23 March 2007, 4 PM, Auditorium of the Harrison Institute
President G. Thomas Tanselle called to order the sixtieth Annual Meeting of the Bibliographical Society of the University of Virginia at 4:00 p.m. in the auditorium of the Harrison Institute/Small Special Collections Library. He extended a special welcome to Connie Massey Dulaney, the daughter of two of the Society’s founders, who was in attendance. It is an honor, he said, to be once again a part of the wonderful array of events of the Virginia Festival of the Book.
The Society’s affairs have run smoothly in the past year. The major event was the publication of vol. 56 of Studies in Bibliography with its broad range of articles in the fields of textual history, publication history, the history of paper, book history, textual editing, music, and dust jackets. We owe enormous thanks, Mr. Tanselle observed, to Studies editor David Vander Meulen and his assistant Elizabeth Lynch for maintaining the journals excellence under especially challenging circumstances. The longtime printer of Studies has been sold and the new owner is going out of the Linotype business. This volume probably is one of the last in the entire country to be set by Linotype and printed from metal slugs. Production methods for future volumes will be different but, except for the absence of the bite of the type on the page, the look will be similar. He noted that Terry Belanger is arranging to purchase the Linotype slugs for this volume from Heritage to use in Rare Book School. Special thanks are due, Mr. Tanselle announced, to Hazel Hathcock, formerly of Heritage Press, who has always had the Society’s interests at heart and gone out of her way to be of assistance.
Mr. Tanselle thanked the Council members for their loyal service and thanked University Librarian Karin Wittenborg for the librarys hospitality in providing meeting space in Harrison/Small. He expressed special thanks to staff members Elizabeth Lynch and Anne Ribble for their dedication, efficiency and congeniality.
The Minutes of the 2006 Annual Meeting were accepted. Mr. Tanselle proposed that Terry Belanger, University Professor, founder and director of Rare Book School, and “an indispensable member of the Council,” be re-elected to another term on the Council of the Society. The motion was made, seconded, and accepted unanimously. The Society’s officers, Mr. Tanselle announced, had been re-elected at the Council meeting held earlier in the afternoon.
Mr. Tanselle noted that Christian Dupont, the afternoon’s speaker, is Director of the Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library at the University of Virginia. He has experience with Special Collections at Syracuse and Notre Dame universities and is chair-elect of the Rare Book and Manuscript Section of the Association of College and Research Libraries. Mr. Dupont delivered an engaging illustrated talk on “Collecting Dante in Tuscany: A Bibliographical Tour.” The meeting was adjourned at 5:45 and a reception followed in the Staff Lounge of Alderman Library.
Respectfully submitted,
Anne Ribble
Secretary-Treasurer