February 3, 2025
☞ On Location: Meet at Rare Books and Manuscripts in the Main Library for a session with Cait Coker
Core
- Robert Darnton, “What is the History of Books? Revisited” (2007), resource via library
- Ken Liu, “The Bookmaking Habits of Select Species,” (2012), external website
- Amaranth Borsuk, “The Book as Object” from The Book (2018), resource via library
- Jessica Pressman, “Introduction” to Bookishness: Loving Books in a Digital Age (2020), library resource
Penumbra
- Donald F. McKenzie, “The Book as an Expressive Form” from Bibliography and the Sociology of Texts (orig. 1986), resource via library
- Leah Price, “Introduction” from How to Do Things with Books in Victorian Britain (2012), resource via library
- Hannah Alpert-Abrams, “Archaeology of a Book: An Experimental Approach to Reading Rare books in Archival Contexts” (2016), external website
- Sarah Werner, Parts 1-3 Studying Early Printed Books, 1450-1800 : A Practical Guide (2019), resource via library. ☞ Note: Werner’s book is a valuable reference I recommend several times in this syllabus, but include in the Penumbral readings because only one electronic copy of this book is available at a time from the library. To ensure you can read these chapters before class, start early and check back if someone is reading when you first try.
- Brian Cummings, “What Is a Book?” from The Unfinished Book (2021), external website
- Adam Hammond, “Books in Videogames” from The Unfinished Book (2021), resource via library