MDST 352: Material Textuality and the History of the Book
Spring 2002      MWF 9-9:50      322A Clemons Library
http://www.virginia.edu/mediastudies/speclab/ludica/biblio/

Instructor: Bethany Nowviskie
Office: 204 Clemons Library
Email: bethany@virginia.edu
Phone: 295-0851 (home)

This is a course in material textuality, bibliography, and the history of the book, with an emphasis on learning through doing. Scholar-adventurers may expect to gain practical experience in printing and bibliographical description and develop a firm grounding in book history through playful participation in labs and lectures. Our readings, discussions, and lab exercises for the semester are staged around a semi-fictional bibliographical mystery game - Biblioludica - which students will both play and design. Major assignments will consist of an essay on a chosen topic in book history, the physical analysis of a rare book from UVA's Special Collections, and the production of a credible forgery using letterpress equipment at the Virginia Arts of the Book Center.

Biblioludica is a bibliographical research game in development by Bethany Nowviskie of the Speculative Computing Lab. It was conceived as a way of teaching textual materiality and book history at the University of Virginia, but its principles and methods are broadly applicable to humanities fields in which historical research, close examination of material artifacts, and production as a mode of enquiry are relevant activities for students and scholars.

Biblioludica is funded by a grant from the Delmas Foundation. More information about the Ludica game model is available through SpecLab.