Exkursionsberichte
Book Studies Field Trip Leiden
Our Book Studies Symposium this year was held in Universiteit Leiden on the 17th to 18th of December in collaboration with their program “Book and Digital Media Studies”. Like many of the previous meetings between the Chair of Book Studies and the program from Leiden, it was a superb opportunity for students and tutors to exchange ideas that fall under the academic umbrella of Book Studies.
On the first day, eight sets of students were given the chance to present ideas for their term papers, ongoing Master’s thesis projects as well as conference and journal proposals. At the end of each presentation, questions were asked in return, for those listening to learn more about the diverse range of topics offered, and for those presenting receive feedback and suggestions on their presented projects and proposals. This year’s diverse range of topics from the Chair of Book Studies included: Blogs turned books in Egypt and worldwide, the effect of the introduction of railroad travel on reading habits in 19th century England, the Cherokee Phoenix as the first newspaper published by Native Americans in the United States and book covers of Daphne du Maurier’s “Rebecca”. From the Leiden side: Reading aids in incunables, acquiring literacy of digital books, and defining digital books and texts.
On the second day, Prof. Hoftijzer from Leiden was kind enough to give us a tour of the Bibliotheca Thysiana, of which he is the curator. Here, the students from the Chair of Book Studies were able to take a close look at Joan Blaeu’s original 17th century atlas collection in its original custom-made shelves, Andreae Vesalii’s Brvxellensis, Scholae medicorum Patauinae, and a still-functioning book wheel. Prof. Hoftijzer also familiarised the students with the legacy and history of Johannes Thysius, who had bequeathed a fortune of 20,000 guilders for the building of this public library with a live-in custodian.
We thank the staff, Simon Rosenberg, Professor Paul Hoftijzer and Professor Adriaan van der Weel for coming together again this year and arranging this special experience for students coming from both Germany and the Netherlands.
Gabriella Wong