Sara+T_Bryant's+Lessons+in+Landscape

Bryant's Progressive Lessons in Landscape
 * Published by R. Ackermann, London, 1807-8
 * Acquired by Goucher College in 1900



Books With Life Books are much more than pages, binding, and ink. They are living things. From their conception by pen, or at the printing press, they grow, shrink, and change with the hands they pass through. While perusing the various books in Goucher’s Special Collections and Archives I stumbled across Bryant’s Progressive Lessons in Landscape, a book that had clearly lived a rich life. The exterior of the book was fairly ugly. The binding is a faded olive green cover and the text block is black with soot, but when opened, the contents are filled with detailed lithograph prints illustrating landscape and almost no writing or paratext. The lavish illustrations juxtapose with the obvious signs of aging and past damage. Foxing marks, dormant mold, and tide lines disfigure the pages. Looking at the damage and interior images, I concluded that Bryant’s Progressive Lessons in Landscape is a historic object that has been given life through its interactions with humans. The definitive markings of ownership on Bryant’s Progressive Lessons in Landscape, abstract function with its lack of paratext explaining the use of the book, and evidence of rebinding infer that the book is a living thing.

Publishing Provenance Paratext and Navigation Illustrations Damage Bibliography