Rare Book School offers five-day, intensive courses for students from all disciplines and levels to study the history of manuscript, printed, and born-digital materials with leading scholars and professionals in the field. This year, we are pleased to present more than thirty courses on the history of books and printing in Charlottesville, VA, New Haven, CT, Philadelphia, PA, and Washington, DC. The following course, taught for the first time, will provide vital skills and knowledge to students and scholars of Asian literature, culture, and history:

Hokusai & Book Illustration, taking place October 28  November 1 at the Freer and Sackler Galleries in Washington, DC. Taught by Ellis Tinios (University of Leeds).

This course will consider the achievements of Katsushika Hokusai (1760  1849) as a book illustrator and print designer in the highly competitive world of Edo publishing. Further topics students will examine include his relationship with publishers and the ways in which they marketed his books, the process of book production, and the reception and influence of Hokusai’s books in the West. Teaching, which will combine discussions and lectures, will make use of extensive digital resources as well as books by Hokusai and his contemporaries held by the Freer and Sackler Galleries.

The course is aimed at a broad constituency, including students of the book, conservators, curators, collectors, librarians, artists, designers, and art historians  but will be of interest to anyone interested in books as objects, as commodities, and as works of art. For more information:

http://www.rarebookschool.org/courses/illustration/i95/

For a full course schedule, additional course descriptions, and our online course application, be sure to visit the RBS website at
http://rarebookschool.org/.