Searching for examples

After many weeks and months of preparing this RB course, I'm finally ready to work on lectures and exercises. Since this is the first time I'm teaching the course online I had to make some adjustments and design some exercises to do at home. Knowing we'll have two days to work together definitely helps and will allow me to build on the shallow foundation of early lectures and exercises.

I'm off on a hunt for visual examples to share with all of you while I consider what aspects of RB and Special Collection Librarianship are most important. I spent much of yesterday (8/14) at NYPL looking at incunabula and thinking of how to describe the experience. These early printed books feel so different from others and look different as well. Each is a unique publication with errors and individuality. Even the book I looked at, printed in 1501, contained an unusual set of signature marks, and lots of variations in the running header. If the last sentence doesn't make sense, look at Carter's ABC for Book Collectors http://www.ilab.org/eng/documentation/30-john_carters_abc_for_book_collectors.html .

Carter is a wonderful glossary, dictionary, and example of a book wrapped into one. Most parts of the book are identified as well as parts of the page (Exercises we'll do as part of class). Within are definitions of terminology used to describe books. There are other glossaries and dictionaries we'll consult as part of the course, including the one in your text book An Introduction to Bibliographical and Textual Studies 4^th Edition. 

As this course continues to evolve, I welcome feedback about how the lectures and readings fit together.  For now, I'll search for examples while you relax for two more weeks.