The A.S.W. Rosenbach Lectures are an endowed lectureship in bibliography established in 1928 by rare-book and manuscript dealer A. S. W. Rosenbach at the University of Pennsylvania. “Rosenbach Lectures.” The Oxford Companion to the Book. Oxford University Press, 2010.
The Rosenbach Lectures are the longest continuing series of bibliographical lectureships in the United States. Individuals appointed as Rosenbach Fellows present three lectures over several weeks.The A.S.W. Rosenbach Lectures in Bibliography
The 1971 A.S.W. Rosenbach Fellowship in Bibliography marked the Theodore Dreiser Centenary.Pizer, Donald, and Robert Henry Elias. 1971. Theodore Dreiser Centenary: A.S.W. Rosenbach Fellowship Lectures in Bibliography. Philadelphia: Library Chronicle, University of Pennsylvania.
The 1974 A.S.W. Rosenbach Fellowship in Bibliography was devoted to the fifth annual meeting of the American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies."Darnton, Robert, Bernhard Fabian, R. M. Wiles, Paul J. Korshin, A.S.W. Rosenbach Fellowship in Bibliography Fund, and American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies. 1976. The Widening Circle: Essays on the Circulation of Literature in Eighteenth-Century Europe. [Philadelphia]: University of Pennsylvania Press.
The university's Van Pelt-Dietrich Library Center in collaboration with their Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts are the current location of the lectures.
Lecturers The first Rosenbach Fellow was Christopher Morley in 1931 Moffett A. "Mr. Morley writes the reminiscences of a reader: EX LIBRIS CARISSIMIS," by Christopher Morley. 134 pp. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania press. $2. New York Times. 1932 May 15, 1932/05/15/:1. whose lectures were published as Ex Libris Carissimis in 1932.Morley, Christopher, A.S.W. Rosenbach Fellowship in Bibliography Fund, and Ralph Ellison Collection (Library of Congress). 1932. Ex Libris Carissimis. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania press. Many of the lectures have been published by the University of Pennsylvania Press, including Morley's, which was also part of the anniversary collection of the Press.The Rosenbach Lectures, 1931-2006 University of Pennsylvania Libraries. Other lecturers have included: Randolph Greenfield Adams, "Three Americanists"Adams, Randolph Greenfield, and A.S.W. Rosenbach Fellowship in Bibliography Fund. 1939. Three Americanists : Henry Harrisse, Bibliographer; George Brinley, Book Collector; Thomas Jefferson, Librarian. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. Claude C. Albritton, "Toward the Discovery of Time: Landmarks in Historical Geology"Albritton, Claude C, Gerald M Friedman, History of the Earth Sciences Society (U.S.), and Southern Methodist University Institute for the Study of Earth and Man. 1989. Claude C. Albritton, Jr. (1913-1988) : Memorial Issue. Troy, N.Y: History of the Earth Sciences Society : Published in conjunction with Institute of the Study of Earth and Man, Southern Methodist University. Nicolas Barker, "Things Not Reveal 'd: The Mutual Impact of Idea and Form in the Transmission of Poetry, 1500-2002"Barker, Nicolas (2003). Form and Meaning in the History of the Book. Selected Essays by Nicolas Barker. London: British Library. Malachi Beit-Arié, "Unveiled Faces of Medieval Hebrew Books: The Evolution of Manuscript Production"Beit-Arié, Malachi. Unveiled Faces of Medieval Hebrew Books : The Evolution of Manuscript Production--Progression or Regression? 2003. Jerusalem: Hebrew University Magnes Press."This book, apart from chapter V, originated from the Rosenbach Lectures delivered at the University of Pennsylvania in the fall of 2000." Terry Belanger, "The History of American Rare Book Libraries from 1876 to present"Terry Belanger, professor and director of Rare Book School, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, rare book preservationist- “Terry Belanger Wins MacArthur ‘Genius’ Award.” 2005. American Libraries 36 (10): 26. John Bidwell, "Papermaking in the Delaware Valley at the end of the 18th & beginning of the 19th century."Bidwell, John. University of Virginia Bibliographical Society, Newgen North America (Firm) (active 2019), and Maple Press Company. 2019. Paper and Type: Bibliographical Essays. Charlottesville: Bibliographical Society of the University of Virginia. Ann M. Blair, "Hidden Hands: Amanuenses and Authorship in Early Modern Europe."Blair, Ann M. "Hidden Hands: Amanuenses and Authorship in Early Modern Europe."The University of Pennsylvania Libraries A.S.W. Rosenbach Lectures in Bibliography for 2014. Fredson Bowers, "On Editing Shakespeare & the Elizabethan Dramatists"1954 Lecturer. Bowers, Fredson. 1955. On Editing Shakespeare and the Elizabethan Dramatists. [Philadelphia]: Published for the Philip H. and A.S.W. Rosenbach Foundation by the University of Pennsylvania Library. Clarence S. Brigham, "Journals & Journeymen: Studies in Early American Newspapers"Brigham, Clarence S. 1950. Journals and Journeymen : A Contribution to the History of Early American Newspapers. Philadelphia: Univ. of Pennsylvania Press. Curt F. Bühler, "Incunabula" and "The 15th Century Book"Bühler, Curt F., and A.S.W. Rosenbach Fellowship in Bibliography Fund. 1949. Standards of Bibliographical Description. Philadelphia: Univ. of Pennsylvania Press.Bühler, Curt F. 1960. The Fifteenth-Century Book: The Scribes, the Printers, the Decorators. Philadelphia [Pennsylvania]: University of Pennsylvania Press. NOTE: Bühler gave two lectures in 1947 and 1957. Charles Burnett, "Arabic and Greek Science and Philosophy: Form and Style in the Transmission to the Latin West" Cass Canfield, "The Publishing Experience"1968. Lecture. Canfield, Cass, and A.S.W. Rosenbach Fellowship in Bibliography Fund. 1969. The Publishing Experience. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. Mary Carruthers, "Cognitive Geometries: Using Diagrams in the Middle Ages"Carruthers, Mary J. 2008. The Book of Memory: A Study of Memory in Medieval Culture. 2nd ed. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. William Charvat, "Literary Publishing in America 1790-1850"Charvat, William. 1959. Literary Publishing in America, 1790-1850. Philadelphia, Pa.: University of Pennsylvania Press. Roger Chartier, "Forms and Meanings: Texts, Performances, and Audiences from Codex to Computer"Chartier, Roger. 1995. Forms and Meanings : Texts, Performances, and Audiences from Codex to Computer. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. I. Bernard Cohen, "Words, Images & Ideas"Diagrams and Illustrations in Relation to Scientific Ideas, before and after the Invention of Printing, 1973. delivered by Cohen on November 27, 1973. Tape number: Spec967. RB1 Robert Darnton, "The Devil in the Holy Water"Darnton, Robert. 2011. The Devil in the Holy Water, or, the Art of Slander from Louis XIV to Napoleon. Philadelphia, Pa., Oxford: University of Pennsylvania Press ; Oxford Creative Marketing distributor.Darnton, Robert: "Trade in the taboo: the life of a clandestine book dealer in prerevolutionary France." in The Widening Circle : Essays on the Circulation of Literature in Eighteenth-Century Europe. Edited by Paul J. Korshin. Reprint 2016. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2016. Elizabeth Eisenstein, "Divine Art / Infernal Machine: Western Views of Printing Surveyed"Eisenstein, Elizabeth L. 2011. Divine Art, Infernal Machine: The Reception of Printing in the West from First Impressions to the Sense of an Ending. Philadelphia: Oxford : University of Pennsylvania Press. Robert H. Elias, "Dreiser: Bibliography and the Biographer"Pizer, Donald, and Robert Henry Elias. 1971. Theodore Dreiser Centenary: A.S.W. Rosenbach Fellowship Lectures in Bibliography. Philadelphia: Library Chronicle, University of Pennsylvania. Bernhard Fabian, "Literacy & the Reading Public in the 18th century""English books and their eighteenth-century German readers" in The Widening Circle: Essays on the Circulation of Literature in Eighteenth-Century Europe. Edited by Paul J. Korshin. Reprint 2016. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2016. John Farquhar Fulton, "Great Medical Bibliographies: A study in Humanism"Fulton, John F., and A.S.W. Rosenbach Fellowship in Bibliography Fund. 1951. The Great Medical Bibliographers: A Study in Humanism. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. Carlo Ginzberg, "Fossils, Apes, Humans: A Chapter in the History of Science, Revisited"Ginzburg, Carlo. 1989. Clues, Myths, and the Historical Method. Baltimore, Md: Johns Hopkins University Press. Anthony Grafton, "Books and the Magus: Johannes Trithemius 1462-1516"Blair, Ann, and Anja-Silvia Goeing. 2016. For the Sake of Learning (2 Vols) : Essays in Honor of Anthony Grafton. Leiden: BRILL. James N. Green, "Book Publishing in Early America" Green, James N. Chapter 6. "The book trade in the middle colonies, 1680-1720 " In Amory, Hugh, and David D Hall. 2010. The Colonial Book in the Atlantic World, Chapel Hill, N.C: Published in association with the American Antiquarian Society by the University of North Carolina Press. David D. Hall, "Pen and Press: Practices of Writing and Publishing in Colonial America"Hall, David D. (2008). Ways of writing: the practice and politics of text-making in seventeenth-century New England. University of Pennsylvania Press. Louis Hanke, "Bartolomi de Las Casas"Hanke, Lewis. 1952. Bartolomé de Las Casas: Bookman, Scholar & Propagandist. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. Anthony Hobson, "The Bibliomania: English Book Collecting in the Early Nineteenth Century"Hobson, Anthony, and Dennis E Rhodes. 1994. Bookbindings & Other Bibliophily: Essays in Honour of Anthony Hobson. Verona: Valdonega.De, Hamel, N Pickwoad, M Egremont, N Poole-Wilson, and M.M Foot. 2011. “A Garland for Mr Hobson: Anthony Hobson at 90.” The Book Collector V60 N3 (2011 09 01): 371-375. Dard Hunter, "Oriental Papermaking, Early American Papermaking"Hunter, Dard, and A.S.W. Rosenbach Fellowship in Bibliography Fund. 1952. Papermaking in Pioneer America. Philadelphia: Univ. of Pa. Press. Joan Judge,"Chinese Common Readers: Toward an Understanding of Vernacular Literacy." Matthew G. Kirschenbaum, "Bitstreams: The Future of Digital Literary Heritage"2016 Lectures. Kirschenbaum, Matthew G. 2021. Bitstreams: The Future of Digital Literary Heritage. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. Ludolf Kuchenbuch and Ivan Illich, "The History of Text: Three Dialogues" John Lievsay, "The Englishman 's Italian Books"Lievsay, John Leon, and A.S.W. Rosenbach Fellowship in Bibliography Fund. The Englishman’s Italian Books, 1550-1700. Philadelphia: Univ. of Pennsylvania Press, 1969. Alberto Manguel, "The Traveller, the Tower and the Worm"A.S.W. Rosenbach Lectures in Bibliography for 2011: Monday, March 21, 2011: "The Traveller, the Tower and the Worm" University of Pennsylvania Scholars Commons. Peter D. McDonald, "The Secret Life of Books"Peter D. McDonald, The Secret Life of Books, Lecture 2: The Lure of Literature. 2022 A.S.W. Rosenbach Lectures in Bibliography, University of Pennsylvania Libraries. Peter D. McDonald, University of Oxford- James Gilmer McManaway, "Early English Literature"McManaway, James Gilmer. 1949. [Studies 1 and Studies 2, the Works of James G. Mcmanaway]. Elizabeth McHenry, "Toward a History of Black Print""Toward a History of Black Print" A.S.W. Rosenbach Lecture in Bibliography, 2024.University of Pennsylvania. A. Hyatt Mayor, "Prints & People"Mayor, A. Hyatt, and Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York, N.Y.). 1971. Prints & People: A Social History of Printed Pictures. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art; distributed by New York Graphic Society.