Course Information

Instructor: Daniela Bleichmar

Location: Los Angeles / UCLA

Mode: In-person

Dates: August 11–15, 2025

Tuition: $1200.00

Course Description

This course examines the role of images in the production and circulation of scientific knowledge in early modern European books, from the rise of printing to about 1800. It is a highly empirical seminar, based above all on our looking together and discussing a large number of books from the period. We will compare examples of books across graphic-rich genres such as natural history, anatomy, cartography, technology, and astronomy. Through specific examples, we will discuss topics including the role of images in the production and circulation of knowledge; relationships between authors, artists, and printers; the various types of work that images performed, including evidentiary, emblematic, allegorical, illustrative, and ornamental; images in printed versus manuscript books; the relationships between images, texts, and objects; the artistic and artisanal practices, materials, and techniques used to create images; the spaces and people involved in making and interpreting images; and trust and mistrust of images in books. Normally, the course is organized to maximize our time looking at original materials held in rare books collections in Los Angeles (such as the Huntington Library, the Getty Research Institute, USC Special Collections, UCLA Special Collections, etc.).