July | 2010 | Rare Books and Manuscripts Library

On 13-15 July, the Rare Books & Manuscripts Library hosted its first “Rare Books Academy” for children. Fifteen students—from Columbus and as far afield as Morgantown, WV—enrolled and spent three days learning how manuscript books were made in the Middle Ages, how books were printed in the hand-press period, and how librarians and conservators today help to ensure that old and rare books will continue to survive for years to come. The students didn’t just learn things about the history of books, however; they also learned how to make their own manuscript and hand-printed products. They practiced the medieval technique of “pouncing,” a method of illustration in which the artist lays a picture on top of a piece of parchment, pricks holes around its outline piercing both the illustration and the parchment beneath, and rubs colored chalk over the pierced illustration that passes through the pricked holes onto the parchment to form dots that the artist then connects to complete the illustration. Students also printed their own sheets on hand-presses at the Logan Elm Press, experimented with calligraphy, learned how to bind their own manuscript booklets, and lent a hand in the Libraries’ conservation lab by treating old paper with a deacidifying spray-gun.

The students produced and bound their own sheepskin booklets, including pounced and free-hand illustrations, decorated initials, short stories and more. All fifteen booklets are currently being highlighted in a ten-day long “Rare Books Academy” exhibition in the Special Collections display area on the first floor of Thompson Library (through 1 August). Like the manuscripts and old books they’re modeled after, each of these booklets has its own unique qualities and charm that reflect the interests and preoccupations of their makers. More importantly, they all also embody the thoughtfulness, creativity, effort—and fun—that goes into the design and use of books.