history of the library

Professor Richard Gameson delivers a fascinating talk on the history of libraries at the Cubitt Gallery event I spoke at last weekend. He's a is a riveting speaker and deeply knowledgeable about all things book. It was a pleasure to see and hear him again. His view of the evolution of reading has proved hugely inspiring to if:book in exploring where books go next.

Richard Gameson is Professor of the History of the Book at Durham University. He specialises in the history of the book from Antiquity to the Renaissance, and in medieval art. He has published some seventy studies on medieval manuscripts, book collections, art and cultural history, including The Old Library (1988), The Early Medieval Bible (1994), The Role of Art in the late Anglo-Saxon Church (1995), The study of the Bayeux Tapestry (1997) The Manuscripts of Early Norman England (1999), Augustine of Canterbury and the Conversion of England (1999), The Scribe Speaks: colophons in early English Manuscripts (2002), and Codex Aureus: an eighth-century gospel book (2001-2). He has recently completed a catalogue and study of the earliest books of Canterbury Cathedral, and is editing The Cambridge History of the Book in Britain, vol I. He would welcome enquiries from anyone wishing to pursue advanced work in the fields of manuscripts and books, libraries and collections, illumination and decoration.