People // James P. Ascher
  • Praxis Fellow, 2015-2016
  • Prototyping Fellow, 2017-2018
Contact
james-p-ascher
About

Doctoral candidate in the English Department who studies 18th century anglophone literature and bibliography, James puts media studies, textual criticism, ephemera, and paperwork history under the big-tent of bibliography. He’s interested in resistance to the Enlightenment, epistolary communities, and the history of features in books, as well as the light they shed on clandestine publishing and the history of obscenity.

Previously, he was Assistant Professor in the Libraries and in English at the University of Colorado Boulder where he cataloged rare books, taught book history, and directed the ScriptaLab colloquium. His published work includes bibliographical methods, issues in diplomatic transcription, processes for collection surveys, and methods training and recruiting librarians. He also serves as a lab instructor teaching descriptive bibliography at the Rare Book School at the University of Virginia. He organized the 54th Annual Rare Books and Manuscripts Section Preconference, served as the Vice-President for Publications of the American Printing History Association, and served as Treasurer for the Fellowship of American Bibliophilic Societies.

He thinks there is a spiritual connection between literate programming, lexicography, bibliography, and time. He is trying to find it while he is a Praxis Fellow.

He doesn’t like writing bios.