Course Details in 2025/26 Session

Module Title	LH Turning the Pages: Manuscript and Print, Past and Present
School	Lan, Cult, Art Hist & Music
Department	Art Hist, Cur and Vis Studies
Module Code	10 28857
Module Lead	Dr Elizabeth L’Estrange
Level	Honours Level
Credits	20
Semester	Semester 2
Pre-requisites
Co-requisites
Restrictions	None
Contact Hours	Lecture-10 hours Seminar-20 hours Guided independent study-170 hours Total: 200 hours
Exclusions
Description	This module explores medieval and early modern books from the perspectives of art history, political and socio-cultural history, conservation and digital humanities. It introduces students to the ways in which manuscripts were made and what we can learn from them about the past as material objects. It will examine the social and political value that these often lavishly illustrated productions had for aristocratic patrons like the Burgundian dukes. It will consider the role of images in books in relation to the texts, as beyond simple ‘illustration’. Through consideration of inventories and original books themselves, it will also look at how manuscripts and printed books functioned in the everyday lives of ordinary people, as repositories of prayer, important dates, and mnemonic images. The module will also examine the fate of medieval and early modern books in the nineteenth century, and the policies/politics of libraries in the twentieth and twenty-first. The module will draw closely on the collections in the Cadbury Research Library and encourage students to engage with the numerous online archives available through institutions such as the British Library, John Rylands Library, and the Bibliothèque nationale. Students will therefore not only gain a familiarity with pre-modern sources, but will also be encouraged to engage critically with questions relating to changing notions of use, conservation, research and access.
Learning Outcomes	By the end of the module students should be able to: Demonstrate a detailed and comprehensive knowledge of the module’s taught content. Describe relationships between relevant artworks and the cultural and social environment of the period covered by the module. Identify and analyse relevant artworks produced during the period covered by the module. Comment on theoretical and other matters embodied in primary or other sources relating to the period covered by the module.
Assessment	28857-01 : Essay : Coursework (50%) 28857-02 : Exam : Exam (Centrally Timetabled) - Written Unseen (50%)
Assessment Methods & Exceptions	1 x 2500-word essay (50% of the final module mark) 1 x 1.5-hour unseen examination (50% of the final module mark) Alternative assessment if on campus activity is restricted: proctored exams will be converted to take home papers. Re-assessment: Re-submission of failed component
Other
Reading List