Getting started
- Review all four exercise templates (available via the
all-caps links on the left toolbar) to determine which one meets your
class needs.
- Once you have determined which exercise you would like to
use, review the data table or catalogue to determine which text/s you
would like to use for your class.
- Go to the exercise template and add the text/s into the
bracketed space. Exmp: [Add in the chosen texts here]
- Contact Harold Forbes at harold.forbes@mail.wvu.edu
to make an appointment for your class to visit the Rare Book Room.
Please let Harold know which texts you would like the students to work
with.
- After your students have visited the Rare Book Room and
have completed the exercise, please fill out an evaluation form and
send it to Marilyn Francus at marilyn.francus@mail.wvu.edu
This site features four types of exercises
- A transcription/editing
exercise, in which students are given a passage from a 16th-,
17th-, 18th or 19th-century
text, general information regarding the older conventions of spelling
and punctuation, and a series of questions to consider. Then
students transcribe the passage and edit it–-which requires students to
think through issues of language, editorial conventions, and
annotation. Finally, students write a brief (1-2 page) essay
in which they develop a thesis about the passage and/or editing
practices. The texts are available to faculty
electronically through Early
English Books Online and scans that the library has provided.
- An edition
exercise, in which students compare two editions of the same
work. Longfellow’s “Hiawatha,” Twain’s Huckleberry Finn,
Malone’s editions of Shakespeare, Pope’s “Rape of the Lock,” and Ben
Jonson’s The Alchemist are signal instances from
the Rare Book collection. Students are asked to compare and
contrast passages and aspects of the two editions in order to draw
their attention towards editorial choices (regarding both primary text
and critical apparatus), textual stability over time, and the marketing
of a text to a particular audience. Students are then asked
to write a brief (1-2 page) essay in which they develop a thesis about
editorial practices. The texts are available to faculty electronically
through scans that the library has provided.
- An illustration
exercise, in which students analyze illustrations from texts
from the 17th through 20th
centuries. (Formal knowledge of art history is not
required). The students are given prompt questions regarding
the style and composition of the illustration, the relationship between
the illustration and the text, and illustration as a form of
interpretation. These prompts focus student thinking on the
meaning(s) of illustration in cultural practice so that students can
develop their ideas about illustration and apply them to a variety of
contexts. Students then write a brief (1-2 page) essay in
which they develop a thesis about the illustration and/or illustration
practices. The illustrations are available to faculty
electronically through scans that the library has provided.
- A material
culture exercise, in which students analyze a book as a
physical object, subject to technologies of book production and
marketing. Prompt questions are provided to encourage students to think
about the physical aspects of the text (size, paper, cover
composition), marketing (advertisements for the publisher and the
author), and textual devices (dedications, prefaces, and so on)—all of
which affect audience reception before purchase. In so doing,
the exercise works towards student recognition of the text as an object
that was produced by a particular technology and marketed with a
specific audience in mind. Students are then asked to write a
brief (1-2 page) essay in which they develop a thesis about the text –
either as a physical object, or as evidence of the book in its cultural
moment. Images of the texts for this exercise are
available to faculty electronically through scans that the library has
provided.
All texts are available in the WVU Rare Book Room (6th
Floor, Wise Library) and have been approved by the library staff for
use.
Each assignment can be adapted to meet your course needs; some faculty
may want students to submit responses to the prompt questions rather
than write an essay, while others may want students to write a longer
essay. Feel free to tailor the assignment (and the
assessment rubrics) to the needs of your students and your course.
The Rare Book Pedagogy Unit annotated
bibliography provides useful references on book production,
marketing, and literacy for the faculty based on the holdings in
Wise. Copies of the items listed in the bibliography are
available in the English Department office. A brief
annotated list of Internet resources
for faculty use is also available.
If you choose to incorporate a module from the Rare Book Pedagogy Unit,
please fill out the attached form
regarding the module and its effectiveness. Comments and
suggestions to improve the modules are most welcome.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Marilyn Francus
at marilyn.francus@mail.wvu.edu.