From the History of the Book to the Future of the Book
Pondering the experiment of e-reading, likening the codex to a computer with RAM (i.e., random-access memory): 'The codex is built for nonlinear reading — not the way a Web surfer does it, aimlessly questing from document to document, but the way a deep reader does it, navigating the network of internal connections that exists within a single rich document like a novel.' (NYT, 2 Sept. 2011)
Sarah Werner's paper, "Multivalent Print," is a nice reminder of some of our faulty assupmtions about early printing.
An introduction to the striking technological innovations in BOOK
A stop-motion animation on the history of typography
How to design your syllabus as a quarto-folding exercise for your students
A BBC Radio 4 program on the influence of the written word on intellectual history
White gloves or not white gloves?
A post from Jeffrey Jerome Cohen on the shift to open access to BL manuscript images. Here are the BL's Access Reuse Guidance Notes on the same topic.
Scholars sometimes want to ascribe moral, intellectual, or emotional qualities to writers, based on their handwriting. Often, this reveals striking national prejudices, but in this case, we also have the assumption of 'troublous times' for the copying of the Wessex Gospels.
What does a book look like?
Objects that we might call "books" have taken many different forms, including wax tablets (see the seventh-century psalter fragments from Springmount Bog in Ireland), wooden tablets (like the famous Vindolanda Tablets).
Some useful links
Glossary of manuscript terminology
Derived from Michelle Brown's Understanding Illuminated Manuscripts and hosted by ParkerWeb
Glossary of terms commonly found in the imprints of early modern printed books
A nice page on abbreviations in manuscripts
A similar link from the BL - and with Hebrew terms, as well!
An online resource with articles on various design features across the history of the book
Sarah Werner's compendium of book history resources
Digitized Medieval Manuscripts App
BL Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts
Still very much a work in progress, but note these 'guidance notes' for the newly open-access collection.
Some highlights of Digitised Manuscripts
A great overview of what has to precede any digital imaging work
A BL resource for viewing some of their most beautiful manuscripts. You may need to download Adobe Shockwave in order to view these pages.
BL image of a gorgeously well preserved Tudor chemise binding
BL image of a pair of sixteenth-century bindings
Some fun highlights from MSS held in the National Library of Ireland
See also the fabulous image viewer from the NLI, here open to MS 700, the Topographia Hibernica by Gerald of Wales. Check out the illustrations!
Lovely resource for manuscripts from the collection of Matthew Parker, housed in the library at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge
The online portal for illuminated manuscripts in the Bibliothèque nationale de France.
Consulting Medieval Manuscripts Online
A repository of many, many digitized collections
Courses look fun, but pricey! I would have given a lot to be have been able to take part in the one where you got to make a facsimile of the St Cuthbert Gospel (AKA Stonyhurst Gospel).