In "Book Traces", Andrew Stauffer adopts guided serendipity as a tactic in pursuit of two goals: first, to read nineteenth-century poetry through the clues and objects earlier readers left in their books, and second, to defend the value of keeping the physical volumes on the shelves of academic libraries. Finding in such books of poetry the inscriptions, annotations, and insertions made by their original owners, and using them as exemplary case studies, Stauffer shows how the physical, historical book enables a modern reader to encounter poetry through the eyes of someone for whom it was personal. Ultimately, readers’ interventions demonstrate a wide range of variability across apparent “copies” of the same book: these historical traces make visible the meaningful variability and continued vitality of library print collections.
The event is free and open to the public, and it will also be available online. RSVP to receive Zoom details the day of the event.

Be sure to check out our own Book Treasure Hunt the following day. What "book traces" of the past might be discovered at NAU? Help us find out by joining us for a treasure hunt in the stacks of Cline Library.