Volcanoes in Print

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On Thursday 6th December we will be hosting a series of events on the theme ‘Volcanoes in Print’.

Special Collections Display, 2-3pm Martyrs Kirk – displaying some of the most remarkable volcanic items in the university collections, including William Hamilton’s lavishly illustrated Campi Phlegraei (1776), inspired by his direct observation of the eruptions of Vesuvius in the 1760s. This is a drop-in display.

Letterpress Printing Workshop, 3-5pm, Swallowgate S4. This workshop was inspired by the fact that a popular Monotype font, ‘Bembo’, is based on the font cut in the late fifteenth-century for the humanist Pietro Bembo’s De Aetna, describing his ascent of Mount Etna in 1493. In collaboration with the Pathfoot Press at the University of Stirling I have attempted to produce a ‘facsimile’ of several pages of Bembo’s De Aetna, but using a modern English translation. The workshop will include a presentation discussing the challenges of attempting to ‘print like an early modern’, before offering participants the opportunity to try their hand at setting lead type and printing by hand. Spaces are limited, so please email [email protected] as soon as possible if you would like to attend the workshop.

Centre for Landscape Studies Public Lecture, 6pm onwards, S11 Swallowgate. Professor Gareth Williams of the University of Columbia will be speaking on ‘Making an Impression: Pietro Bembo, Mount Etna, and the Venetian Printing Press’. Gareth Williams is the School of Classics Columbia Visitor for this year and author of Pietro Bembo on Etna: The Ascent of a Venetian Humanist, which sets Bembo’s De Aetna in the context of both fifteenth-century humanism and its deep classical influences. This is a public lecture; please come along and feel free to invite friends and colleagues from across and indeed beyond the university!

These events are open to anyone who would like to attend (although booking is required for the letterpress printing workshop). Please see the links below for posters and further details on each event.

We look forward to seeing you there!


Special Collections Display Poster 6th December 2018

Printing-Workshop-Poster-6th-December-2018

Public Lecture Poster 6th December