This lecture looks at the continuing life and uses of some very old books in and outside of the Making the Book, Past and Present exhibition. Starting from one of the biggest in both scale and edition size, the 1493 Nuremberg Chronicle, which was printed from hundreds of woodcut blocks, to others containing mystical puzzles or movable parts, no two copies of a pre-modern book were ever the same. This look at annotating, collecting, and censoring them, as well as keeping things in them will show just how modern they remain.

Dr. Karr Schmidt’s talk is part of exhibition programming for Making the Book, Past and Present. Curated by Dr. Eric Ensley and Emily Martin, the exhibit is on display in the Main Library Gallery at the University of Iowa Libraries through June 28, 2024.

All are welcome to attend!
– Join us in person in Shambaugh Auditorium in the Main Library. No registration is required; seating is first come, first served.
– There is also a virtual option via Zoom; if attending virtually, advance registration is required to receive the Zoom webinar link. Register here.

About the speaker:
Suzanne Karr Schmidt (PhD Yale) is the Curator of Rare Books and Manuscripts at Chicago’s Newberry Library. A historian of early modern art, books, prints, and science, her monograph, Interactive and Sculptural Printmaking in the Renaissance, appeared in 2018. Currently serving as the director of the Movable Book Society, she publishes widely on hybridity and materiality in print, particularly on the “Renaissance Pop-Up Book.” Expanding her movable books range up to the present, she most recently curated the playful Newberry exhibition, Pop-Up Books Through the Ages (March 21-July 15, 2023), which examined this overlooked art form from the medieval to the modern era. Her previous prizewinning shows include her co-curated 2020 Newberry exhibition Renaissance Invention: Stradanus’s Nova Reperta, and her 2011 Art Institute of Chicago exhibition Altered and Adorned: Using Renaissance Prints in Daily Life.

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Individuals with disabilities are encouraged to attend all University of Iowa–sponsored events. If you are a person with a disability who requires a reasonable accommodation in order to participate in this program, please contact Sara Pinkham in advance at 319-467-1805 or sara-pinkham@uiowa.edu.