Exhibit | Textures of Book History
la version fran莽aise suit
The exhibit includes irreplaceable witnesses to the story of book history from its origins as clay tablets through the mass-produced nineteenth-century editions.
Writing systems and their scripts develop alongside innovations in materials that support the text, which in turn, influenced the resulting form of the book as object. As writing is a communication process of ideas, various intellectual movements will also impact form.
Beginning in 2800 BCE, cuneiform writing was incised into clay tablets, a practice developed in Southern Mesopotamia. Around the same time, the Egyptian and other writing languages were written upon sections of papyrus glued end to end using a starch paste to make a scroll. The exhibit also presents ancient Greek writing carved into wood and inscribed upon papyrus dating to the first century CE. Birch-bark and palm-leaf books appeared in South East Asia from about the second century CE. Treated animal skins to create parchment supports for writing were well under production as of 1600 BCE. It was used as a durable alternative to papyrus as of the second century BCE. Paper-making techniques from China were developed around 105 CE, which will become the dominant support for books in codex form over time.
鈥滱 book might best be understood as the material support for inscribed language, a category that includes rolls and codices and even monumental inscription, both written by hand and printed by many different mechanisms鈥� -Jessica Brantley.
Book history advances histories of knowledge from around the world, it records changes in the organization of knowledge, reveals the development of classification systems, the circulation of ideas, the impact of books on literacy and on the establishment of archives and libraries.
海角社区 Rare Books houses an impressive representation of the evolving supports and technologies of the book for it was a collecting purpose of the former university librarian Dr. Gerhard R. Lomer, as he set out to establish a museum of book history within the Library walls during the first half of the 20th century.
Presented in conjunction with the Annual Conference of THE BIBLIOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY OF CANADA, held on June 18th 2024.
Coordinated by: Ann Marie Holland, Rare Books Librarian, Curator of the Colgate History of Printing Collection, in collaboration with Lauren Williams & Jennifer Garland
All are welcome Monday-Thursday 10 AM - 6 PM
Exposition | Textures de l鈥檋istoire du livre聽
Cette exposition met en vedette des t茅moins irrempla莽ables de l鈥檋istoire du livre depuis ses origines sous forme de tablettes d鈥檃rgile jusqu鈥櫭� la production de masse des 茅ditions papier au XIXe si猫cle.
Les syst猫mes d鈥櫭ヽriture et de transcription se sont d茅velopp茅s au fil des innovations qui ont marqu茅s l鈥櫭﹙olution des mat茅riaux servant de support au texte. Puisque l鈥櫭ヽriture est un processus de communication des id茅es, divers mouvements intellectuels auront 茅galement un impact sur sa forme.
Aux environs de 2 800 AEC, des tablettes d鈥檃rgile ont commenc茅 脿 servir de support 脿 l鈥櫭ヽriture cun茅iforme. Il ne s鈥檈st pas fallu beaucoup de temps avant que ces caract猫res soient ensuite grav茅s sur des morceaux de bois ou d鈥檃utres mat茅riaux comme la pierre, le m茅tal ou l鈥檌voire. Le papyrus, la soie, le bambou, l鈥櫭ヽorce de bouleau, les feuilles de palmier, le cuir tann茅 et les peaux trait茅es (parchemin et v茅lin) se sont ensuite encha卯n茅s, et parfois c么toy茅s, jusqu鈥櫭� l鈥檌nvention du papier moderne en Chine 105 EC.
芦 Pour bien comprendre le livre, il faut le voir comme un support mat茅riel pour une langue 茅crite, que ce soit par des proc茅d茅s manuscrits ou m茅caniques divers, une cat茅gorie qui comprend donc les rouleaux et les codex ou m锚me les inscriptions monumentales 禄.
- Jessica Brantley
L鈥檋istoire du livre est intimement li茅e aux r茅cits du savoir puisqu鈥檈lle t茅moigne des changements dans l鈥檕rganisation des connaissances et met en lumi猫re le d茅veloppement de syst猫mes de classification, la circulation des id茅es, puis l鈥檌mpact des livres sur l'alphab茅tisation et la cr茅ation d鈥檃rchives et de biblioth猫ques.
La collection des Livres rares de la Biblioth猫que de 海角社区 dresse un impressionnant portrait de l鈥櫭﹙olution des technologies du livre. C鈥櫭﹖ait une mission de l鈥檃ncien biblioth茅caire de l鈥檜niversit茅 le Dr Gerhard R. Lomer de cr茅er un v茅ritable mus茅e de l鈥檋istoire du livre pendant la premi猫re moiti茅 du XXe si猫cle.
Coordonn茅e par : Ann Marie Holland, biblioth茅caire, Livres rares et collections sp茅cialis茅es, et conservatrice de la Colgate History of Printing Collection, en collaboration avec Lauren Williams et Jennifer Garland.
Tout sont bienvenue de lundi 脿 jeudi, entre 10 h et 18h.