Rephonic
Artwork for Rare Book School
Yongle Dadian
Computational Bibliography
Catholicon Press
Rare Book School
Huntington Library
Jane Austen
Chinese History
Printing Technology
Incunabula
Flemish Illuminated Manuscript
Book History
Book Collecting
Boxer Rebellion
Imperialism
Books
Art History
Johnson Publishing Company
Belle Da Costa Greene
Blooks
Johann Gutenberg

Since 1972, the Book Arts Press and Rare Book School have offered more than 600 public lectures on a wide variety of bibliographical topics.

PublishesDailyEpisodes446Founded11 years ago
Number of ListenersCategory
Education

Listen to this Podcast

Artwork for Rare Book School

Latest Episodes

๐—ง๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐Ÿฎ๐Ÿฌ๐Ÿฎ๐Ÿฒ ๐—ฆ๐˜‚๐—ฒ ๐—”๐—น๐—น๐—ฒ๐—ป ๐—Ÿ๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐˜๐˜‚๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐—ณ๐—ผ๐—ฟ ๐—ช๐—ผ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐—ป ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐—•๐—ผ๐—ผ๐—ธ ๐—›๐—ถ๐˜€๐˜๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐˜† ๐‘ต๐‘ฉ: ๐˜‹๐˜ถ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ต๐˜ฐ ๐˜ข๐˜ฏ ๐˜ถ๐˜ฏ๐˜ฆ๐˜น๐˜ฑ๐˜ฆ๐˜ค๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ ๐˜ด๐˜บ๐˜ด๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ฎ ๐˜ถ๐˜ฑ๐˜ฅ๐˜ข๐˜ต๐˜ฆ, ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ค๐˜ฐ๐˜ฎ๐˜ฑ๐˜ถ๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ณ ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ค๐˜ฐ๐˜ณ๐˜ฅ๐˜ช๐˜ฏ๐˜จ ๐˜ต๐˜ฉ๐˜ช๐˜ด ๐˜ญ๐˜ฆ๐˜ค๐˜ต๐˜ถ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ ๐˜ณ๐˜ฆ๐˜ฃ๐˜ฐ๐˜ฐ๐˜ต๐˜ฆ๐˜ฅ... more

Elizabeth Canning delivered Rare Book School's 2026 Kenneth W. Rendell Endowed Lecture, "Womenโ€™s Libraries & Their Afterlives," on 10 June, 2026. Womenโ€™s book collections appear in a wide range of forms: as catalogued libraries; as groups of survivin... more

๐—ง๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐Ÿฎ๐Ÿฌ๐Ÿฎ๐Ÿฒ ๐—ž๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜€ ๐—™๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ป๐—ฑ๐—ฎ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ผ๐—ป ๐—”๐—ฟ๐˜ ๐—ผ๐—ณ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—•๐—ผ๐—ผ๐—ธ ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐—˜๐˜‚๐—ฟ๐—ผ๐—ฝ๐—ฒ ๐—Ÿ๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐˜๐˜‚๐—ฟ๐—ฒ When London viewers opened elegant folio books like Oriental Scenery or The Costume of China they were not just engaging with visual and cult... more

RBS faculty member Paul Needham (Princeton Univ.) gave a public lecture on "The Catholicon Press Revisited: The Evidence of Nailheads" on 29 July 2025. You can watch the full recording of the lecture on YouTube at youtu.be/o4aMEB38slw?feature... more

Christopher N. Warren delivered the 2025 Sol M. and Mary Ann Oโ€™Brian Malkin Lecture, โ€œWhat is Computational Bibliography?โ€, on 30 July 2025. You can watch the full recording of the lecture on YouTube at youtu.be/ElvNacFyoWQ?feature=shared. ๐—”... more

Rachael DiEleuterio gave the inaugural Sue Allen Lecture for Women in Book History, on โ€œCurious and Creative Women,โ€ on 28 July 2025. She was joined by Daphne Sawyer, who endowed the lecture in memory of her mother, Mary Sawyer (1925โ€“2024), and of lo... more

James H. Marrow gave a public talk on โ€œIconographic Disjunction in the Ruskin Psalter/Hours: A Flemish Illuminated Manuscript of ca. 1470โ€“80,โ€ on 23 July 2025, as part of Rare Book School's 2025 Summer Lecture Series. You can watch the full recording... more

This NEH-SHARP Living American History in Primary Documents Lecture by E. M. Rose was part of Rare Book School's 2025 Summer Lecture Series. You can watch the full recording of the lecture on YouTube at youtu.be/VaN2qqFnPto?feature=shared. ๐—”... more

Key Facts

Accepts Guests
Contact Information
Podcast Host
Number of Listeners
Find out how many people listen to this podcast per episode and each month.

Similar Podcasts

People also subscribe to these shows.

The Atlas Obscura Podcast
The Atlas Obscura PodcastSiriusXM and Atlas Obscura
The History of Literature
The History of LiteratureJacke Wilson / The Podglomerate

Recent Guests

Heather O'Donnell
Antiquarian bookseller and founder of Honey & Wax Booksellers
Honey & Wax Booksellers; authoring and teaching in book history
Episode: Heather O'Donnell: "They Canโ€™t Buy It and They Canโ€™t Take It" (2026 Sue Allen Lecture)
Elizabeth Canning
Collector and scholar focusing on women's libraries and their afterlives
Private collection / scholarly work
Episode: Elizabeth Canning: "Womenโ€™s Libraries & Their Afterlives" (2026 Kenneth W. Rendell Endowed Lecture)
Douglas Fordham
Professor of Art History, University of Virginia; department chair
University of Virginia
Episode: Douglas Fordham: "Aquatint Travel Books and the Haptic Picturesque" (2026 Kress Lecture)
Christopher Warren
Professor of English and History and Incoming Head of English at Carnegie Mellon University
Carnegie Mellon University
Episode: Christopher N. Warren, "What Is Computational Bibliography?" Malkin Lecture, 30 July 2025
Emily Rose
Visiting fellow at Murray Edwards College, Cambridge University
Cambridge University
Episode: E. M. Rose, "Books for Virginia 1620: America's First Public Library?" 2025 NEH-SHARP Lecture

Hosts

Eric White
Shidy Librarian at Princeton University Library
Michael Suarez
Executive Director of Rare Book School

Talking Points

Recent interactions between the hosts and their guests.

Douglas Fordham: "Aquatint Travel Books and the Haptic Picturesque" (2026 Kress Lecture)
Q: I'm curious about the role of colonialism and the way the Haptic Picturesque masks intermediariesโ€”how does audience and reception relate to empire?
The speaker discusses audience reception as layered: subscribers of expensive editions, practical printmakers, and a public eager for information about distant places; the imagery often served imperial ambitions while masking the mediation and labor behind the representations, leading to a nuanced critique of how travel books reinforced, rather than simply celebrated, colonial views.
Douglas Fordham: "Aquatint Travel Books and the Haptic Picturesque" (2026 Kress Lecture)
Q: Could you talk a little more about distinguishing operant from chromolithograph, especially early 20th-century chromolithographs?
The lecturer notes that early chromolithography aimed to mimic aquatint in appearance, but the grain and texture differ upon close inspection; chromolithographs emerged later with distinct color palettes and printing techniques, and hand-coloring remained a differentiator until chromolithography matured.
Douglas Fordham: "Aquatint Travel Books and the Haptic Picturesque" (2026 Kress Lecture)
Q: Could you discuss the price point between multi-color printing and hand-coloring, mezzotint or aquatint, versus hand-coloring, and what the price point was?
He explains that adding color to prints via multi-color aquatint or mezzotint would dramatically raise costs, while aquatint offered a commercially viable middle ground. In England around 1800, artists often also acted as printmakers, keeping production in-house to control costs, with hand-coloring typically done by workshops or booksellers; this balance made colored aquatint prints affordable for a growing middle-to-upper-class market.
Elizabeth Canning: "Womenโ€™s Libraries & Their Afterlives" (2026 Kenneth W. Rendell Endowed Lecture)
Q: Did you find evidence that the women in your study were not just collectors but readers of their texts, and can you trace readership marks to the owners?
Readership marks are rare in the specific books discussed, but ownership signatures and name inscriptions are common; these ownership marks indicate visibility and engagement, even if marginalia as reader notes are not often preserved or identifiable to the original owners.
Heather O'Donnell: "They Canโ€™t Buy It and They Canโ€™t Take It" (2026 Sue Allen Lecture)
Q: And if you can talk a little about how to balance the need to preserve and open up access with the realities of funding and institutional gatekeeping, what would you suggest?
The way I see it, pick a battle you can manage and push forward with that one; you don't have to fight every battle, but you should fight something meaningful to support those who are keeping museums, libraries, and schools alive.

Audience Metrics

Listeners, social reach, demographics and more for this podcast.

Listeners per Episode
Gender Skew
Location
Interests
Professions
Age Range
Household Income
Social Media Reach

Frequently Asked Questions About Rare Book School

What is Rare Book School about and what kind of topics does it cover?

The episodes skew toward scholarly exploration of book history, with deep dives into printing technology, bibliographic methods, and the social and political contexts of texts from the medieval to early modern periods. Recurring threads include materials analysis (nailheads, watermarks, and printing techniques), computational approaches to bibliography, and the role of women designers and publishers in shaping book culture. There is a strong emphasis on primary-source research, collaboration across disciplines, and elevating under-examined topics in the history of the book. The format tends to combine lecture-grounded discussions with case studies and a focus on intellectual history, printing economics, and the stewardship of rare books. A ... more

Where can I find podcast stats for Rare Book School?

Rephonic provides a wide range of podcast stats for Rare Book School. We scanned the web and collated all of the information that we could find in our comprehensive podcast database. See how many people listen to Rare Book School and access YouTube viewership numbers, download stats, audience demographics, chart rankings, ratings, reviews and more.

How many listeners does Rare Book School get?

Rephonic provides a full set of podcast information for three million podcasts, including the number of listeners. View further listenership figures for Rare Book School, including podcast download numbers and subscriber numbers, so you can make better decisions about which podcasts to sponsor or be a guest on. You will need to upgrade your account to access this premium data.

What are the audience demographics for Rare Book School?

Rephonic provides comprehensive predictive audience data for Rare Book School, including gender skew, age, country, political leaning, income, professions, education level, and interests. You can access these listener demographics by upgrading your account.

How many subscribers and views does Rare Book School have?

To see how many followers or subscribers Rare Book School has on Spotify and other platforms such as Castbox and Podcast Addict, simply upgrade your account. You'll also find viewership figures for their YouTube channel if they have one.

Which podcasts are similar to Rare Book School?

These podcasts share a similar audience with Rare Book School:

1. NPR Music
2. Search Engine
3. The Atlas Obscura Podcast
4. The History of Literature
5. The Rest Is Politics: US

How many episodes of Rare Book School are there?

Rare Book School launched 11 years ago and published 446 episodes to date. You can find more information about this podcast including rankings, audience demographics and engagement in our podcast database.

How do I contact Rare Book School?

Our systems regularly scour the web to find email addresses and social media links for this podcast. We scanned the web and collated all of the contact information that we could find in our podcast database. But in the unlikely event that you can't find what you're looking for, our concierge service lets you request our research team to source better contacts for you.

Where can I see ratings and reviews for Rare Book School?

Rephonic pulls ratings and reviews for Rare Book School from multiple sources, including Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Castbox, and Podcast Addict.

View all the reviews in one place instead of visiting each platform individually and use this information to decide if a show is worth pitching or not.

How do I access podcast episode transcripts for Rare Book School?

Rephonic provides full transcripts for episodes of Rare Book School. Search within each transcript for your keywords, whether they be topics, brands or people, and figure out if it's worth pitching as a guest or sponsor. You can even set-up alerts to get notified when your keywords are mentioned.

What guests have appeared on Rare Book School?

Recent guests on Rare Book School include:

1. Heather O'Donnell
2. Elizabeth Canning
3. Douglas Fordham
4. Christopher Warren
5. Emily Rose

To view more recent guests and their details, simply upgrade your Rephonic account. You'll also get access to a typical guest profile to help you decide if the show is worth pitching.

Find and pitch the right podcasts

We help savvy brands, marketers and PR professionals to find the right podcasts for any topic or niche. Get the data and contacts you need to pitch podcasts at scale and turn listeners into customers.
Try it free for 7 days