Now in its fourth scholastic year, the Rare Book Working Group meets regularly for a variety of guest presentations, teaching sessions, and off-campus events open to all Princeton students, faculty, and staff with interests in the history of books and printing from the early modern through contemporary periods. Session dates and topics will be posted here and announced through the RBWG listserv. To join the group’s mailing list, please contact Jessica Terekhov, Graduate Student Administrator, at terekhov@princeton.edu.
The RBWG was begun in Spring 2018 as a forum for graduate students and faculty to explore various aspects of book and printing history through engagement with Special Collections at Princeton. With guidance from Rare Book Curator, Eric White, Public Services Librarian, Gabriel Swift, and occasional faculty guests, members participated in biweekly sessions involving workshops on topics such as binding identification and research into print and manuscript fragments. The group also attended the 2018 New York Antiquarian Book Fair, where they spoke with book dealer Nina Musinsky about aspects of the bookselling trade.
For its second year of programming, the RBWG met for ad hoc sessions on material evidence of production costs in books over the ages, women’s book production and ownership, and print illustration during the antebellum period. Guest speakers included Assistant Professor of Religion, Seth Perry, and Ph.D. candidate in History, Julia Grummitt.
The full list of previous topics is available under Past Sessions.