ABAA-member Vic Zoschak, owner of Tavistock Books, sponsors an educational scholarship to support antiquarian booksellers in the early stages of their career. The scholarship provides full tuition for a bookseller to attend Joel Silver‘s course, Reference Sources for Researching Rare Books (L-25), at the Rare Book School (RBS).
The 2018 recipient of the Tavistock Books Educational Scholarship is bookseller Ellen Saito, whose talked about her experience at the Rare Book School with Margueritte Peterson of Tavistock Books.
The 2018 Tavistock Books Educational Scholarship Award Winner Ellen Saito and Bibliography instructor Joel Silver this month at RBS.
Margueritte Peterson: Welcome, Ellen! As the latest recipient of the Tavistock Books Educational Scholarship to Joel Silver’s course at RBS, what were you most excited about, in terms of RBS? The class? Meeting more like-minded people?
Ellen Saito: Thrilled to secure the Tavistock scholarship, I was elated to attend this course as my first choice by far. For months, I was in a tizzy of anticipation of this course, ESSENTIAL to everyone in the rare book world. It was most exhilarating to meet Joel Silver, prominent librarian, kind and generous teacher and master storyteller, who shared his discerning knowledge of 350+ top rare book research sources, including their free websites and affordable reprints. Develop your inner librarian; you, too, can be privy to any topic related to rare books. Your lost invitation to a secret society for smart, down-to-earth and humorous adults has been found. You are most welcome to join this warm, embracing community. Applicants are sought. Scholarships and affordable housings abound. It is a bargain. Invest in yourself!
MP: What is your general impression of RBS? Did things run smoothly, were people enjoying their classes and themselves? Etc.
ES: RBS provides you with the ultimate learning environment. The faculty is a who’s who of rare book experts, who unselfishly divulge their secrets, meant to be shared further with others. Students are free to select their favorite course(s) only, but once you experience this wonderful place, you will want to return soon and often. There is no competition, no cramming, no grades. This is learning at its best. Hint: get to know your peers; they will be delightful and VERY helpful to you. The RBS staff made hard work look easy; everything ran without a hitch. People enjoyed their chosen course, each a shortcut to expertise garnered over a lifetime. Casual, well-attended get-togethers formed naturally during breaks; people were very happy to be there. It felt like a week-long vacation from reality.
MP: How did you like the course? As you, but possibly not everyone, knows – Vic offers a scholarship to this amazing Bibliography class every year! We love to see booksellers taking the time and effort to cite their sources properly – one mark of great bookseller, in our opinion! How did you find it?
ES: I learned of the RBS at the Colorado Antiquarian Book Seminar (CABS) and enjoyed the course immensely! You might expect Joel Silver, professor of librarianship, to have a vast and deep database of detailed and accurate knowledge of all things book-related in his laptop. Wrong. It is all committed to MEMORY. Well worth the time, effort and tuition, this course is an excellent introduction to the RBS: just take notes as you like, while Joel Silver instructs you and keeps you laughing with astonishing real-life stories. Explore the clear RBS website. The RBS staff is truly helpful, so call in or email any questions. The online application requires a personal statement and CV, then you write an essay for Joel Silver – that’s it. You are considered for all RBS scholarships. Outside scholarships are available.
MP: Did you hear about any courses that were of interest to you you’d like to pursue in the coming years?
ES: I am most interested in twelve courses: Introduction to Bookbinding, Introduction to Descriptive Bibliography, Illustration to 1900, Printing to 1800, Introduction to Typography, Provenance, Forgery (detection), Collection Development, Indigenous Sovereignty, Book History 200-2000, Introduction to Illuminated Manuscripts and English Handwriting 1500-1750. I am currently doing the reading for Printed Books to 1800.
You can read the complete interview with Ellen Saito here, and learn more about the Tavistock Books Educational Scholarship here…