Date: Mon, 2 Mar 2009 14:48:49 -0800
From: Terry Belanger <belanger(a)VIRGINIA.EDU> (by way of Tavistock
Books)
G. Thomas Tanselle's "Introduction to Bibliography: Seminar Syllabus"
and "Introduction to Scholarly Editing: Seminar Syllabus" are
comprehensive guides to the literature of these two fields, including
suggestions for basic reading and chronological lists of the writings
on specific topics. Through the generosity of their compiler, the two
volumes are now available free in their entirety on the RBS website
in .pdf format, for consultation or downloading:
http://www.rarebookschool.org/tanselle/
The two guides have been published in hard copy (as substantial
paperback books of 370 and 258 pages respectively) by Rare Book
School's publishing wing, the Book Arts Press, since 1990 (for the
"Introduction to Bibliography") and 1998 (for the "Introduction to
Scholarly Editing"). Hard copies of the latest version of each, dated
2002, may still be purchased from Rare Book School. The online
versions also have a cutoff date of 2002; Tanselle hopes eventually
to update them.
It will not be necessary to introduce G. Thomas Tanselle to most
readers of the BookArts-L, ExLibris, or SHARP-L bulletin boards to
whom this message is being sent. He retired in 2006 as senior vice
president of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. He is
co-editor of the Northwestern-Newberry Edition of the writings of
Herman Melville; among his other book-length publications are
"Textual Criticism and Scholarly Editing," "A Rationale of Textual
Criticism," "Textual Criticism Since Greg", "Literature and
Artifacts," "Royall Tyler," and "The Life and Works of Fredson
Bowers." Each year since 1963 [sic], he has contributed an article,
many of them of fundamental importance to the study of the history of
the book and related subjects, to "Studies in Bibliography," the
annual publication of the Bibliographical Society of the University
of Virginia (of which he is the current President). He is a former
president of the Bibliographical Society of America and of the
Society for Textual Scholarship (for additional credentials, see the
six inches of six-point type in his "Who's Who in America" entry). He
is an old and very good friend both of Rare Book School in particular
and of the history of the book in general.
Terry Belanger
University Professor, Honorary Curator of Special Collections
Director, Rare Bk School : University of Virginia
Rare Book School : PO 400103 : Charlottesville, VA 22904-4103
Email belanger(a)virginia.edu : Phone 434-924-8851 : Fax 434-924-8824
URL <http://www.rarebookschool.org>