The History of Marginalia: censorship

In the second episode of our three-part series on the history of marginalia, Des Cowley (Principal Librarian of History of the Book and Arts) and Anna Welch (Senior Librarian of History of the Book and Arts) examine a heavily censored 1566 second edition of Nicholas Copernicus’s On the revolutions of the heavenly sphere.

What is marginalia?

At the heart of it, marginalia are anything written around the edges of the page in a book. The video above explores formal censorship and the omittance of words when they become a danger to popular beliefs. 

More to explore

• Watch the first episode of this series, The History of Marginalia: medieval manuscripts. 
• Take a closer look at the collection item featured in this video.
• Learn more about the Library's Rare Books Collection.