Special Collections Exhibition Catalogues and Learning Resources

Exhibition Catalogues

 

Video and Audio Learning Resources. The following short videos are designed to introduce students at Memorial University to the holding of the Libraries’ Special Collections unit.

 Video (Memorial University Libraries)

  • Library Resources for Special Collections : Includes an introduction to Memorial University Libraries Special Collections’ website; the Libraries’ online catalogue (OneSearch); Special Collections databases; the Libraries’ Digital Archive, as well some freely available online resources.
  • OneSearch and Special Collections :A closer look at how to search the Libraries’ online catalogue (OneSearch) for special collections material. Includes how to search to search special collections holdings by date range; how to search journal titles and find databases related to special collections research; as well as how to search using subject headings.
  • Two Books of Hours at Memorial University Libraries: This video slide preesentation offers a brief introduction to the Book of Hours, discusses how these books were made in the late medieval period, before highlighting the contents and decorative styles of the two books of hours held by Memorial University Libraries.
  • A Brief History of Electronic Books : This video slide presentation offers a brief overview of the history of electronic books, looks at the some of the characteristics of electronic versus print books, as well as the overall success of the electronic book in what is still a codex world. 
  • A Brief History of Book Binding: This video slide presentation offers a brief overview of the history of book binding, covering principles to keep in mind when examing book bindings, offering an overview of the processes involved in book binding, as well as highlighting decorative book binding styles beteen the sixteenth century and the present. 

 

Audio from Memorial University Libraries

  • Random or Purposeful :a talk by Special Collections Librarian Patrick Warner about the nature of special collections at Memorial University Libraries.
  • Harm I Bare Not: a review/essay by Special Collections Librarian Patrick Warner on Quodlibets (1628), the earliest book of English verse written in North America.

 

Other Online Video Resources. The following list contains videos and other resources on the craft of making books, both in manuscript form and in printed form using movable metal type. All of these resources are freely available online.

Manuscripts and Manuscript Processes

How to make parchment from animal skins

How Medieval Manuscripts were made

Colour in Medieval Manuscripts

List of digitized Medieval Manuscript Collections online (University of Chicago resource)

Hand-Press Printing

Paper making (from rags)

A brief history of typography

Type: How movable metal type is made

making the punch

tempering punches and striking matrices

casting type

dressing the type

Hand composing or setting metal type

Mechanical casting of metal type (linotype)

The Printing Press in Operation

Printing on a Gutenberg press (wooden press)

Printing on a cast iron press (the Albion Press)

Describing Books

Book Format

Marbled Papers

Chris Rowlatt | Bookbinder & Paper Marbler |

Cockerell Papers

Decorative and decorated papers database (University of Washington)

Book Binding

Hands: a Dublin Bookbinder

Shows the binding process, as done by hand, including sewing, gold leaf work, leather work, and finishing with heated tools. The video also shows the restoration process of re-backing.

Making a Set of Three Leatherbound Books.

Printmaking: Illustration

Introduction to print making (relief, intaglio, lithography)

Lithographic printing

Graphics Atlas (tool for identifying the various kinds of prints and photographs)