Summer Camp for Book Geeks

Last week the NY Times published an article on the Rare Book School, a series of week-long summer intensive classes surrounding the subject of books; from book history (binding, paper, typography, book forms, etc) to collecting, to caring for collections. And since then I've been all a flutter with the possibility of scrounging up the tuition to attend next year. And I'm not the only one. People all over the social strata have been piping in their desires in 140 characters or less.


The Website has course descriptions from classes offered in the past. So you can check those out to get an idea of the caliber and scope of the summer intensives. But even more exciting, for me at least, is that they have resource lists. Everything (or almost everything) you could possibly want to know about each of the subjects, laid out for the DIYers & school nerds. Missed a class? no problem, here's the reading material. Seriously, you could start your own Rare Book School Club or reading group. (clearly, my nerdiness unveiled).


Want to know about the history of the book from 200-2000? Start here. How about the history of paper making, book binding, or typography? There are courses in Japanese illustration, Indian illustrated Manuscripts, ephemera, books from the American industrial era, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. 

Rare Book School (RBS) is an independent non-profit organization... based at the University of Virginia supporting the study of the history of books, manuscripts, and related objects. Each year, RBS offers about 30 five-day courses on these subjects. Most of the courses are offered at its headquarters in Charlottesville, Virginia but others are held in New York City, Washington DC, and Baltimore, Maryland. Its courses are intended for teaching academics, archivists, antiquarian booksellers, book collectors, conservators and bookbinders, rare book and special collections librarians, and others with an interest in book history. [wikipedia]

You can find them on Facebook and Twitter: (@rarebookschool)


Additionally, for West Coasters - there's the California Rare Book School (separate entity from the one listed above).