Textual Spaces: About

Acknowledgements

The History of Material Texts seminar, led by Professor Peter Stallybrass of the Department of English, was the original inspiration for this exhibition. Since its inception in the spring of 1993, this stimulating seminar, which meets Monday evenings during the academic year in the Henry Charles Lea Library, has brought together a multitude of scholars and students to discuss and reflect upon the nature of books and manuscripts, of writing, printing, and reading.

While working as a Center for Undergraduate Research and Fellowships (CURF) intern in the summer of 2007, Brooke Palmieri was asked to conceive of an exhibition relating to one of the themes of the seminar. Following from discussions with Rare Book and Manuscript Library staff, Brooke developed the guiding concept for this show on the history of reading - to focus attention on reading practices by examining specific spaces where people actually read.

All exhibitions are the work of many hands. Key to any exhibition is its designer. Andrea Gottschalk ran with Brooke's idea and transformed it into the visually engaging, three-dimensional display you see here in the Rosenwald Gallery. Andrea and her assistant, Jude Robison, were joined by Barbara Bispham, Catherine Turcich-Kealey, Kalisha Jones, and Ruthann Dorn in the work of mounting, cutting, and installing the large panels that define each space. Conservation for objects on display was provided by Sue Bing and Sibylla Shekerdjiska-Benatova. High-quality digital scans, which are essential to this exhibition, were made at the Library's Schoenberg Center for Electronic Text and Image (SCETI). Marissa Hendriks was indispensable in making sure all the scans were done in a timely and organized fashion. The online exhibit site was developed in SCETI by Alyssa Rosenzweig and Dennis Mullen.

Backdrops

1. MARKET PLACE
James Gillray, artist.
"Sandwich Carrots! Dainty Sandwich Carrots!"
The Works of James Gillray, pl. 427.
London: H. G. Bohn, [1851].
Edwin Forrest Collection.

2. BUSINESS
Advertisement for Remington Rand Office Systems.
Forbes, v. 89, no. 10 (May 15, 1962), p. 10.
Lippincott Library.

3. COURT ROOM
Thomas Rowlandson and Augustus Pugin, artists.
"Old Bailey."
The Microcosm of London, v. 2, pl. opp. p. 212.
London: R. Ackermann, [1808].

4. THEATRE
William Hogarth, artist.
"The Beggar's Opera."
The Works of William Hogarth, v. 2, pl. following p. 272.
London: Richard Griffin, 1861.

5. HOUSE of WORSHIP
Gustave Doré, artist.
"Westminster Abbey. - The Choir."
Blanchard Jerrold.
London: A Pilgrimage, pl. opp. p. 98.
London: Grant and Co., 1872.

6. SCHOOL HOUSE
Schoolroom.
Andrew White Tuer.
History of the Hornbook, v. 2, pl. 115.
New York: Scribner's Sons, 1896.
Horace Howard Furness Memorial Library.

7. LADY'S CLOSET
Front cover.
Jessie Graham Flower.
Grace Harlow's Second Year at Overton College.
Philadelphia: Henry Altemus, 1914.

8. LABORATORY
Pierre-Francois Basan, engraver,
after David Teniers, artist.
Le Plaisir des fous. [engraving]
Paris: Basan, [17--].
Edgar Fahs Smith Collection.

9. KITCHEN
Front cover.
How to Decorate a Cake: Let Anne Anson Show You.
Stourbridge, England: Taylor, Law, 1956.
Chef Fritz Blank Culinary Archive and Library.

10. STUDY
Thomas Rowlandson, artist.
"The Doctor's Dream."
William Combe.
The Tour of Doctor Syntax, in Search of the [Pic]turesque, pl. 27.
London: R. Ackermann, 1813.
Singer-Mendenhall Collection.

11. HEARTH
Frontispiece.
Catherine E. Beecher and Harriet Beecher Stowe.
The House-Keeper's Manual.
New York: J. B. Ford, 1873.

12. COFFEE HOUSE
Andrea Gottschalk,
Coffee House with Chai.
Philadelphia, 2008