John Baskerville’s Virgil (1757) and the Development of the Earliest Western-Made Wove Papers
| When | Tuesday, June 10, 2025 from 5:30 PM - 6:45 PM |
|---|---|
| Where | Hatcher Gallery Event Space Hatcher Library North, First Floor, Room 100 View floor plan |
| Event type | Lecture/Discussion |
Join us for a talk by Dr. Cathleen A. Baker (Conservation Librarian Emerita, University of Michigan) and to learn about the "Virgil wove." Light refreshments will be provided.
More than 10 years ago, Baker examined the library’s copy of the first edition of John Baskerville's Virgil (Birmingham, 1757) and became convinced that the paper she was looking at was not formed on a woven-wire screen, as has long been assumed, but rather on a piece of cloth secured over a single-face laid mould. She has since conducted numerous papermaking experiments using this technique and examined more than 200 copies of the book in private and public collections in the US, UK, Ireland, Germany, and Japan.
Photo courtesy of Cathleen A. Baker.
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Library contact
Martha O'Hara Conway · moconway@umich.edu
Library events are free and open to the public, and we are committed to making them accessible to attendees. If you anticipate needing accommodations to participate, please notify the listed contact with as much notice as possible.