Milda Kvizikevičiūtė

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Slide with a piesia artificial example – text written in a trumpet

Acutus et argutus has begun! Why to type something easily, when you can do labirynths, roses. Should my next paper look like that? 🫢

Canoodling couple seated by tree, crossed out!

Bodies (sick, not in flagrante delicto) on floor, crossed out with great enthusiasm.

Love... Or Death?

#Plague or #TooPerilous
3/3

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

The Baltic Way: How Holding Hands Changed History | Lithuania On August 23, 1989, a momentous event unfolded that would forever leave its mark on history. Two million people joined hands, creating an unbroken human chain that spanned over 600 kilometres, linking...

#BalticWay was a call for #freedom! On August 23, 1989, 2 million people joined hands across #Lithuania, #Latvia, and #Estonia to mark the 50th anniversary of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, when the USSR and Nazi Germany secretly divided Europe into spheres of influence.

lithuania.lt/news/life-an...

Illustration of a stone bridge with two arches. A small figure walks across the bridge, carrying a stick. Below, people fish on the riverside. On the right side stands a tower and trees; on the left, hills and another tree. The scene is framed within an oval border.

All sorts of activities happeningnin this teeny tiny vignette.

#oldbooks #rarebooks #fishing #swimming #bridges #NationalLibraryOfLithuania

A printed Latin text with a large decorated initial “Q.” The letter has been doodled into a cartoonish face, with eyes, eyebrows, nose, and a frowning mouth. Above the “Q,” extra pen strokes make it look like the figure is wearing a hat.

A printed Latin text with a large initial “V.” Inside the letter, someone has drawn a small face with eyes, nose, and mouth.

A printed Latin text with a large initial “Q.” The circular part of the letter has been filled with a face: two dark eyes, a large shaded nose, and a serious mouth with a moustache-like line, making the letter resemble a stern human head.

Annotation? No thanks, I’ll draw my feelings instead.
What mood would you doodle today?

#rarebooks #earlymodernbook #NationalLibraryOfLithuania #doodle

The book doesn’t contain any marginalia, so my assumption is that the mark may have been left by the printer.

A close-up photo of an old book page numbered 267, showing Latin text printed in black ink. In the upper right margin, there is a visible black fingerprint smudge, suggesting someone with ink-stained fingers touched the page. The paper has a rough texture and slightly browned edges.

A little bit of a personal touch left behind.

De censuris Ecclesiasticis tractatus. Leiden, 1608 #NationalLibraryOfLithuanis
#earlymodern #printculture

A detailed black-and-white woodcut print showing a crowded public bath scene. Numerous nude and semi-nude figures, both male and female, are seen bathing, washing, socializing, and lounging around an elaborate fountain and classical-style architectural structure with columns. Some figures are scrubbing themselves or each other, while others are engaged in conversation or relaxation.

That one person in the pool 🔫💦

@Kunsthistoriches Museum Vienna

#earlymodern #printculture

Yes, it looks like it was a grave.

Main text: Лета 7083 [1575] поставили крест Береза да Федор [or Федос] Павлов сын Моло — подписал [O]рлишко

This is what’s written in the ends of the cross: ЦАРЬ СЛАВЫ / ИСУСЪ ХРИСТОС / НИ/КА

I will not be attempting to translate it, as quality would be the same as with google translate :)

This is DAMN good BibComm 🔥

In a vivid orange exhibition space, former President Dalia Grybauskaitė listens as Dr. Milda Kvizikevičiūtė (in a green patterned dress), one of the curators, presents a display table featuring ceramic reconstructions of historical dishes, biscuit moulds, vegetables, and a frying pan. The table is illustrated with recipes and foods once enjoyed by Renaissance queens Barbara Radziwiłł and Catherine Jagiellon. Nearby stand co-curators Dr. Vaida Ragėnaitė (in a violet dress) and Julija Janus (in pink stripes), along with Rūta Kačkutė (in a dark blue dress), general director of the National Museum of Lithuania. Exhibition cases with rare books and portraits are visible in the background.

To open an exhibition is a celebration in itself. But to have a President Dalia Grybauskaitė as a patron of exhibition and give her a personal guided tour is huge honor!

Queens, Realms and Emotions open till 4 January, 2025. #NationalMuseumOfLithuania, House of Histories
#Lithuania

A museum exhibit featuring a taxidermied falcon perched on a branch inside a glass case. In front of it, another glass case displays an open illustrated book showing a detailed drawing of a falcon. In the background, a large, ornate tapestry depicts a vivid hunting scene with figures on horseback, dogs, and wild animals in a dense forest setting. The display highlights the cultural and symbolic role of falcons in historical hunting traditions.

Falcon in its natural habitat.
🦅
It’s always nice to see exhibition come to life!

📖Les délices des la natura, Nürnberg, 1774
🪶Falco cherrug
🖼️ Tapestry with hunting scene

Quenns, Realms and Emotions from June 4th at the #NationalMuseumofLithuania

A speaker presenting at an academic conference.

Title page of a book: A Relation of the Distressed Statė of the Church of Christ processing the Protestant Religiom in the Great Dukedom of Lithuania.

Title page of a book by Samual Clarke. A Generał Martyrologię, published in London, 1677

What a week! #REFORC2025 has ended, and it was a blast. I had the opportunity to discuss a Lithuanian text published in London to raise aid for Reformed churches in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania devastated by the Deluge.
#NationalMuseumOfLithuania #rarebooks #specialcollections
@reforc.bsky.social

The left screen features a sign language interpreter against a blue background, providing live interpretation. The right screen displays a presentation slide titled “Renouncing Erasmus? Reading…” with images of historical figures

Accesibility done right at the academic conference!
#Reforc2025

A stack of three old books with visibly damaged spines and covers, pierced by a bullet. The leather bindings are torn, and some pages are shredded and charred.

Three books. Three bullets.
These volumes—once part of a peaceful library—were struck and torn apart by gunfire in #Vienna in 1940s.
A haunting reminder of how even cultural heritage aren’t spared from violence.
#WienMuseum

A tall wooden bookshelf filled with ornate, gold-tooled leather-bound books inside the National Library of Austria. Some books are laid on their bookbloks, exposing the red block sides.

National Library of Viena, is that a new encryption method?! Can someone crack the code?

Anyway, a solid warp-up for #reforc2025

@reforc.bsky.social

A group of people sits in a historic Vilnius Universtity library room with an ornate vaulted ceiling decorated in blue and gray floral patterns.

Meeting of Lithuanian special collections curators: discussing security in the face of geopolitics, crises, and thefts. How can we protect our heritage while staying as open and accessible as possible? #CulturalHeritage #security #Lithuania #specialcollections

The #CFP has been extended! You can still submit your proposals for the conference until May 15. Perhaps you’ll help us uncover just how much wit and sharpness it took to write, publish, illustrate, or collect books.

More: konferencijos.lnb.lt/acutus-et-ar...

Ornamental initial “F” from an early printed book, depicting a dramatic scene of a woman fleeing while being chased by a male figure in a landscape setting

Engraved initial “G” from an early printed book, featuring a seated or crouching figure wearing a hat, pushing a cart filled with plants.

Engraved initial “D” from an early printed book, featuring a putto seated on a dolphin, holding a violin in left hand.

F G D - some of the ornamental letters from Apoftemmi di Plutarcho (Venezia, 1566). It always fascinates me, what was the creative process while making them.

#NationalMuseumOfLithuania #earlymodern #rarebooks

Detail des Probedrucksvon Hans Burgkmair d.Ä., um 1511, gezeigt wird Hektor. Staats- und Stadtbibliothek Augsburg, Graph Burgkmair 6, Blatt 26r.

Knee protection in 1511. 🦁

Detail from a printed image of a German news pamphlet from 1620 shwoing two men playing cards at a table, and one man with a devil standing next by. Source: https://www.digitale-sammlungen.de/de/details/bsb10925611

It is actually a funny story, we were just playing cards, and suddenly it started to rain, and then, bloody hell, a devil appeared...

_____

Say hello to an #earlymodern news pamphlet with a strange story that needed to be sung: www.digitale-sammlungen.de/de/details/b...

#NewsHistory it is.

A strip of parchment visible in the back of a book binding with a line of text in Latin

A perfect start to my time in Purdue University Archives and Special Collections: a little binding fragment!!! This strip of parchment comes from beautiful 12th-century missal with the Secreta visible on this line "Suscipe domine munera que pro filii tui" 😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍 #medievalsky #medievalmss

An ornate printed page featuring an engraved portrait of King George I composed entirely of tiny printed text forming his facial features, hair, and clothing. The circular border around the portrait reads: “THE EFFIGIES OF KING GEORGE CONTAINS THE LORD’S PRAYER, THE CREED AND THE X COMMANDMENTS, THE PRAYERS FOR THE KING AND THE ROYAL FAMILY, AND THE XXI PSALM.” Surrounding the border are cherubic faces. Below the portrait, large calligraphic text proclaims King George’s full royal titles in a highly decorative style with ruled red guidelines.

An engraved portrait of King George I composed entirely of tiny printed text forming his facial features, hair, and clothing. The circular border around the portrait reads: “THE EFFIGIES OF KING GEORGE CONTAINS THE LORD’S PRAYER, THE CREED AND THE X COMMANDMENTS, THE PRAYERS FOR THE KING AND THE ROYAL FAMILY, AND THE XXI PSALM.”

When You want to ‘economize the text.’ So you do. Into curls, shadows, and powdered wigs.

The Book of Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments, London,1717

#NationalMuseumOfLithuania #earlymodern #rarebooks #specialcollections

Woodcut V initial with two embracing merpeople in a book in Latin and Hebrew by Sebastian Münster. (Case X 464 .602)

VERY Pleased To Meet You...

Browsed into these two in a book from 1527 recently, thought they'd come in handy!
#InternationalMermaidDay
#NewberryLibrary #OFMD
#OurFlagMeansBook

Woodcut illustration from a 16th-century printed book depicting the “Monster of Cracow” — a humanoid figure with multiple animal heads (resembling barking dogs) protruding from its chest, elbows, and knees. The creature has bird-like feet, clawed hands, a distorted face with large eyes, and a long curved tail. The image is surrounded by dense blackletter German text.

The Monster of #Cracow: a deformed child, supposadly, born in 1543 or 1547, said to have dogs’ heads on elbows, chest, and knees. It lived 4 hours and died crying “Watch, the Lord Cometh.”

Sebastian Münster, Cosmographey, Basel, 1588
#NationalMuseumOfLithuania #earlymodern #rarebooks #Poland

Page from Johann Andreas Schmidts, Fecht- und Exercitienmeisters Fecht-Kunst, oder leicht und getreue Anweisung auf Stoß und Hieb zierlich und sicher zu fechten (Nürnberg 1780). A man is trying to ride a wooden horse

New week, here we go. #academicchatter

Front Cover Georgii Agricolae De Animantibvs subterraneis Liber Basileae : Frobenius et Episcopius 1549

A Latin German glossar on animals related to mining

Agricola was not only covering the technology, but also the whole ecosystem around mining.

Georgii Agricolae De Animantibvs subterraneis Liber
Basileae : Frobenius et Episcopius 1549

A historic parchment document confirming the nobility of the Scottish Gordon family, featuring ornate calligraphy, coats of arms, a portrait of King Charles IĮ, and decorative elements. The document shows signs of aging and water damage

Close-up of a 17th-century engraved and hand-colored portrait of King Charles II - a man with long curly hair and elaborate clothing-, featured in the Gordon family nobility document.

Close-up of the heraldic crest at the top of the Gordon family nobility document, showing a shield flanked by a lion and a unicorn, with red and blue ornamental flourishes and Latin inscriptions.

A stunning piece of history: a 17th c. document stating family lineage of the #Scottish Gordon family, richly decorated with heraldry and cartouche of King Charles II. Some Gordons later settled in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania—bridging Scottish and Lithuanian heritage. #NationalLibraryOfLithuania