Woodblocks and Worlds: Egypt’s Medieval Printing Legacy and the Birth of European Print

In this lecture, Professor Richardson will consider the blockprinting tradition that flourished in Egypt from the 800s to ca. 1420 and its relationship to the emergence of blockprinting in southern Germany in the 1410s.

In addition, Professor Richardson will lead a special seminar for students the day after the lecture (Friday, October 24, 10:00 am) in the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library. This seminar will draw on materials from the Fisher collection and will develop themes from her talk. This seminar is open to all graduate students in BHPC’s participating units, including students not enrolled in the BHPC program, and to upper-year undergraduates in the BMS program. Advance registration for the seminar is required. To register contact the Program Coordinator. Space is limited, so please sign up only if you know you can attend.

Visit the Book History & Print Culture website for more information about these events.

Kristina Richardson is John L. Nau III Professor of History and Middle Eastern & South Asian Languages and Cultures at the University of Virginia. She specializes in histories of non-elite groups in the Middle East. She is the author of two monographs: Difference and Disability in the Medieval Islamic World (2012) and Roma in the Medieval Islamic World: Literacy, Culture, and Migration (2022). She is currently writing Black Basra: Race, Science, and Slavery in Early Islamic History on free and unfree South Asian and East African agricultural labourers in medieval Iraq.