Friday 11th November 2016, 1-2pm, 50 George Square Project Room
Dr William Zachs, Honorary Fellow, School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures, University of Edinburgh
'The Bibliomaniac’s Progress - Reflections on Scholarly Collecting'.
'Bill Zachs is an honorary fellow in the School of Literature, Languages and Cultures. Not long after arriving in Edinburgh in 1983 he was bitten by the collecting bug. What began as a shelf of books from a reading list for an English Literature Department MSc. course called ‘Aspects of the Enlightenment' grew to become a research centre used by scholars of the long-18th century and of material culture more generally. A steady stream of visitors find in his varied collections of books and other objects countless stories and surprises. In this talk Bill charts his progress from tentative student collector to bibliomaniac, then to museum curator and exhibition organiser. His conclusion is that thoughtful collecting, as well as facilitating research and being fun, is itself a scholarly endeavour. It is a discipline in every sense of the word.'