Spineless Wonders: the power of print unbound

Spineless Wonders is the splendid title for a splendid exhibition at the University of London's Senate House Library - an exhibition of unbound material in myriad formats, spanning five hundred years of printing.

This episode reviews the exhibition with its three curators:

• Tansy Barton (Academic Librarian)
• Christos Fotelis (Conservator)
• Leila Kassir (Academic Librarian)

We consider how the exhibition came about, how exhibits were selected, what the aim of the exhibition is, and which exhibits constitute the curators' favourites. 

And, as a by-product of our discussion we reflect on established themes of the podcast, namely how grey literature is defined and what relationship it has to ephemera.

Details of the exhibition, which continues to 15 November 2025, together with supporting digital resources, may be found on the University of London's website, here.

Further listening

We hope you found this episode rewarding. If so, you might find the following of particular interest:

• Before Spotify: the remarkable story of chautauquas
• But what about letters? Their scholarly use as grey literature
• How to define grey literature? The implications of letters

Credit 

The music is from Handel's Water Music, courtesy of the United States Marine Band and Marine Chamber Orchestra