Meetings will be held at the Society of Antiquaries, Burlington House, Piccadilly, London W1J 0BE, beginning at 5.30 p.m.
Tea will be served at 5.00 p.m. Members are welcome to bring guests, both to meetings and to the tea beforehand.
The Annual General Meeting will take place at the Goldsmiths’ Company, Goldsmiths’ Hall, Foster Lane, London EC2V 6BN, on Tuesday, 21 October 2014 at 5.30 p.m. The AGM will not be preceded by tea, but refreshments will be served after the meeting.
21 October 2014
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING at the Goldsmiths’ Company at 5.30 p.m. At the close of business, David Beasely, Librarian of the Goldsmiths’ Company, will lead a tour of the principal rooms and show some highlights from the archives.
18 November 2014
JUAN-CARLOS CONDE: “Lost and found: the fifteenth-century manuscript of João I of Portugal’s Livro da Montaria“.
Investigations into recently discovered early fragments of the most important medieval Portuguese hunting work clarify our knowledge of the manuscript transmission of the Livro da Montaria, and illuminate our knowledge of its textual life.
16 December 2014
SIMON BURROWS: “Book history, historical bibliometrics and the mapping of culture.”
This paper reviews the ways in which GIS mapping and digital historical bibliometric research techniques can transform our understanding of the dissemination of print and ideas across the print era, both on a global level and in specific historical contexts, including late old regime Europe and 20th-century Australia.
20 January 2015
SCOTT MANDELBROTE: “Isaac Newton, his library, and the history of scholarship.”
This talk will consider what use has been made of Newton’s books to help understand his work and scholarly practices of reading during his lifetime and what better use might be made of them.
17 February 2015
DAVID RUNDLE: “The Butcher of England and the reform of learning: John Tiptoft, earl of Worcester and England’s role in the Renaissance.”
This paper reviews the increasing evidence we have for the intellectual activities of the circle around the earl and will place it in the wider context of the vibrant history of humanism in 15th-century England.
17 March 2015
JAMES WILLOUGHBY: ‘The Hand of Ralph of Coggeshall. Chronicle-Making and Censorship in the Reign of King John’.
The chronicle of Ralph of Coggeshall is a valuable, sometimes unique, contemporary source for the reigns of Kings Richard I and John. Palaeography can illuminate the process of composition, with wider ramifications for posterity’s view of King John. In keeping with the theme and in celebration of the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta, Heather Rowland, Librarian of the Society of Antiquaries, has agreed to display two of the Society’s three copies of Magna Carta for Bibliographical Society members preceding the lecture at 5.00 to 5.15. They are a a discarded draft of Magna Carta 1215 in the Black Book of Peterborough and an exemplification dating after 1225.
Graham Pollard Memorial Lecture
ANKE TIMMERMANN: “Alchemy, Science and the Visualisation of Knowledge in Manuscripts in the 15th and 16th centuries.”
An exploration of the role of images in alchemical manuscripts of the long 15th century, in the context of the history of scientific illustration.
19 May 2015
Homee and Phiroze Randeria Lecture
EDMUND M.B. KING: “’Handsomely bound in cloth’: UK book cover designs 1840-1880.”
A review of the many varied cover designs made for cloth trade bindings, with reference to signed cover designs, together with a review of online resources for the further study of these.
6 July 2015
Summer Visit
The summer visit will be to Eton College Library. See this link for further information.