Using rare books from the Rubenstein Library, this hands-on workshop will introduce participants to the discipline of Book History and explore methodologies for studying books as artifacts. We will explore evidence of the individuals involved in the production, distribution, and consumption of books in the West including authors, printers, illustrators, booksellers, and readers, from the 15th to the 20th century. Using this evidence, we'll consider what the roles of these individuals and the relationships between them can tell us about print culture in their time.  

The workshop will include a discussion of the kinds of evidence and strategies for investigation, followed by lab session devoted to the investigation of individual artifacts in the Rubenstein collection.