Book History on a Budget: 27 Tips and Tricks

1. Book History
On a Budget:
27 Tips & Tricks
Robert Cagna, Charleston Library Director
West Virginia University
www.slideshare.net/cagna
www.twitter.com/rcagna

2. 1
Main thing: form partnerships; be collaborative
with:
-- Librarians (esp. rare book)
-- Booksellers
-- Printers
-- Artists (typographers, papermakers, designers)
-- Archivists
-- Historians

3. 2
Local academic librarians may be able to bring
their most interesting books to you and your
students; or, students could visit them.

4. 3
…The same for rare book sellers; or, if librarians
and booksellers can’t visit you on site they might
be able to set up a Webinar for you.

5. 4
Librarians can help with “…the classic questions
of information literacy (reliability, validity,
accuracy, authority, timeliness, bias, context of
creation, etc.)”
(DePaul Library News for Faculty, March 3, 2015)

6. 5
Don’t forget your college’s archivist, who will
hopefully have a treasure trove of books,
documents, pictures, and ephemera related to
the history of the college.
Younger students may not be familiar with
handwritten script, scrapbooks, black paper
photo books, non-standard books, and so on.
(DePaul Library News for Faculty, March 3, 2015)

7. 6
Access YouTube videos on various print /
binding / papermaking / typography techniques
and on various books:
www.youtube.com
Possible search terms within YouTube:
history of the book; book history; history of
printing; printing history; history of publishing;
history of papermaking

8. 7
Rare Book School sessions for teachers and
students (VA, CA, London, and New Zealand); try
to get a scholarship as they offer a number of
them (different types). The Rare Book School at
the University of Virginia has offered one week
courses in Virginia, Washington DC, Baltimore,
Philadelphia, and Bloomington, IN.
http://www.rarebookschool.org Virginia school

9. 8
DVDs and bibliographical facsimile paper from
the Rare Book School
http://www.rarebookschool.org/publications

10. 9
Feel free to use 3rd, 4th, or even 5th editions for
comparative purposes, especially editions
printed after the author passes away; also,
special and illustrated editions.
Ask your library for a title it has collected over
the years, possessing various editions; have
students examine them individually or in small
groups and compare them to modern paperback
editions and e-versions.

11. 10
Throwaway editions: ask booksellers to search
for them, and buy them on your behalf when
they purchase an estate.
Try to get them cheaply or for free. You could
keep them or you could ask your library to keep
them.

12. 11
Free online version of ABC for Book Collectors
(8th ed., 2004, latest edition)
PDF available at:
https://www.ilab.org/eng/documentation/30-
john_carters_abc_for_book_collectors.html

13. 12
Twitter! www.twitter.com
• #bookhistory
• #historyofthebook
• @SHARPorg
• @sharp2015_ca
• @RBMSinfo
• @bookhistory
• @bookhistorynetw
• @rarebookschool

14. 13
Reproduction (facsimile) editions
(controversial; but, it can be helpful to have
“copies” of certain books always present)
Some vendors’ sites:
www.facsimile-editions.com
www.addisonpublications.com
http://www.faksimile.de/

15. 14
Use at least one assigned book with lots of
images like the Smithsonian Book of Books
(DK’s Book is good, too, but for younger readers)

16. 15
Use local zines (pronounced zeens) and
broadsides and pamphlets and tracts.

17. 16
Check if your local artisans group, history
museum, or printing company has a letterpress
printer machine, a person who does binding, a
typographer, a papermaker, i.e., someone who
could give a talk and demonstrate equipment,
technique, and usage .

18. 17
Use movies (DVDs) about books like 84 Charing
Cross Road to fire up a passion for old books via
a human interest story.

19. 18
Follow listservs like SHARP and EXLIBRIS for
free.

20. 19
Take apart an inexpensive old book with
students to show how they were made.

21. 20
National Library of Medicine
Turning the Pages Online
http://archive.nlm.nih.gov/proj/tt
p/flash/vesalius/vesalius.html

22. 21
Washington University online exhibit
http://beckerexhibits.wustl.edu/vesalius/index.html

23. 22
Publisher’s site: www.vesaliusfabrica.com

24. 23
Encourage students to enter the National
Collegiate Book Collecting Contest:
http://www.abaa.org/ncbcc/the-national-
collegiate-book-collecting-contest
Enter by the end of May!

25. 24
Textbook A History of Reading and Writing: In
the Western World (2009) by Martyn Lyons.
Students have told special collections curator
Ruth Rogers of Wellesley they have found it
“…informative and thorough, with the perfect
narrative format that makes it enjoyable to
read.”
Also, Books: A Living History (same author)

26. 25
Focus on old books that have a great story, great
provenance, marginalia, wondrous binding, a
tobacco/whiskey smell, or fantastic type – rather
than high monetary value.

27. 26
Have the students spend time with an old book,
slow down, and take notes using all their senses
to describe it.

28. 27
Twenty Questions to Ask an Object
http://www.artbabble.org/video/chipstone/twe
nty-years-twenty-questions-ask-object

29. Questions?
Rob Cagna, Library Director
West Virginia University
Charleston Health Sciences Library
304-347-1287
rcagna@hsc.wvu.edu
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