The combined workshops and seminars for the Palaeography, History of the Book and Digital Humanities provide training in dealing with manuscripts and books across different historical periods and European languages. The aim is to combine philological training with project work which takes seriously the material turn in Modern Languages and will enable students to do editorial work in the age of Digital Humanities. Within the framework of knowledge exchange, these two method options cooperate with the local libraries and printers to make use of the unparalleled richness of Oxford resources, especially the Taylor Institution Library and the Centre for the Study of the Book. Please consult the bibliography for introductory reading, also available as a hyperlinked ORLO (Oxford Reading Lists Online).
Most sessions in Michaelmas Term 2022 will take place on Wednesdays, 3-5pm, in Room 2 of the Taylor Institution Library if not noted otherwise. Every Friday 10:30-11:30, there is the opportunity to go to the presentation of new acquisitions in the Weston Library, Visiting Scholars Centre.
Wednesday, 12 October, 3-5pm: Show & Tell Introductory Session (Taylorian)
Treasures of the Taylorian & Digital Tools with Henrike Lähnemann and Emma Huber. Collective blog post by the History of the Book students edited by Rebecca Bowen.
Wednesday, 19 October, 2-4pm: Understanding Book Trade (Taylorian)
Session with Cristina Dondi on Circulation of Early Printed Books, cf. http://15cbooktrade.ox.ac.uk/. Blog post by Kate McKee.
Wednesday, 26 October, 1:30-4pm: Codicology Session (Weston Library)
Material History of the Book workshop 1: Paper & Parchment/Inks & Pigment with Andrew Honey, Robert Minte & Celine Delattre (Conservation DepartmentI 1:30-3pm.
Show-and-tell session of manuscripts and printed copies of the Ouseley Persian Miscellanies by Dagmar Riedel 3-4pm
Friday, 28 October, 2-6:30pm: Engaging with Early Modern Print
Workshop on typesetting and printing with Richard Lawrence 2-4:30pm (Bodleian, Schola Musica)
Launch of the ‘Sendbrief vom Dolmetschen‘ 5-6:30pm (Taylorian)
Wednesday, 2 November, 1:30-4pm, Manuscript Session (Weston Library, Horton Room)
Material History of the Book workshop 2: Structure of a Manuscript Book with Matthew Holford, Andrew Honey & Laure Miolo 1:30-3pm
Cataloguing manuscripts 3-4pm with Andrew Dunning
Wednesday, 9 November, 2-4pm, Palaeography (Weston Library, Horton Room)
Introduction to palaeography with Laure Miolo
Wednesday, 16 November, 3-5pm: Caring for collections (St Edmund Hall, New College)
Introduction to library management with James Howarth and Christopher Skelton-Foord (tbc)
Wednesday, 23 November, 3-5pm: Early Modern Yiddish Books in Oxford
Project Case Study with Ruth von Bernuth (Oxford Centre for Hebrew & Jewish Studies)
Wednesday, 30 November, 3-5pm Defining your Project (Taylorian)
Abstract writing workshop for Hilary Term Project; matching up with supervisors
At the end of the second term each student submits an essay of between 5,000 and 7,000 words in length (the word count includes footnotes, but excludes bibliography). The coursework leading up to it consists of a portfolio of regular practical tasks such as writing a blog post, diy digitisation, test transcriptions, basic xml encoding and catalogue entries for books. Ideally, the essay focuses on source material available in Oxford libraries.