Zanna Van Loon

Historic brick buildings with a small garden in front. The lights are on in the patio and upstairs. In the backdrop blue skies of an early morning.

I’ll never get tired of the effect that the early morning light has on the museum. 💛

#bookhistory #rarebooks 💙📚📜

Ja, vers van de pers: 8 905!

Die plannen kunnen gemaakt worden! ☺️

Detail of a doodle of a long-nosed little man in the margins of a manuscript in 17th-century handwriting

Title page of the book with the title 'Catechismus Romanus ex decreto Concilii Tridentini & P II V. Pontificis Maximi jussu primum editus', the imprint reads that the book is printed in Antwerp in 1611 by Martina Plantin at the Officina Plantiniana

First page of the manuscript on the Catholic doctrine with on top the title added in a different hand 'Cathecismus dictatus Lovanij á R. et doctissimo patro Cornelio a Lapide s...'

Some pen trials at the end of the book including the phrase 'Jesus Maria Josef'

One of our newest treasures: an #earlymodern Catechismus Romanus bound with a 1613 #manuscript student notebook of Jesuit Cornelius a Lapide’s lectures at Leuven. A wonderfully personalized & used book with a doodle of a long-nosed (😉) figure by its unknown owner.

#bookhistory #rarebooks 💙📚📜

Typographical decoration: apple-like devices facing each other with set of brackets in middle.

A triangle decreasing to a point made of typographical decoration.

Some typographical decoration to bring an end to the page - and the week.

Zo herkenbaar!!

Klinkt soms als opscheppen, maar is wel nodig om het belang van dat archief te duiden 😅

Benieuwd wat je denkt!

Eindelijk tijd om eraan te beginnen, maar al heel de ochtend zeer benieuwd naar de aflevering van Voorproevers in het Plantin-Moretus met @zannavanloon.bsky.social en @chanelled.bsky.social!

Vrouwenzaken Zakenvrouwen in Museum Plantin Moretus - Voorproevers | VRT MAX share.google/QUubCMdcy0Wg...

Detail of a plant in front of the historic buildings of the Rubenshuis

Picture of a sun-kissed garden with the last plants and flowers blooming in autumn colours and in the background the Rubenshuis’ buildings

And then there was day 3 in the sun-soaked garden and auditorium of the Rubenshuis with our final set of sessions focusing on research methodologies, physical spaces of production, and how women represented themselves in the world of books!

Courtyard of an early modern house, the Maiden’s house with brick walls and cheerful lights hanging up

What a day! Had a great time hearing all these specialists talk about the self-evident involvement of women in the book production. Now time for dinner at the most beautiful location at the Samenloop restaurant housed in the former Maiden’s House of Antwerp!

‘Women’s traces of involvement in the #earlymodern book trade are there in the archives, just sitting there waiting to be reconnected with research.’

- Opening keynote lecture of Susan Broomhall perfectly capturing the essence of our conference Women & The Household in the Early Modern Book Trade!

Detail of 15th c. book with cat (?) paw prints!

Open book with several paw prints.

Pink Panther Returns?!

#Caturday
#NewberryLibrary (Inc. 5656)

For those visiting Antwerp (esp. those of you attending for the Women&Household in Book Trade conference next week) do not forget to go and visit this library gem as well! #bookhistory

Close-up of the textile envelop binding of a beige colour

Yellow-black pencil for scale next to the miniature book with an envelop binding

Title page of the book with a tiny woodcut engraving.

2) Seventeenth-century copy of the St John’s Gospel in an envelop binding!

Close up of a very small book bound in a fragment of a medieval liturgical manuscript on parchment

Yellow-black pencil for scale next to the miniature book which is with a parchment cover of medieval manuscript fragments

Close-up of the title page of the book: a Gregorian calendar printed in red and black.

Spilled my coffee travel mug in my backpack this morning - can you imagine the horror - so let’s just say some time with these wonderful #earlymodern miniature books was very much needed!

1) Gregorian Calendar (1585)

#rarebooks #bookhistory 💙📚📜

/1

This #FragmentFriday is found in De Thiende (1585), a groundbreaking #mathematical book by Simon Stevin, introducing the decimal separator (now , or . ) for fractions. It has a 19th century library binding, but retains the medieval parchment wrappers it was originally bound in.
📚💙
📜

A unicorn watermark in one of the oldest European paper sheets. Source: https://memoryofpaper.eu/apccv/apccv.php?Signatura=1475.1

Just a 1399 unicorn watermark from a paper manufacturer from Valencia to make your day. Friends of #paperhistory know that these paper sheets of around 1400 are among the first sheets of European paper to appear on the market. European #bookhistory was a different game afterwards. #skystorians

Yes! The manuscript is now bound in a modern binding, but it is clear that the fur was supposed to be the exterior of the earlier binding!

💙📚📜 #rarebooks #bookhistory

Detail of the parchment leaf wit remnants of brown animal hair, still in a very good condition

Detail of the parchment leaf with remnants of brown animal hair, still in a very good condition

View on the entire leaf with the remnants of brown animal hair

First folio of the manuscript written in the Gothic script in two colums starting with 'Incipit t[ra]ctat[us moralis de vii vitiis capitalibus...

This parchment is FUR REAL!

Remnants of animal hair on a parchment leaf originally intended as the exterior of the earlier binding for a 13th-century manuscript with English origin containing theological texts of Guillaume Peyraud, William of Tournai, Hugh of St Victor, and Richard of St Victor.

Are you looking for info on historical bindings or binding practices? Mirjam Foot’s Bookbinders at Work is a great introduction, & her overall research is great too, just like Pickwoad’s. I’m focusing on bindings attributed to Plantin, who learnt the trade in France, so if I can be of any help?

Latin remarks on the text!

Sketch of the Strait of Gibraltar on early modern paper with iron gallon ink with some cities named, such as Tanger. The map is positioned with the north at the bottom.

Detail of a printed and hand coloured map of Span displaying the Strait of Gibraltar. It is an engraving.

Very rudimentary sketch of the world in the medieval worldview and a legenda

View of the miscellaneous notes inside the bundle containing inscriptions in Latin and drawings

A bundle of miscellaneous papers once belonging to Abraham Ortelius with letters & working notes, and a rudimentary sketch of the Strait of Gibraltar, demonstrating how he envisioned depicting the meeting point of the Atlantic and the Mediterranean for his world atlas.

#bookhistory #rarebooks 💙📚📜

Detail of a page with musical staf printed, added music by hand, and off-set printing of other type in the margins

Detail of a page with liturgical text printed, and off-set printing of other type in the margins

Detail of a page with liturgical text printed, and off-set printing of other type in the margins

Typographic apparitions 👻

Spotted in a 1498 Cologne missal: a case of off-set printing, where ink from the forme (or from another printed page?) accidentally transferred onto these printed page.

#bookhistory #rarebooks 💙📚📜

Oh believe me, if it were up to me … 😄

Black and white cat sitting on an early modern fragment of sculpture. In the background the ruins of the church belonging to the monastery with a clear blue sky.

Close up of a black and white cat resting on an early modern fragment of sculpture. In the background the ruins of the church belonging to the monastery with a clear blue sky.

Close up of a black and white cat resting on an early modern fragment of sculpture. In the background the ruins of the church belonging to the monastery with a clear blue sky.

Making a case for every museum to have a resident museum cat. Meet Nuno, who literally owns the ruins of the Carmo Convent in Lisbon!

The convent was destroyed in a fire after the great earthquake in 1755.

#earlymodern

Detail of a manicure and a little face gesturing towards the handwritten text of a manuscript in gothic script written on parchment. The man depicted seems angry. The manicure has a sleeve

A manicule with a stretched sleeve drawn in red in the margins pointing towards a text in Gothic script written on parchment

A manicule used to highlight a rubricated section title in a medieval manuscript written in gothic script on parchment

A very large vaguely drawn manicule pointing towards text in gothic script written on parchment

☞☞ Hands-on reading ☜☜

The manicules in #rarebooks are fantastically diverse. Some are tiny & discreet, others take up half the margin; some have flowing sleeves, or even little faces.

They’re glimpses into the personality of readers/scribes highlighting passages worth reading.
#bookhistory 💙📚📜

Thanks, flagged as one of my favourites!

Great idea, but I’m afraid is too short notice!