Module Descriptions
MA students take the compulsory module and a further five modules drawn from the range of core and optional modules. MRes students are required to take any three modules.
Compulsory Module
Research Methodologies and Resources in the History of the Book
[20 CATS-M Credits]
Aims and Objectives
This course will introduce students to a range of research methodologies used in the study of the history of the book and familiarise them with some of the resources available for the subject. It will also work to develop writing and referencing skills and the handling of research data. Topics to be covered will include: theoretical models for the history of the book; locating and using manuscript, print and digital resources; digital approaches to research and its presentation; practical work in the history of printing; using book trade archives; understanding copyright.
Structure
Ten two-hour seminars supplemented by individual feedback sessions.
Assessment
A bibliographical exercise accompanied by a research-based commentary totalling 4,000 words.
Core Modules
The following modules generally run each year and are designed to equip students with a broad understanding of the history of the book from the medieval period to the twenty-first century.
The Medieval Book
[20 CATS-M Credits]
Aims and Objectives
This course will provide an introduction to manuscript culture during the Middle Ages as well as the modern afterlife of the medieval book. The historical contexts for manuscript production will be explored and the landscape populated with some of those who commissioned and made these remarkable works. Techniques of production, terminology and methods of description and cataloguing will be examined and a brief survey of palaeography and codicology will be provided. Styles and principal trends will be studied with valuable opportunities to examine manuscripts in major London collections.
Structure
Ten two-hour seminars.
Assessment
One 5000-word piece of written coursework.
The Early Modern Book
[20 CATS-M Credits]
Aims and Objectives
The Early Modern Book delves into the rich history and complex dynamics of book production, dissemination, and reception during the early modern period in England. Through a series of seminars and site visits to key historical locations and collections in London, students will explore the technological, social, and cultural aspects that shaped the world of print in this transformative era. Along the way, students gain first-hand experience in pre-modern printing techniques, and they investigate the roles played by various agents operating in the early modern print trade, from printers and publishers through to booksellers. Additionally, students will think about readers, analysing examples of annotated and customised texts, as well as the compilation and presentation of canonical authors like Shakespeare, and the ways in which agents of print actively shaped authorial legacies in the marketplace of print.
Structure
Ten two-hour seminars.
Assessment
One 5000-word piece of written coursework.
The Book in the Industrial Age
[20 CATS-M Credits]
Aims and Objectives
This module will explore the transformation in print production from the copyright acts of the eighteenth century to the emergence of the digital book. Focusing on Britain and the wider world, it will examine the book in its technological, legal, social, and economic contexts. Through examining different material forms of the book, students will learn about the various changes in the printing, publishing, and distribution of texts, as well as the social, cultural, and legal pressures on reading. The module will also explore the changing material form of key genres such as the novel, the growth of serial and part publication, and the importance of copyright and intellectual property.
Structure
Ten two-hour seminars.
Assessment
One 5000-word piece of written coursework.
Option Modules
Not all option courses run in a given year. The Institute reserves the right to take modules out of circulation, or to introduce new ones.
Textual Scholarship & Contemporary Editorial Theory
[20 CATS-M Credits]
Aims and Objectives
This course surveys the fundamentals of literary editing as well as the technological skills required for producing digital editions. It aims to provide an understanding of editorial theory and practice, including the study of manuscripts, the theory of copy text editing, and the decisions relating to textual and contextual apparatus that inform the design of an edition. Students will focus on encoding documents in XML using the standards of the Text Encoding Initiative (TEI), and the process by which XML documents become digital editions. Students will also learn about HTML markup, CSS, alternative markup languages (such as LMNL), XSLT (for processing XML documents), and how to incorporate digital facsimiles into editions. No prior experience with programming is required.
Structure
Ten two-hour seminars, taught on Wednesdays.
Assessment
One 5000-word piece of written coursework or a project agreed with the instructor.
Provenance
[20 CATS-M Credits]
Aims and Objectives
This course is primarily a training ground to give students a personal toolkit to identify and interpret the various kinds of provenance evidence found in books before 1900. Interest in historical book ownership and what we can learn from individual copies and whole libraries has been steadily growing in recent years, among librarians, scholars and collectors, and more effort is being put into recording it in catalogues. The course will cover different manifestations of provenance – inscriptions, bookplates and book labels, armorials and other evidence from bindings – and include practical sessions on palaeography and reference sources. Teaching will be supplemented with exercises and opportunities to see examples drawn from the Senate House collections. Although the focus will be on practical and factual learning to take away, some time will be devoted to the theoretical and interpretative book historical context within which provenance evidence is of value.
Structure
Ten two-hour seminars, taught on Wednesdays.
Assessment
One 5000-word piece of written coursework.
Internship
Book Trade/Library Internship
[20 CATS-M Credits]
Aims and Objectives
Internships normally take place during the summer term and require c.150 hours of internship contact time in addition to an essay or project if the module is taken for credit. The internships offer a key opportunity for students to experience life in a bookselling firm, or a library or museum environment, to undertake projects for the company (everything from stocktaking to cataloguing to running a book stall at a fair), and to make connections in the book trade or the library/museum sector. Students should indicate their interest in the internship programme to the Course Director by early January.
Structure
150 hours of supervised work experience.
Assessment
One 5000-word piece of written coursework or a project agreed with the Course Director.
In practice, for those students pursuing the internship in a bookselling firm, the assessment often takes the form of a catalogue produced during the student's period of work, plus an essay reflecting on the student's experience.
London Rare Books School
Subject to approval, students can substitute one of their option modules for a course taught on the London Rare Book School which runs during June/July each year. This is an especially attractive option for part-time students. It is also possible to take courses on the London Rare Books School in advance of commencing the MA or MRes degree, and to transfer the credit earned towards the programme.