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An appendix then surveys the major contributions to the “literature of descriptive bibliography.”

In their latest books, “Caravaggio’s ‘Cardsharps’ on Trial” and “Descriptive Bibliography,” each has produced a masterwork of Tacitus-like force, clarity and precision.

More technical than Spear’s narrative case-study, G. Thomas Tanselle’s “Descriptive Bibliography” is a “comprehensive guide to . . . the activity of describing books as physical objects.”

She shares these materials by working individually with students and the public, and by teaching classes almost every quarter on such topics as the history of the book, descriptive bibliography, modern book arts and literature.

On a recent afternoon, the Hinman was woken up for a demonstration for the students in Advanced Descriptive Bibliography, Rare Book School's most fearsomely difficult course.