"Hands-On Reading: What Manicules Tell Us About the Social Network of Early Printed Books," a lecture presented by Dr. Rebecca Olson, Associate Professor, Department of English 

Wednesday, February 10, 4 p.m. at the Special Collections and Archives Research Center, fifth floor of the Valley Library

The lecture is free, open to the public and will be followed by refreshments. 

Dr. Rebecca Olson will talk about how at the dawn of print in England, the manicule — a hand-drawn pointed index finger — was one of the most common forms of reader marginalia. While this mark would seem to adapt the highly social gesture of pointing for personal — and solitary — book use, it also draws our attention to the way that early modern readers regarded the book itself as a collective social space. 

This lecture is part of Collections at the Center, a new series from the Special Collections and Archives Research Center inviting the OSU campus to engage with materials from our vast collections through expert lectures, participant discussion, and close observation of historic objects.

Posted - February 03, 2016