Information
- Information
New Editor for the Library
Oliver Pickering will be stepping down as Editor of The Library at the end of 2008, after ten years in the role. The Council of the Bibliographical Society has appointed Dr Bill Bell, University of Edinburgh, as his successor. Offers of contributions to The Library should, with immediate effect, be directed to Dr Bell, at the Centre for the History of the Book, The University of Edinburgh, 18 Buccleuch Place, Edinburgh, EH8 9LN (b.bell@ed.ac.uk). Other correspondence concerning the journal should for the time being continue to be addressed to the present Editor.
New Society Publication
In April 2008 the Bibliographical Society co-published The Earliest Books of Canterbury Cathedral: Manuscripts and Fragments to c. 1200, by Richard Gameson (Professor of the History of the Book, University of Durham).
One of the greatest literary centres throughout the Middle Ages, Canterbury still preserves —despite horrendous losses —a significant collection of medieval manuscripts. In his new book Richard Gameson describes and discusses all of Canterbury's pre-thirteenth-century manuscripts for the first time. Each of them is illustrated in colour, several being represented by more than one image. Highlights range from the oldest copies of the Alfredian translation of Gregory the Great's Dialogues and of Lanfranc's gloss on the Epistles, through fine liturgica, to an extraordinarily grand copy of Peter Comestor's Historia scholastica. Lucid and very detailed descriptions are complemented by broad-ranging analyses that explain the significance of these works in general and of the Canterbury copies in particular. In a substantial Introduction Professor Gameson traces the history of book production in Kent and Canterbury up to c. 1200, follows the development and use of the Canterbury collections in the later Middle Ages, and discusses the fate of these books at the Reformation.
The Earliest Books of Canterbury Cathedral, which is published in collaboration with the British Library and the Dean and Chapter of Canterbury Cathedral, is priced at £60 (free to members of the Bibliographical Society, who may order additional copies for £30).
416 pages (including index and bibliography); 63 colour plates; hardback (buckram); colour jacket. ISBN 978 0948170 166. [End Page 377]
Bibliographical Society Grants
Major grants
The Bibliographical Society invites applications from scholars engaged in bibliographical research (on, for example, book history, textual transmission, publishing, printing, bookbinding, book ownership, and book-collecting) for Major Grants to be made in 2009. The Society hopes to make awards both for immediate research needs, such as for microfilms or travelling expenses, and for longer-term support, for example to assist with prolonged visits to libraries and archives. Several Major Grants, up to a normal maximum of £2,000 each, will be awarded. The deadline for applications is 1 November 2008. The Society also accepts applications for Minor Grants (£50–£200) at any time during the year.
Katharine F. Pantzer Jr Research Awards in the History of the Printed Book
The Bibliographical Society has received a generous bequest from the estate of the distinguished bibliographer Katharine F. Pantzer Jr, and has established two research awards in her memory: a Fellowship of up to £4,000, and a Scholarship of up to £1,500, which were awarded for the first time in 2008. An application form for the 2009 Pantzer Fellowship can be found on the Society's website (http://www.bibsoc.org.uk), while the Pantzer Scholarship may be applied for as one of the named Major Grants. In both cases the deadline for applications is 1 November 2008.
Applicants' research for either award must be within the field of the bibliographical or book-historical study of the printed book in the hand-press period, that is up to c. 1830. Applicants should be established scholars in the field but may be either university-based or independent researchers. There are no restrictions as to age or nationality of applicants.
The Pantzer Fellowship is intended to assist with both immediate research needs, such as microfilms or travelling expenses, and longer-term support, for example prolonged visits to libraries and archives. Applicants may use a part of the Fellowship money to pay for teaching cover.
