SOLD OUT: Interacting with 19th-Century Gift Books

This presentation is sold out. Giftbooks, or in German, Taschenbücher, were a distinctive feature of the 19th-century cultural landscape. With some features reminiscent of today's smart phone, it was a high-end book that could literally fit in your pocket, a literary miscellany that could be read on the move. It was also a publication intended for reader interaction; often it included pages for notes, pencils, pockets, puzzles, dance instructions, and even mirrors. This presentation will feature items from UChicago's expansive collection of approximately 1,650 German almanacs and Taschenbücher. These arrived in Chicago through a scholarly collection acquired in 1928, which included 19th-century purchases from a popular Leipzig lending library. Leipzig is one of the most important locations, along with Berlin and Vienna, for the new wave of Taschenbuch publications.