Department of English

• Monday, October 20, 2025 - 5:15pm to 7:15pm

Class of 1978 Pavilion, sixth floor of Van Pelt-Dietrich Library

We are excited to welcome Caroline Duroselle-Melish (The Folger Shakespeare Library) for a talk titled “The Many Lives of Renaissance Woodblocks: The Case of Ulisse Aldrovandi's Collection."

Dr. Duroselle-Melish writes:

“The Bolognese naturalist Ulisse Aldrovandi (1522–1605) is well known for his museum, which housed natural specimens, artifacts, and drawings, and for his extensive library. Both collections served as the foundation for his natural history encyclopedia, an ambitious publishing project of twelve volumes with thousands of heavily illustrated pages. In this talk, I will discuss a lesser-known part of his ‘studio’: his collection of 2000 extant woodblocks created for his encyclopedia. What does the physical examination of these print matrices tell us about Aldrovandi’s visual project and their role in the dissemination of scientific knowledge beyond their maker’s death? More broadly, what can we learn from these matrices about Renaissance woodblock making?”

Caroline Duroselle-Melish is the Andrew W. Mellon Curator of Early Modern Books and Prints, and Associate Librarian for Collection Care and Development, at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C. Her work and research lie at the intersection of the print and book worlds in early modern Europe. Her articles concern the world of print, books, and late Renaissance Italian science, with a focus on Aldrovandi. Earlier this year, she was a Craig Hugh Smyth fellow at the Villa I Tatti, where she pursued her research on Aldrovandi’s woodblocks, which she is hoping to turn into a book.