March 30, 1994

Dear Fellow Members,

It has been about a year since I last wrote to you reporting on the affairs of the Society, and I am writing now to inform you of the plans for the 1994 annual meeting. This year the meeting will take place on Friday, April 22, at 4:00 p.m. in the McGregor Room of Alderman Library. After a brief business meeting, the program will consist of short papers by four graduate students, and a reception will follow in the Book Arts Press rooms.

The program of graduate-student papers inaugurates what we hope will become an annual tradition. Because a number of Virginia graduate students are engaged in bibliographical and textual work, the Council of the Society thought it would be a good idea to make the annual meeting a forum in which several of them can report on their research. We are pleased by the interest that has been shown in this idea: thirteen proposals for papers were submitted. All are excellent, and the choice of four for the program was difficult; those four are as follows:

• Peter Byrnes, "Byron and the Pirate: The Case of Poems upon His Domestic Circumstances"
• David Gants, "Pictures for the Page: Techniques in Watermark Reproduction, Enhancement and Analysis"
• Carter Hailey, "George Steevens and the Revision(s) of Johnson's Dictionary"
• Kelly Tetterton, "Paperbacks as an Area of Bibliographical Study: The Case of Virginia Woolf's Orlando"

This part of the program will be presided over by another graduate student, Monique Dull. Clearly, we are assured a program that reflects the vitality of graduate work in bibliography and textual criticism.

Let me also call your attention to two other bibliographical events that will occur the same weekend. The Book Arts Press is sponsoring two public lectures by James Mosley, Librarian of the St. Bride Printing Library (London): the first, on Thursday, April 21, at 5:30 p.m., is entitled "French Academicians and Modern Typography: The Making of New Types in the 1690s"; the second, on Saturday, April 23, at 4:00 p.m., is "The Decorated Types of Louis Jean Pouchee: The Story of a Remarkable Collection of Early 19th-century Wood-Engraved Letters." Both lectures will be held in Room 116 Alderman Library.

In the business part of the Society's meeting on the 22nd, we shall first vote on two amendments to the Society's constitution:

• (1) The Constitution now reads, "Any graduate or undergraduate student of the University of Virginia may become a member of the Society upon similar application and the payment of the student membership fee then in effect." The Council recommends deleting the words "of the University of Virginia".
• (2) The Constitution now reads, "From their own number the Council shall choose annually within the first quarter of the year a President and a Vice-President...." The Council recommends deleting the words "within the first quarter of the year".

The second item of business will be the election of two members of the Council. The Nominating Committee has proposed that the following persons be elected for terms ending in the years indicated:

• Karin Wittenborg (1996)
• Ruthe Battestin (2001)

The 1996 place on the Council is presently occupied by Penelope Weiss, our Secretary-Treasurer (and Executive Secretary). Since the constitution states that the Secretary-Treasurer may serve on the Council ex officio, she has graciously suggested that she relinquish the 1996 spot, thus providing an opening for someone else, and that she serve on the Council ex officio. Once again she has shown her thoughtfulness and her concern for the best interests of the Society, as she has so often done over the years. With a space on the Council available, it seems highly appropriate that it be filled by the University Librarian, Karin Wittenborg, and the present Council members look forward to working with her. The other nominee, Ruthe Battestin, is well known to members of the Society for her tireless work as chair of the Publications Committee; her present term expires in 1994, and we are fortunate that she is willing to serve for another seven-year term.

Scholarly publishing is of course the Society's primary activity, and I want to thank Ruthe Battestin and David L. Vander Meulen for their role in helping the Society to maintain its tradition of a strong publication program. Ruthe deals with monographic proposals and David with submissions of articles for Studies in Bibliography and with the new series of Occasional Publications. During the past year the first three items in this series appeared: my biography of Fredson Bowers (with a checklist of his writings by Martin Battestin); Donald D. Eddy and J. D. Fleeman's handlist of books to which Samuel Johnson subscribed; and a facsimile and transcription of the surviving portion of Johnson's translation of Sallust, edited by David Vander Meulen and me. The last of these items (which is in fact a Samuel Johnson first edition!) is more fully described on the enclosed order blank for the Occasional Publications.

The new year got off to its usual good start with the latest volume of Studies in Bibliography. We are indebted to David Vander Meulen for the enormous effort that goes into maintaining the high quality of this publication. Whether other publications will appear this year is not yet clear, but the Council has no shortage of publication projects to discuss (as was evident at its October 22 meeting). In the meantime, I hope members will notice the extensive listing--in the latest Studies--of the publications still in print.

I also call your attention to the growing list of Contributing Members (as published in Studies) and take this opportunity of thanking them publicly for their support of the Society. We will be making an effort to increase the membership this year, and I hope you will encourage persons interested in bibliographical matters to join our ranks. On behalf of the Council, I send you all good wishes.