University of Iowa Libraries and the University of Iowa Museum of Art (UIMA) will present a series of free public lectures to be held in the museum in conjunction with “From Monks to Masters: The Medieval Manuscript and the Early Printed Book,” an exhibition that will be on display at the museum through Oct. 7.
The exhibition of more than 50 objects explores the transition from a time when books were hand copied by a select group of literate and often religious scribes to the era of mass-produced books created by master printers using the latest 15th-century technology — the hand-operated wooden printing press.
The lectures, presented at 7:30 p.m. Thursday evenings in the UIMA Carver Gallery, will provide insight into the medieval world in which the books and manuscripts were created. Subjects range from techniques of bookbinding, to religious and musical practice, to the knowledge of anatomy and medicine in the middle ages.
UI faculty and staff will present the lectures. The dates, topics and speakers are listed below.
— July 26: Gary Frost, “Medieval Bookbinding”
— Aug. 2: Raymond A. Mentzer, “Medieval Religious Texts”
— Aug. 9: Edwin A. Holtum, “Breaking With Galen: Anatomy and Medicine in the Early Days of Printing”
— Aug. 16: Cheryl D. Jacobsen, “They Did That All by Hand? The Dedicated Task of the Medieval Scribe”
— Aug. 23: Timothy D. Barrett, “On the Invention of Imitation Parchment: Papermaking in Europe 1300-1500”
— Aug. 30: Sara T. Sauers, “Early Modern Typography”
— Sept. 6: Elizabeth Aubrey, “From Singer’s Lips to Scribe’s Pen: Music in Medieval Manuscripts”
— Sept. 13: Denise Filios, “Constructing Power: Illuminated Manuscripts in Medieval and Golden Age Spain”
— Sept. 20: Jonathan Wilcox, “Questions of Authenticity: Medieval Charters, Medieval Manuscripts, and Modern Facsimiles”
— Sept. 27: Glenn Ehrstine, “Medieval Studies in Iowa”
— Oct. 4: Matthew P. Brown, “The Persistence of the Medieval in Early American Book Culture”
The exhibition is a collaboration of UI Libraries Special Collections, the Hardin Library’s Martin Rare Book Room and the UIMA. It was organized by David Schoonover and Gregory Prickman of Special Collections & University Archives at the UI Libraries, and Kathleen Kamerick of the UI Department of History.
This exhibition is open to the public free of charge.
The UI Museum of Art, located on North Riverside Drive in Iowa City, is open noon to 5 p.m. Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday, and noon to 9 p.m. Thursday and Friday. Admission is free.
For more information on the UI Museum of Art visit http://www.uiowa.edu/uima. Learn more about UI Libraries Special Collections at http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/spec-coll/.