Mark Samuels Lasner (born 1952) is a recognized authority on the literature and art of the late

Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardia ...

. He is also a collector,

bibliographer Bibliography (from and ), as a discipline, is traditionally the academic study of books as physical, cultural objects; in this sense, it is also known as bibliology (from ). English author and bibliographer John Carter describes ''bibliography ...

and

typographer Typography is the art and technique of arranging type to make written language legible, readable and appealing when displayed. The arrangement of type involves selecting typefaces, point sizes, line lengths, line-spacing ( leading), an ...

. Samuels Lasner is senior research fellow at the University of Delaware Library.Biography on the Center for Material Culture Studies

University of Delaware The University of Delaware (colloquially UD or Delaware) is a public land-grant research university located in Newark, Delaware. UD is the largest university in Delaware. It offers three associate's programs, 148 bachelor's programs, 121 mas ...

website

Mark Samuels Lasner Collection

A graduate of

Connecticut College Connecticut College (Conn College or Conn) is a private liberal arts college in New London, Connecticut. It is a residential, four-year undergraduate institution with nearly all of its approximately 1,815 students living on campus. The college w ...

, Samuels Lasner has served as an honorary

curator A curator (from la, cura, meaning "to take care") is a manager or overseer. When working with cultural organizations, a curator is typically a "collections curator" or an "exhibitions curator", and has multifaceted tasks dependent on the parti ...

at several institutions and is active in numerous

bibliophile Bibliophilia or bibliophilism is the love of books. A bibliophile or bookworm is an individual who loves and frequently reads and/or collects books. Profile The classic bibliophile is one who loves to read, admire and collect books, often ama ...

and scholarly organizations. His life's work has, however, been the amassing of what Samuels Lasner calls "A Period Library", one of the country's foremost private collections of books, manuscripts, letters, and artworks by British cultural figures who flourished between 1850 and 1900.News in the Department of English
at the

George Washington University , mottoeng = "God is Our Trust" , established = , type = Private federally chartered research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.8 billion (2022) , preside ...

His collection comprises 2,500 first and other editions, including many signed and association copies, manuscripts, letters, works on paper, and

ephemera Ephemera are transitory creations which are not meant to be retained or preserved. Its etymological origins extends to Ancient Greece, with the common definition of the word being: "the minor transient documents of everyday life". Ambiguous in ...

. The materials in his collection, particularly those relating to

Aubrey Beardsley Aubrey Vincent Beardsley (21 August 187216 March 1898) was an English illustrator and author. His black ink drawings were influenced by Woodblock printing in Japan, Japanese woodcuts, and depicted the grotesque, the decadent, and the erotic. He ...

Max Beerbohm Sir Henry Maximilian Beerbohm (24 August 1872 – 20 May 1956) was an English essayist, parodist and caricaturist under the signature Max. He first became known in the 1890s as a dandy and a humorist. He was the drama critic for the '' Saturday ...

Oscar Wilde Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. He is ...

, and other writers and artists of the 1890s, have provided the basis for numerous publications and exhibitions. Samuels Lasner is senior research fellow at the Library of the

, which now houses the larger portion of his collection.

Publications

Samuels Lasner is the author of ''The Bookplates of Aubrey Beardsley'' (Rivendale Press, 2008), ''A Bibliography of

Enoch Soames "Enoch Soames" is the title of a short story by the British writer Max Beerbohm. Enoch Soames is also the name of the main character. The piece was originally published in the May 1916 edition of ''The Century Magazine'', and was later included ...

'' (Rivendale Press, 1999), ''

The Yellow Book ''The Yellow Book'' was a British quarterly literary periodical that was published in London from 1894 to 1897. It was published at The Bodley Head Publishing House by Elkin Mathews and John Lane, and later by John Lane alone, and edited by th ...

: A Checklist and Index'' (Eighteen Nineties Society, 1998), ''A Selective Checklist of the Published Work of

'' (Thomas G. Boss Fine Books, 1995), and ''

William Allingham William Allingham (19 March 1824 – 18 November 1889) was an Irish poet, diarist and editor. He wrote several volumes of lyric verse, and his poem "The Faeries" was much anthologised. But he is better known for his posthumously published ''Dia ...

: A Bibliographical Study'' (Holmes Publishing Co., 1993); he has co-authored books such as ''England in the 1880s: Old Guard and Avant-Garde'' (University of Virginia Press, 1989) and ''England in the 1890s: Literary Publishing at

the Bodley Head The Bodley Head is an English publishing house, founded in 1887 and existing as an independent entity until the 1970s. The name was used as an imprint of Random House Children's Books from 1987 to 2008. In April 2008, it was revived as an adul ...

'' (Georgetown University Press, 1990). His articles and notes have appeared in ''

The Book Collector ''The Book Collector'' is a London based journal that deals with all aspects of the book. It is published quarterly and exists in both paper and digital form. It prints independent opinions on subjects ranging from typography to national heritage ...

'', ''Browning Institute Studies'', ''

Notes and Queries ''Notes and Queries'', also styled ''Notes & Queries'', is a long-running quarterly scholarly journal that publishes short articles related to " English language and literature, lexicography, history, and scholarly antiquarianism".From the inne ...

'', and other journals. He has organized or co-curated exhibitions held at the

University of Virginia Library The University of Virginia (UVA) is a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United States, with highly selective adm ...

;

Georgetown University Library The Georgetown University Library is the library system of Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. The library's holdings now contain approximately 3.5 million volumes housed in seven university buildings across 11 separate collections. Histor ...

; the

Houghton Library Houghton Library, on the south side of Harvard Yard adjacent to Widener Library, is Harvard University's primary repository for rare books and manuscripts. It is part of the Harvard College Library, the library system of Harvard's Faculty of Art ...

and the

Fogg Museum The Harvard Art Museums are part of Harvard University and comprise three museums: the Fogg Museum (established in 1895), the Busch-Reisinger Museum (established in 1903), and the Arthur M. Sackler Museum (established in 1985), and four research ...

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

; Bryn Mawr College Library and the

Grolier Club The Grolier Club is a private club and society of bibliophiles in New York City. Founded in January 1884, it is the oldest existing bibliophilic club in North America. The club is named after Jean Grolier de Servières, Viscount d'Aguisy, Tre ...

Awards

Samuels Lasner was the 2003 recipient of the

Sir Thomas More Sir Thomas More (7 February 1478 – 6 July 1535), venerated in the Catholic Church as Saint Thomas More, was an English lawyer, judge, social philosopher, author, statesman, and noted Renaissance humanist. He also served Henry VIII as Lord ...

medal from the

University of San Francisco The University of San Francisco (USF) is a private Jesuit university in San Francisco, California. The university's main campus is located on a setting between the Golden Gate Bridge and Golden Gate Park. The main campus is nicknamed "The Hil ...

, which was awarded to honor the spirit of "private collecting, a public benefit." In 2009 The American Printing History Association (APHA) announced a fellowship award, the ''Mark Samuels Lasner Fellowship in Printing History'' for the study of printing history. An award of up to $2,000 is available for research in any area of the history of printing in any form, including all the arts and technologies relevant to printing, the book arts, and letter forms.The Fellowship on the College & University Letterpress Printers' Association website
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References

External links

at the

Library
Biography on the Center for Material Culture Studies

website {{DEFAULTSORT:Samuels Lasner, Mark 1952 births American bibliographers Connecticut College alumni University of Delaware faculty Living people American typographers and type designers