A. S. W. Rosenbach Lectures in Bibliography

The Rosenbach Lectures began in 1931 and are the longest continuing series of bibliographical lectureships in the United States. The series honors A.S.W. Rosenbach, one of America's greatest book dealers and collectors. Its intention is to further scholarship and scholarly publication in bibliography and book history, broadly understood. Rosenbach Fellows typically present a series of three lectures over a period of one to two weeks while in residence at the University of Pennsylvania.

 

 

 

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Now showing 1 - 10 of 12
  • Publication
    Fossils, Apes, Humans: A Chapter in the History of Science, Revisited
    (2018-09-01) Ginzburg, Carlo
    Today we regard paleontology and connoisseurship as very distant spheres of knowledge. But are they not sharing a commitment to the decipherment of clues, either natural or cultural? This somewhat speculative argument can be substantiated by two historically connected case studies, focusing on the trajectories of two friends, Petrus Camper (1722-1789) and François-Xavier de Burtin (1743-1818). The former, a well- known Dutch anatomist, was interested in painting and physiognomy. The latter, a much less known but very remakable figure, moved from the study of fossils to the study of paintings. Their relationship unveils an unknown chapter in the history of antiquarianism and connoisseurship. Georges Cuvier (1769-1832) a leading figure of French (indeed, European) science, one of the founders of comparative anatomy, called himself “a new species of antiquarian”: a striking, somewhat unexpcted, although not original self-definition. But to understand its implications one has to retrace a complex intellectual trajectory (which includes both Camper and Burtin) that will lead to a new image of antiquarianism and its relationship with history, implying a partial revision of Arnaldo Momigliano’s great essay “Ancient History and the Antiquarian” (1950). Ultimately, this reflection will lead to a reflection on what history was, and what it can become in the frail, threatened environment we live in. Was it possible to articulate the idea of a descent of humans from big apes before Darwin? And if this has been the case, how? Through which cognitive instruments? Could either travel accounts or books dealing with political philosophy be read against the grain, playing the footnotes against the text? What is at stake is not a search for some forgotten Darwin forerunners – an utterly useless, misleading notion – but, on the contrary, the possibility to reflect on the deep discontinuity between Darwin’s project and natural history before him. From this discontinuity some visual and textual roots of contemporary racism will emerge.
  • Publication
    The Traveller, the Tower and the Worm
    (2011-03-01) Manguel, Alberto
    The University of Pennsylvania Libraries A.S.W. Rosenbach Lectures in Bibliography for 2011: Monday, March 21, 2011: "The Reader as Traveller": Total time, 01:11:51. Welcome and Introduction: David McKnight (00:01); Lecture: Alberto Manguel (07:20); Question and Answer: (52:20) Tuesday, March 22, 2011: "The Reader in the Ivory Tower": Total time, 01:05:09. Welcome: David McKnight (00:01); Introduction: Derick Dreher, The Rosenbach Museum & Library (01:50); Lecture: Alberto Manguel (05:47); Question and Answer: (48:30) Thursday, March 24, 2011: "The Reader as Bookworm": Total time, 01:21:14. Welcome: David McKnight (00:01-04:32); Introduction: Roger Chartier (03:05); Lecture: Alberto Manguel (9:52); Question and Answer: (58:18) The 2011 Rosenbach Fellow, Argentine-born Canadian writer, translator, and editor Alberto Manguel, now living in France, is the author of novels, including All Men Are Liars (2008); non-fiction, including A History of Reading (1996), The Library at Night (2007), and A Reader on Reading (2010); and studies of works such as the Iliad and the Odyssey. From 1964 to 1968, Manguel was a reader for Jorge Luis Borges in Buenos Aires. To download a podcast of each lecture, choose one of the additional files below. To view the event announcement, select the Download button at upper right.
  • Publication
    The Latin Bible as Codex
    (2008-04-01) Saenger, Paul
    The University of Pennsylvania Libraries A.S.W. Rosenbach Lectures in Bibliography for 2008 "The Latin Bible as Codex" Paul Saenger, The Newberry Library, Chicago, Illinois April 14, 15, and 17, 2008 5:30PM Rosenwald Gallery, 6th floor Van Pelt-Dietrich Library University of Pennsylvania 3420 Walnut Street Philadelphia PA 19104-6206 Monday, April 14, 2008: "Christian Versification" Tuesday, April 15, 2008: "The Birth of Modern Chapters" Thursday, April 17, 2008: "The Printed Codex" The distinguished scholar of medieval reading practices Paul Saenger presents three lectures on the development of the medieval and early printed Bible. Co-editor of the 1999 The Bible as Book: The First Printed Editions, Dr. Saenger has also published Space Between Words: The Origins of Silent Reading (1997) and the Catalogue of the Pre-1500 Western Manuscript Books at the Newberry Library (1989).
  • Publication
    Authenticity and Duplicity: Investigations into Multiple Copies of Books
    (2015-03-01) Zachs, William
    The University of Pennsylvania Libraries A.S.W. Rosenbach Lectures in Bibliography for 2015: Monday, March 16, 2015: "Perfection and Imperfection: Stories of Duplicates on a Scholar-Collector's Bookshelves". Welcome by Will Noel, introduction by Michael Gamer. 1 hr., 10 min. View Video Tuesday, March 17, 2015: "Fortune and Misfortune: Inquiries into the First Editions of Moll Flanders". Introduction by David McKnight. 1 hr., 10 min. View Video Thursday, March 19, 2015: "Transparency and Deception: Discoveries of Hidden Irish and Scottish Reprints". Introduction by Daniel Traister. 1 hr., 15 min. View Video
  • Publication
    Bitstreams: The Future of Digital Literary Heritage
    (2016-03-14) Kirschenbaum, Matthew
    Matthew Kirschenbaum, Associate Professor of English and Associate Director of the Maryland Institute for Technology in the Humanities, describes the lectures as an assessment of the future of literary heritage—archives, public memory, and scholarship in the face of the ubiquity of computers as instruments of composition, editing, and book design; the distribution of books through multiple media formats and platforms; the profusion of the literary conversation online; and the hybridity of the contemporary media archive. Matthew Kirschenbaum has written and collaborated in the publishing of four books and often speaks and writes on the topics of Digital Humanities and New Media. His work has received coverage in The Atlantic, Slate, The New York Times, The Guardian, NPR, Wired, Boing Boing, Slashdot, and The Chronicle of Higher Education.
  • Publication
    Hidden Hands: Amanuenses and Authorship in Early Modern Europe
    (2014-03-01) Blair, Ann
    The University of Pennsylvania Libraries A.S.W. Rosenbach Lectures in Bibliography for 2014: Monday, March 17, 2014: "Hidden Helpers." Total time: 1:18:23. Welcome: David N. McKnight (00:10); Introduction: Roger Chartier (03:58); Lecture: Ann Blair (11:40); Questions and answers (01:02:00). Tuesday, March 18, 2014: "Hands and Minds at Work." Total time: 01:45:05. Welcome: David N. McKnight (00:04); Introduction: Peter Stallybrass (02:30); Lecture: Ann Blair (08:12); Questions and answers (01:22:35). Thursday, March 20, 2014: "Authors and Amanuenses." Total time: 01:34:52. Welcome: David N. McKnight (00:10); Introduction: Lynne Farrington (05:55); Lecture: Ann Blair (14:19); Questions and answers (01:08:54). Intellectual work in early Modern Europe was rarely performed alone, despite literary and iconographical representations to the contrary--scholars worked with others in many ways. In these lectures, Professor Blair focuses on the family members, students, and servants who served as amanuenses by helping an author or scholar in the process of composing and writing. Ann Blair is Director of Undergraduate Studies, Harvard College Professor, and Henry Charles Lea Professor of History at Harvard University. Her publications include Too Much to Know: Managing Scholarly Information Before the Modern Age (Yale, 2010) and The Theater of Nature: Jean Bodin and Renaissance Science (Princeton, 1997). To download a podcast of each lecture, choose one of the additional files below. To view the event announcement, select the Download button at upper right.
  • Publication
    The First Quarter Century of European Printing
    (2013-03-01) Needham, Paul
    The University of Pennsylvania Libraries A.S.W. Rosenbach Lectures in Bibliography for 2013: Monday, March 18, 2013: "The 1450s: Bookmaking Inventions." Total time: 1:29:39. Welcome: David N. McKnight (00:01); Introduction: William Noel (05:12); Lecture: Paul Needham (07:00). March 19, 2013: "The 1460s: Slow Diaspora." Total time: 01:35:48. Introduction: David N. McKnight (00:01); Lecture: Paul Needham (07:50); Question and Answer (01:25:00). March 21, 2013: 1470-1475: "The Sowing of Printing Shops." Total time: 01:24:53. Introduction: David N. McKnight (00:01); Lecture: Paul Needham (01:52); Question and Answer (01:09:55). Since 1998, Paul Needham has served as the Curator of the Scheide Collection at the Princeton University Library, before which he worked at Sotheby's and the Pierpont Morgan Library. He is on faculty at the University of Virginia's Rare Book School. Widely acknowledged as the leading expert on Johannes Gutenberg and the early history of printing, Dr. Needham has written or contributed to more than 90 publications. To download a podcast of each lecture, choose one of the additional files below. To view the event announcement, select the Download button at upper right.
  • Publication
    Pen and Press: Practices of Writing and Publishing in Colonial America
    (2007-02-20) Hall, David D
    Lecture 1: "Not in Print, yet Published: The Significance of Scribal Publication" (20 February 2007; total time, 1:23:14): Welcome, Carton Rogers, director of libraries, Univ. of Pennsylvania (0:00); Introduction, Robert St. George, Department of History, Univ. of Pennsylvania (4:48); Lecture (14:36); Question and answer session (1:07:35) Lecture 2: "Social Authorship: Collaborations and the Making of Printed Books" (22 February 2007; total time, 1:28:38): Welcome, Dan Traister, Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Univ. of Pennsylvania (0:00); Introduction, Roger Chartier, Department of History, Univ. of Pennsylvania (4:45); Lecture (10:02); Question and answer session (1:05:20) Lecture 3: "Authorizing Dissent: Can the Private Be Made Public?" (26 February 2007; total time, 1:18:31): Welcome, Carton Rogers, director of libraries, Univ. of Pennsylvania (0:00); Introduction, James N. Green, Library Company of Philadelphia (3:31); Lecture (8:19); Question and answer session (1:00:46)
  • Publication
    Arabic and Greek Science and Philosophy: Form and Style in the Transmission to the Latin West
    (2019-11-01) Burnett, Charles
    These lectures draw on evidence from manuscripts in the Schoenberg Collection of the University of Pennsylvania Libraries, and they are illustrated by examples from Arabic, Greek and Latin manuscripts and early printed books. The subject matter ranges from mathematics, physics and metaphysics, to medicine, astrology and magic. Attention is paid especially to the words of the translators, glossators and commentators themselves, as they endeavour to work out the most appropriate and clearest way of conveying the subject matter of their texts to their respective audiences. Lecture 1, Monday, November 11, 2019: Fides Interpres. The different styles and approaches of the medieval translators from Arabic and Greek into Latin; from the literal to the paraphrastic; from the complete work to the epitome; revision and correction; the significance of the audience. View this video on youtube. Lecture 2, Tuesday, November 12, 2019: Sensus huius litterae est. The varieties in glossing technique; scholia versus readers’ glosses; images as glosses; conversations in the margin; continuities from Greek and Arabic into Latin; the university setting. View this video on youtube. Lecture 3, Thursday, November 14, 2019: Intentio mea in hoc libro. Long, medium and short commentaries; verse commentaries; commentaries on single books versus summae of several books; the ‘ego’ of the commentator; the scientific textbook. View this video on youtube.
  • Publication
    Divine Art / Infernal Machine: Western Views of Printing Surveyed
    (2010-03-01) Eisenstein, Elizabeth L.
    The University of Pennsylvania Libraries A.S.W. Rosenbach Lectures in Bibliography for 2010: Monday, March 22, 2010: "First Impressions" Welcome: David McKnight (00:01-06:00); Introduction: Peter Stallybrass (06:00-13:02); Lecture: Elizabeth L. Eisenstein (13:02-59:57); Question and Answer: (59:57-01:12:33) Tuesday, March 23, 2010: "Eighteenth-Century Attitudes" Introduction: David McKnight, Libby Kislak (00:01-07:02); Lecture: Elizabeth L. Eisenstein (07:02-52:57); Question and Answer: (52:57-01:07:31) Thursday, March 25, 2010: "From Steam Press to Cyberspace" Welcome: David McKnight (00:01-04:32); Introduction: Roger Chartier (04:32-11:33); Lecture: Elizabeth L. Eisenstein (11:33-59:05); Question and Answer: (59:20-01:09:22) The 2010 Rosenbach Fellow, Elizabeth L. Eisenstein, is a graduate of Vassar College and Harvard University and is Professor Emerita of History at the University of Michigan. Her classic work The Printing Press as an Agent of Change: Communications and Cultural Transformations in Early Modern Europe (1979) is available in many formats and languages, and her other works include Grub Street Abroad: Aspects of the French Cosmopolitan Press from the Age of Louis XIV to the French Revolution (1992). Professor Eisenstein received the Scholarly Distinction award from the American Historical Association in 2002. An expanded version of these lectures has been published as Divine Art, Infernal Machine: The Reception of Printing in the West from First Impressions to the Sense of an Ending (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2011). To download a podcast of each lecture, choose one of the additional files below. To view the event announcement, select the Download button at upper right.