Six lectures, given by a range of distinguished academics and writers, will focus on the physical beauty of books from illuminated manuscripts and natural history publications to Penguin covers and graphic novels.

The series of lectures starts on Tuesday 23 October and runs for six consecutive Tuesdays at 6pm in the Great Hall of the Wills Memorial Building, Queens Road, University of Bristol.  Entry to the lectures is free and everyone is welcome.

23 October 2012: History of the book as a visual artifact – Professor David McKitterick, Fellow and Librarian of Trinity College, Cambridge

30 October 2012:  Making The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo a graphic novel – Denisa Mina,  crime writer

06 November 2012: 'It passes quickly as a thought' – flight, painting and extinction in Audubon's life and work – Tim Dee, writer and radio producer

13 November 2012: Penguin cover stories: 'from the typographic to the visual' – Professor Phil Baines, University of the Arts London: Central St Martin's

20 November 2012: William Morris and the art of the book – Dr Jan Marsh, biographer and president of the William Morris Society

27 November 2012: Contemporary artists and the art of the book – Sarah Bodman, Senior Research Fellow for Artists' Books at the Centre for Fine Print Research

For further information on the series, or if you require additional support for any of the lectures (such as wheelchair access of sign language interpretation), please contact Nicola Fry (nicola.fry@bristol.ac.uk) at the earliest opportunity.

This series has been organised by a small working group, led by Andrew Kelly, founder and director of the Bristol Festival of Ideas and is presented in association with the festival.