Rare Book School

I have returned successfully from RBS (Rare Book School) in Charlottesville. The first thing to know is that I stayed on The Lawn, a great honor for U Va seniors, both rather different in mid-July.  Why?  There is NO AIR CONDITIONING !!  So it was 85+ at night in my room most nights, and a fan moving HOT air around doesn't much matter.  And did I mention that the bathrooms and showers were down some stairs and around a corner?   
That said, it was a tremendous experience, where I learned a whole lot about many things (within the "Publishers’ Bookbindings, 1830-1910"  parameters, of course). Sue Allen, the instructor, is the recognized expert on the topic, and she was delightful teacher. The 12 of us in the class included 1 collector, 4 booksellers, 2 conservators and other librarians and scholars.  We saw hundreds of examples of 19th-century bindings, some undoubtedly quite rare and nearly all quite striking.

I was flattered that Sue knew quite a bit about my work on Amy Sacker. In fact, the first evening, she turned to a woman from the Beinecke (rare books at Yale !) and mentioned that I had done "important work on Sacker".  Talk about a high bar to start with. . . .  She also asked me to give a 7-minute talk on Amy later in the week, which apparently also went okay.

The entire week was quite convivial and collegial, with nice informal gatherings, usually with nice wine and cheeses, and a couple of interesting talks.  Although I sometimes kept to myself, I did have some interesting conversations with a variety of folks there.