VWB Lecture at Antwerp (28 October 2009): The Jesuits in China

It's official: Vlaamse Werkgroep Boekgeschiedenis (VWB), test riding last Spring with lectures in book history, now has its foot in the door at Antwerp's largest heritage library, Erfgoedbibliotheek Hendrik Conscience at Concienceplein. Two lectures are planned before Christmas; 4 lectures are held each year.

VWB aims at acquainting a larger public with scholars from this country and abroad who present ongoing research or current topics in the history of books.

Venue for these Wednesday lectures is the -must-see- Nottebohmzaal. Starting time is 6 p.m. On Wednesdays, the Hendrik Conscience Library is open until 8 p.m. Each lecture is followed by a Q&A from the audience. Entrance is free.

Two lectures are planned before Christmas. On Wednesday 28 October 2009 Professor Noel Golvers from the Ferdinand Verbiest Instituut (KU Leuven) will hold a lecture entitled The Jesuits in China in the 17th and 18th centuries: the ‘Ultima Thule’ of the European book distribution.

Note: by exception, Golvers' lecture will start one hour earlier: 5 p.m.

In fact, professor Golvers is test riding as well. He will dwell on recent research on this theme at the Jesuitica Conference at Leuven (3-5 December 2009). More on that in a future post.

Golvers has also written about a corpus of 5000 books that was known as the last Western library in Beijing in the 19th century, the Beitang Library. See Noël Golvers, "De jezuïetenmissie in China (17de-18de eeuw): (Ook) een kwestie van Westerse boeken en bibliotheken," in De Gulden Passer 83:2005, p. 201-221. This library was deemed lost, but its holdings have been incorporated by the Peiching Tushuguan library in Beijing.

Picture: The Nottebohmzaal.