Center for the History of the Book

The following appeared in Exlibris and is reproduced here without the
knowledge or consent of the author.

  Date: Wed, 27 Oct 1993 08:08:06 -0400
  Sender: Rare Books and Special Collections Forum <EXLIBRIS [at] RUTVM1__BITNET>
  From: Sandra Stelts <sks [at] psulias__bitnet>
  Subject: Center for the History of the Book

  In reply to Terry Belanger's query about Penn State's Center for the
  History of the Book:

  On Monday, 15 November 1993, Penn State will inaugurate its new Center
  for the History of the Book with a lecture on "The Book as Cultural
  Emblem," delivered by John L. Sharpe III, Academic Librarian for
  Research Affairs at Duke University.  Sharpe's lecture will be
  preceded by remarks by John Y. Cole, Director of the Center for the
  Book at the Library of Congress.  The lecture is scheduled for 3:30
  p.m. in the Carnegie Auditorium on the University Park campus and is
  open to the public.  In conjunction with Sharpe's lecture, there will
  be an exhibit in the Rare Books Room.

  John L. Sharpe III was Curator of Rare Books for over twenty years at
  Duke's William R. Perkins Library.  He is a leading authority on the
  very earliest forms of the book, especially codices of Byzantine,
  Coptic, and Ethiopic origin.  He is currently at work on a study of
  two of the most important groups of Coptic bindings in existence, the
  collections in the Pierpont Morgan Library in New York City and in the
  Monastery of St. John on the Greek island of Patmos.  He has lectured
  on his work in this country at the Caxton Club and the Pierpont Morgan
  Library and abroad at the Bibliographical Society (London) and the
  Instituto Patalogia del Libro ( Rome).

  In his lecture Sharpe will discuss some of the earliest books still in
  existence, wooden-table codices discovered at the Dakhleh Oasis in
  Egypt. Among the other books he will analyze are a Byzantine codex and
  a 20th- century autobiography.  He will demonstrate what each volume,
  as both art object and technological artifact, reveals about its
  culture.

  John Y. Cole founded the Center for the Book at the Library of
  Congress in 1977 and has directed its activities since then.  He has
  supervised the building of a network of state and regional centers for
  the book that encourage reading, host exhibits and conferences, and
  support scholarship in the field of book history.  Cole is himself the
  author of several books, including *Jefferson's Legacy: A Brief
  History of the Library of Congress* (to be published next month).

  The Penn State Center for the History of the Books is a new
  interdisciplinary venture that promotes the study of "print culture."
  The new Center is based in the Department of English but draws on the
  expertise of faculty from several other disciplines.  The Center is
  supported by the Department of English, the College of the Liberal
  Arts, and the University Libraries.  It is housed in Willard 101 and
  is directed by James L. W. West III, Distinguished Professor of
  English.

  West is also the general editor of the Penn State Series in the
  History of the Book, a new series of scholarly books to be published
  by the Penn State Press.  These volumes will treat such topics as the
  growth of the literary marketplace, the history of reading, the
  profession of authorship, Anglo- American publishing history, the
  development of printing and book design, and the history of copyright.
  The first titles in the series are scheduled for publication in 1995.

  The Penn State Center for the History of the Book will offer graduate
  seminars and undergraduate honors courses, bring lectures to campus,
  mount exhibits, and host occasional conferences.  It is affiliated
  with the Center for the History of the Book at the Library of Congress
  and is part of a confederation of similar centers at such places as
  the British Library, the University of Virginia, the Sorbonne, and the
  University of London. It is also linked with such scholarly
  organizations as the American Antiquarian Society; the Society for the
  History of Authorship, Reading, and Publishing; the Book Trade History
  Group (England); and the Institut Memoirs de l'Edition Contemporaine
  (France).

  For more information, call the Rare Books Room, (814)-865-1793.

  Sandra Stelts
  Rare Books and Special Collections
  Penn State University Libraries

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                  Conservation DistList Instance 7:36
                Distributed: Saturday, October 30, 1993
                        Message Id: cdl-7-36-007
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