Archived Programs

Past programs of The Aldus Society have included a wide variety of topics, with selected archived on VHS or DVD for future use by Aldus members.

2023 Programs

February 9: Michael Nye, editor of Story, discussed the revival of the print literary magazine, the challenges of contemporary publishing, and why this literary institution still matters to readers and writers.

March 2: Sarah Brown owner of Questionable Press, a letterpress printer based in Lancaster, Ohio, discussed the creation of cards, posters, masks, and paper sculptures on a 1958 Heidelberg letterpress.

See also our upcoming programs.

2022 Programs

Aug. 11: Jeff Smith, author of the landmark series Bone discussed his work,
the rise of graphic novels, and Crossroads Columbus (CXC).

Sept 8: Investigative journalist and best-selling author Michael Blanding discussed his book, In Shakespeare’s Shadow, winner of the International Book Award.

Oct. 13: Michael Hancher, a specialist in Victorian writers and artists, discussed revising his 1984 book, The Tenniel Illustrations to the “Alice” Books.

Nov. 10: Professor Sam Meier, an expert on the Ancient Near East, discussed
his book, Codes and Messages in Ancient Texts.

History of Text Series

  • The History of Text & Image – The Classical Age: Latin Epigraphy (Charles Babcock)
  • The History of Text & Image – Medieval Latin Manuscripts (Frank Coulson)
  • The History of Text & Image – Medieval Slavic Manuscripts (Predrag Matejic)
  • The History of Text & Image – The St. Gall School and Scriptorium in the Early Middle Ages (Anna Grotans)
  • The History of Text & Image – Anglo-Saxon Manuscript Tradition (Drew Jones)
  • The History of Text & Image – Foxe’s Book of Martyrs: The History of a Book and the History of the Book (John King)
  • The History of Text & Image – Medieval Hebrew Manuscripts and Their History (Daniel Frank)
  • The History of Text & Image – The Arabic Manuscript Tradition (Michael Zwettler)
  • Early Japanese Language Books (Jim Unger)
  • History of the Chinese Book: Libraries and Book-Collecting in Late Ming and Qing China (Christopher A. Reed)
  • Inside the Digital Scriptorium (H. Lewis Ulman)
  • The History of Text & Image – Anglo-Saxon Manuscript Tradition (Drew Jones)
  • The History of Text & Image – Foxe’s Book of Martyrs: The History of a Book and the History of the Book (John King)
  • The History of Text & Image – Medieval Hebrew Manuscripts and Their History (Daniel Frank)
  • The History of Text & Image – The Arabic Manuscript Tradition (Michael Zwettler)
  • Early Japanese Language Books (Jim Unger)
  • History of the Chinese Book: Libraries and Book-Collecting in Late Ming and Qing China (Christopher A. Reed)
  • Inside the Digital Scriptorium (H. Lewis Ulman)

Additional Past Programs

We also provide this select list of programs from the past 10 years to illustrate the scope of our programming. A few link to transcripts from the program:

  • Collecting Victorian Literature (Robert Jackson)
  • The Logan Elm Press (Bob Tauber)
  • Collecting Mark Twain (Robert Slotta)
  • Book Design & Printing (Graham Moss)
  • Tales of the Book Trade (Bruce McKittrick)
  • Finding the Right Conservation Solution for Important Library Collections (Wes Boomgaarden)
  • The Art of Calligraphy: A History of Script, Part I (Ann Alaia Woods)
  • Prophetic Whims: Observations on the Future of Book Collecting (Jack Matthews)
  • Between Papyrus and Paper: Vellum Manuscript Treasures of the Pierpont Morgan Library (William Voelkle)
  • The First Books Published in Columbus (Charles Cole)
  • The Art of Dard Hunter: American Craftsman, Artist, Type Designer, Papermaker & Printer (Dard Hunter III)
  • Selecting Books for Book Reviews (Bill Eichenberger)
  • Searching for Captain Cook: My Serendipitous Journey (Ron Ravneberg)
  • The Art of Calligraphy: A History of Script, Part II (Ann Alaia Woods)
  • More Than Recipes: A Literary Look at Cookbooks (Peter Franklin)
  • Collecting James Thurber (Jay Hoster)
  • An American Avant Garde: Second Wave (Marvin Sackner)
  • Building a Special Collection (Owen Kubik)
  • Calligraphy Workshop (Ann Alaia Woods)
  • Gothic Art for the Industrial Age: The Middle Ages Revisited in the Art of the Pre-Raphaelites (Stephen N. Fliegal)
  • The Publishing World and the Future of Books (Susanne Jaffe)
  • Conservation of Books and Paper (Harry Campbell)
  • The Repair and Conservation of Sacred Documents (Rabbi William Goldberg)
  • Art of the Picture Book (Sylvia and Ken Marantz)
  • Collecting Landmark Books of Western Civilization (Stuart Rose)
  • Overlooked Authors Deserving Recognition, born in Columbus, Ohio, in the Nineteenth Century (Charles Cole)
  • Collecting Books on Switzerland (Donald Tritt)
  • Comics 100: The History of American Comic Strips (Lucy Caswell)
  • First American Editions of Nineteenth Century British Authors (Bill Rich)
  • Aldus Membership “Show and Tell”
  •  Other People’s Books: Association Copies and Literary Detective Work (Paul Ruxin)
  • A Splendor of Letters: The Permanence of Books in an Impermanent World (Nicholas Basbanes) as part of the Celebration of the Book
  • Tanakh and Testament: A Reprobate Tinkers with Holy Writ (Barry Moser) as part of the Celebration of the Book
  • Opening reception speech of Guild of Book Workers’ traveling exhibit, “In Flight.” (Donald Glaister)
  • The Hawkesworth Copy: A Bibliographic Investigation of James Cook, John Hawkesworth and the Strahan Quarto Editions of 1773 (Ron Ravneberg)  (Read his Hawkesworth essay)
  • History of Kenny’s Bookshop (Desmond Kenny)
  • The Anti-Slavery Collection of Oberlin College Library: A Monument to “The Town the Started the Civil War.” (Ed Vermue)
  • “The Sting of the Wasp” exhibit presentation, (Richard Samuel West) co-sponsored event at the OSU Cartoon Research Library
  • Local booksellers panel
  • The Future of Books (Paul Watkins)
  • Collecting Illuminated Manuscripts (John Lawrence)
  • Art Nouveau Book Illustration in England and France (Paul Christenson)
  • The Life and Collections of J. K. Lilly (Joel Silver)
  • This Old Book (Harry Campbell)
  • The Revival of the Logan Elm Press (Bob Tauber)
  • Researching “The Book Nobody Read,” Copernicus’ De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium. (Owen Gingerich)
  • Circus Collectibles (Fred Pfening)
  • Benjamin Franklin (Kay Kramer)
  • Sentenced to Life: the Books of Christopher Morley (Jack Matthews)
  • The Antiquarian Book Trade (John Crichton)
  • The Literary Legacy of African-American Authors in Ohio before 1860 (Charles Cole)
  • The Good-bye Door: Researching Anna Marie Hahn (Diana Britt Franklin)
  • The Enemies (and Friends) of Books (Panel Presentation)
  • In Search of Rockwell Kent (Robert Jackson)
  • History of Paper Marbling (Ann Woods)
  • The Puritan Library (Geoff Smith)
  • Graphic Novels (Jared Gardner)
  • Rhetoric, Elocution, and Oratory (Jerry Tarver)
  • Children’s Illustrated Books (David Godine)
  • The Folger Shakespeare Library (Steven Galbraith)
  • Trade Catalogs (Ivan Gilbert, Geoff Smith)
  • Spy Time: Intelligence Holdings at Georgetown University (Nicholas B. Scheetz)
  • Collecting Early Modern Medical Books (Jack Stalling)
  • Confessions of a Puzzle Solving Addict (Owen Gingerich)
  • “Light” and other editorial cartoons (Richard Samuel West)
  • The Book is Dead… It Just Doesn’t Know It (Scott Brown)
  • Map Collections at the Newberry Library (Robert Karrow)
  • The Columbus Metropolitan Library: Not Your Father’s Library! (Patrick Losinski)
  • African American Children’s Literature: Surveying the Hopescape (Rudine Sims Bishop)
  • Collecting Captain Cook on a Budget (David Lilburne)
  • Miniature Books (Gabrielle Fox)
  • Mark Twain Matters (Bob Slotta)
  • The Future of Books in a Digital Age (Michael Suarez)
  • Collecting on the War of 1812 (Lou Schultz)
  • Wilbur H. Siebert Collection (Liz Plummer, Jason Crabill, Jillian Carney)
  • Biblio-Detection (Ken Sanders)
  • All Things Dewey (Larry Olszewski)
  • A Message to Garcia: The Pamphlet that Created an American Myth (Don Rice)
  • Visiting Writer’s Houses (Anne Trubek)
  • Somewhere I Have Never Travelled: The Discovery of e.e. cummings, Modernist Painter (Steven Katz)
  • Biblio-forensics relating to Shakespeare’s First Folio (Steven Galbraith)
  • Following Jane Austen’s Literary Footsteps (Carrie Bebris)
  • Modernism Came Home on Book Covers (Richard Minsky)
  • Confessions of an Unrepentant Bibliophile (Kevin Graffagnino)
  • Destroying Medieval Manuscripts for Pleasure and Profit (Fred Porcheddu)
  • The Gunslinger-Writer (John Locke)
  • Woodcuts and Jackalopes (Rachel Waymel)
  • Rare and Collectible Children’s Book (Justin Schiller)
  • Freedom of the Press (Wesley Baker)
  • Copyright (Sandra Enimil)
  • The Past and Future of Book Collecting (Wes Cowan)
  • Carnegie Libraries of Ohio (Mary Ellen Armentrout)
  • From Athanasius Kircher To Ashton Kutcher: 350 Years of Strange, Unusual, Eccentric, and Just Plain Weird Books. Or, Heteromorphic Literature 101. (Stephen Gertz)
  • The Making of a Medieval Manuscript Facsimile: Bibliothèque nationale de France MS fr. 22971 (John Friedman)
  • The Bibliophilic Anatomy of a Literary Society (Mike Whelan)
  • Deconstructing and Reconstructing a Medieval Bible (Eric Johnson)
  • The Rise and Fall of Early American Magazine Culture (Jared Gardner)
  • 38 Years and Counting: a Life of Bookselling, Publishing, and Bibliomania (Bob Fleck)
  • Genevieve Jones: The Nests and Eggs of the Birds of Ohio (Joy Kiser)
  • Preserving Sermones Discipuli de Tempore Et de Sanctis (Harry Campbell)
  • Ohio Archaeology Books (Jarrod Burks)
  • Print Pop Culture (Nancy Down)
  • justAjar Design + Press (Bobby and Sara Rosenstock)
  • Tarot’s Transition: Egypt to Connecticut (Tony Clark)
  • Archimedes Palimpsest Project (William Noel)
  • Digital Imaging of Rare Materials (Amy McCrory)
  • Stories from the Spencer (Beth Whittaker)
  • Kenyon Review (David Lynn)
  • Alice at 150: Artistic Visions as Visual Translation (Arnold Hirshon)
  • Seeing the Great War (Lucy Caswell)
  • Visual Interpretation of Classics (Matt Kish)
  • Freed from a Parchment Jail: a Bibliographic Story of the Birth of the Avant-Garde (Olchar Lindsann)
  • The Alchemy of Special Collections: Undergraduate Fellowships and Courses based on Unique Materials at Trinity College (Richard Ring)