The Rare Book & Manuscript Library is proud to announce the inaugural workshop in its new Global Book History at Illinois series. This program is designed to provide high-level instruction for advanced students, faculty, and staff at the University and across the country in underexplored scholarly areas pertaining to the history of the book. The goal of the program is to champion new areas of bibliographical study and make that work as publicly accessible as possible.
For this inaugural program on The Greek Book: Paleography, Transmission, & Critical Editions 400 BCE – 1550 CE, the RBML is proud to partner with the Classics Library Collection, the Classics Department, the Program of Medieval Studies, and the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. Attendees will learn the basics of Greek paleography, historical manuscript and print production, and the preparation of critical editions for scholarly work. Due to the material examined, it would be preferable for participants to have some knowledge of the Greek language.
The Greek Book will cover three units taught by distinguished specialists in the field.
Professor Immaculada Pérez Martín, The History of Greek Texts and Books – From Stone to Paper
This session will discuss the materiality of early Greek book production from manuscript to print (approximately 400 BCE-1550 CE), including the preparation of papyrus, vellum, and paper; the work of scribes and the various common hands; and the evolution of early modern printing and Greek fonts.
Immaculada Pérez Martín is Professor of Classics at the University of Madrid and Vice President of the Spanish Byzantine Association.
Professor Emeritus Agamemnon Tselikas, Greek Paleography I – From Manuscript to Transcription
This part of the workshop will cover the analyses of physical texts, the identification of written hands and letters, and provide instruction on formal transcriptions of manuscript texts. Note: Strict attention will be paid to the functions of diacritics and aspirants in this section.
Agamemnon Tselikas is the former Director of the Centre for the History and Palaeography at the National Bank of Greece Cultural Foundation, Athens.
Professor Georgios Xenis, Greek Paleography II – From Transcription to Critical Editions
This session will cover all the key elements involved in establishing a scholarly critical edition of a text. Participants will learn how to organize and evaluate manuscript evidence, develop and assess conjectures, and edit the text, complete with a critical apparatus and an apparatus of parallel passages.
Georgios Xenis is Professor of Ancient Greek and Head of the Department of Classics and Philosophy at the University of Cyprus.
The workshop will conclude with a public roundtable featuring all three instructors. Refreshments will be served.
Participants will attend each section and come away with a familiarity of how to prepare a critical edition from examining the primary sources to creating the apparatus criticus.
The program will take place at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign campus from March 3-7, 2025. Tuition for this program is completely free and participants will need to arrange their own travel and lodging accommodations.
Participants who wish to apply for attendance in the program should submit a brief statement of interest with a note on their current facility with the Greek language and a copy of their CV to Dr. Cait Coker (cait@illinois.edu) and Dr. Elias Petrou (epetrou@illinois.edu) by January 15, 2025.
Those visiting the area or planning a longer stay for further research purposes may wish to know about additional events close to these dates. February 28-March 1, 2025 the Program in Medieval Studies will be hosting a Mediterranean Seminar Workshop on The Multilingual Mediterranean. The annual meeting of the Classical Association of the Middle West and South (CAMWS) will also be taking place on our campus March 19-22.