, Collecting and the Market
4. Mapping Land and Sea before 1900
5. The Italian Book to 1600
6. An Introduction to Illustration and its Technologies
7. Digital Publishing and Book Studies
8. Postal Systems in Britain and Beyond 1500-1968

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/