Zanna Van Loon

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!

Thank you!!

Oh yes, I need to see this! 😍

Sounds very interesting! Noted!

Thank you! These suggestions are exactly what I was hoping for!

Haha, definitely! The first thing on my list.

Dear #earlymodern, #bookhistory, #rarebooks, and #skystorians people: I’m travelling to Lisbon in a few days!

What do you recommend? Libraries, historic spots, bookshops, exhibitions? 📜

😍

Title page of the book, showing a woodcut border in dark blue and a typographical title in red.

A remarkable #bookhistory experiment: a title page printed in *blue* and red ink. Ambrogio Leone, Novum opus quaestionum. Venice : Bernardino & Matteo Vitali, 1523. EHC D 2181:3. Online: books.google.be/books?vid=EH...

FINAL CALL! ⏰

One week left to apply for our Nottebohm Fellowship!

☟ ☟ ☟

Front cover of the book with a brownish cloth binding decorated with flowers by means of needle work in different colours. It contains the library shelf mark on the top left corner

Spine of the book with several flowers sewn on a cloth cover in different colours.

Back cover of the book with a brownish cloth binding decorated with flowers by means of needle work in different colours. You see a fragment of a silk thread in the middle.

A 17th-century bookbinding in full bloom!

While screening the collections for books to show during a hands-on workshop on historical bookbindings, we stumbled upon this devotional book bound in a beautiful embroidered binding featuring flowers, usually associated with female makers and/or owners.

Not sharing a single spine of course, but a binding.

Fellowship Programme | Museum Plantin-Moretus The Plantin-Moretus Museum and the Hendrik Conscience Heritage Library (Antwerp) are pleased to launch a new call for applications for our fellowship programme. We will award two travel grants for res...

Interested in exploring rare books, archives, or book history in Antwerp? Applications for the 2025 Nottebohm Fellowship are open for 2 more weeks: tinyurl.com/applyNB

Mitchel studying the manuscript in the reading room. In front of him is a book pillow and Tyvek sheets. On the right is his laptop. In the background you see the modern reference library.

Book conservator Mitchel Gundrum of The Huntington Library is currently studying the manuscript as a Nottebohm fellow to trace the development of #earlymodern historical bookbinding techniques!

#rarebooks #bookhistory 💙📚📜

Entry in the ledger book with commissions for local bookbinders, including Anselmus Faust, dated on the 7th of May with a list of books ordered by the Plantin Press to be bound.

Faust was a German-born bookbinder and bookseller. He lived in Antwerp a while before moving to Diest around 1613. Historical traces are scarce he appears in the ledgers of the Plantin Press, but little else.

Title page of the manuscript which reads 'Beschrijvinghe ende onderwijsinghe ter discreter ende vermaerder consten des boeckbinders handwerck, hier inne te sien ende te lesen hoemen de boecken op alderhande manieren binden ende maecken sal.'

Dutch cover of the book in parchment painted in red and part of it in white sheep leather that has been blind tooled.

Detail of the edges of the manuscript painted in red and green respectively.

French cover of the book in parchment painted in green and part of it in white sheep leather that has been blind tooled.

This manuscript by Anselmus Faust, dated 1612, is the oldest surviving European manual on bookbinding. Written in Latin & Dutch, it was created for the St Bernard's Abbey near Antwerp.

What makes it especially unique is its rare dos à dos binding: 2 books bound back-to-back, sharing a single spine.

Op koppen lopen!

Big blue poster being placed by two people on scaffolding. The lettering is in a peach pink and reads as a title Women’s Business/Business Women.

Close-up of a white sleeve entirely made of buttons inside a blue jacket

Close-up of early modern silverware staged on a surface with in the background a painted wall

Counting down until Saturday for the opening of Women’s Business/Business Women while adding the finishing touches… So excited to share this project in Museum Plantin-Moretus with the public!

All info: tinyurl.com/26tyw6r6

#skystorians #bookhistory

🙏

Believe it or not, this is a parish register from the seventeenth century that was damaged during a fire! 🔥

Heat causes the collagen fibres in the parchment to denature and shrink and eventually turn to gelatine, which sometimes has a ‘glassy’ appearance.

#EarlyModern #Skystorians

@fragmentarium.bsky.social one for you?

Why is everything so bloody interesting all of the time? I don't have time for this!

Still calling for applications, still time to apply!

Come to Antwerp to dive into #earlymodern #bookhistory, and explore the libraries of Museum Plantin-Moretus and the Hendrik Conscience Heritage Library! #rarebooks #manuscripts 💙📚📜

🖣🖣

Sold! I’m going with that!

When Wenceslas Hollar etched his famous illustration of the Antwerp Cathedral in 1649, he also caught the bookshop of François II Fickaert, situated at the bottom of the North tower, near the famous well with the wrought iron covering forged by Quinten Metsys.