Miraeus Lecture (Antwerp, 6 April 2011): David Shaw, "Poelman and Plantin. Publishing the Classics in Sixteenth-Century Antwerp"

In 2009 Vlaamse Werkgroep Boekgeschiedenis inaugurated a lecture series on themes in book history, to be held four times annually on Wednesday's in the Erfgoedbibliotheek's Nottebohmzaal. The initiative has recently turned into the Miraeus Lectures, with additional support of the Vereniging van Antwerpse Bibliofielen (=Association of Antwerp Bibliophiles).

Other venues potentially are not ruled out for the Miraeus Lectures. The first lecture this Spring is held in the Plantin-Moretus Museum, on Wednesday 6 April 2011 at 6 p.m. Lecturer is David Shaw, on "Poelman and Plantin. Publishing the Classics in Sixteenth-Century Antwerp".

The biggest studies written so far on printer Christophe Plantin are those by Leon Voet and Jenny Voet-Grisolle, the two-volume The Golden Compasses, A History and Evaluation of the Printing and Publishing Activities of the Officina Plantiniana (1969), and the classic 6-volume The Plantin Press (155-1589). A Bibliography of the works printed and published by Christopher Plantin at Antwerp and Leiden.

Another couple is walking in the footsteps of the Voets for Plantin with two studies on the use of printed illustration in Plantin editions, namely Karen L. Bowen's Christopher Plantin's Book of Hours: Illustration and Production (1997) and Karen L. Bowen and Dirk Imhof's Christopher Plantin and Engraved Book Illustrations in Sixteenth-Centry Europe (2008).

But all is not said and done yet on the Plantin-Moretus printing press, particularly because the business archive still awaits excavation and thorough examination from scholars. The museum has started a piecemeal digitization project - the Flemish government should actually turn this into its third prestigious project after ILE (the edition of the letters by Justus Lipsius in 20 volumes) and the STCV (the online Short Title Catalogus Vlaanderen).

So what are we to expect from David Shaw's talk? Antwerp in the sixteenth century was what Amsterdam became in the next: a vibrant, intensely international commercial hub experiencing its Golden Age. In that century it took the lead from Deventer with the hightest number of printing houses in the Old Netherlands. As the city did not house a university, school masters' schools -like that of Gabriel Meurier- or printing houses were the next best venues for languages and learning.

Greek had been introduced in the Old Netherlands by Dirk Martens and Joannes van Westfalen, and Leuven after 1517 with its Collegium Trilingue became an important center for the study of Greek, Latin and Hebrew. In his former assistant Rutger Rescius Dirk Martens would find a worthy successor to print many Greek and Latin college textbooks.

Decades later, Plantin easily was the richest owner of fonts and printing workshop material out of Antwerp. His abodes were often crowded with scholars pouring over the material to see it appear in print, on many topics. His crowning achievement in scholarship collaboration no doubt was the Polyglot Bible or Biblia Regia.

As to the classics, works in Greek and Latin, a great number of local scholars worked with him: Willem and Dirk Canter from Utrecht and Leuven on Aeschylos (1580), Janus Dousa on Catullus, Mekerkius on Greek pronunciation, the perennial Lipsius on Tacitus, Steewechius on Vegetius, Bonaventura Vulcanius on Callimachus, and so on.

Or Plantin selected from the book fairs at Paris and Frankfurt works first seen abroad, such as the emblemata editions by Joannes Sambucus, French and Italian endeavors on Virgil by Fulvius Ursinus, the cantankerous Joseph Scaliger and Marc Antoine Muret, and the often reprinted Catullus, Tibullus et Propertius that was first published by Aldus in 1511.

In his Annales de l'imprimerie des Alde (1834), Auguste Renouard wrote of the famous Aldus Manutius and his son Paul, who operated from Venice in the late 15th and at the cusp of the 16th century: Remplis d'une admiration enthousiaste pour les chefs-d'oeuvre littéraires de la Grèce et Rome, ils sacrifièrent les avantages de réputation et de fortune (..) et dévouèrent leur vie entière à tirer les écrivains anciens du chaos où huit siècles de barbarie les avaient plongés.

Although Renouard's admiration for the trendsetters the Alduses were for Greek and Latin texts is more than justified, his Winckelmannish hyperbole on how these works came to us somewhat obscures the work of editors and the many sources –in manuscript or printed form and often from earlier centuries- that lay at the basis of a new edition.

As an editor, Theodorus Pulmannus or Dirk Poelman (1512-1581) is expected to particularly stand out for the Plantin house, as his archives are presently part of the Plantin-Moretus Archives. He edited many authors: Avianus, Horatius, Lucanus, and Terentius Afer, to name a few. We eagerly await David Shaw's talk to zero in on some more detail.

Venue: Miraeus Lecture, Museum Plantin-Moretus, Vrijdagmarkt 22, 2000 Antwerpen, Wednesday 6 April, 2011, 6-7.30 p.m.

Illustration: woodcut initial and page from Novum Iesu Christi D.N. Testamentum, ascribed to Christophe Plantin (1566). Cultura Fonds Collection.

VWB Lectures 2010: Belgium’s First Printers (24 February) - Color on 15th-century Title Pages (28 April)

Erfgoedbibliotheek Hendrik Conscience at Antwerp –formerly Stadsbibliotheek - I am constantly using EHC now to refer to this heritage library, and I invite my readership to do the same – has the biggest collection of rare books and documents in the Dutch speaking part of this country (not counting our Royal Library at Brussels). And this library has the added advantage of being located in proximity of the Museum Plantin-Moretus.

EHC fittingly took it upon itself to embrace the VWB lectures series, VWB as in Vlaamse Werkgroep Boekgeschiedenis, society of book historians in the Dutch speaking part of Belgium. These lectures on current themes in book history have become part and parcel of EHC’s calendar.

Venue 4 times a year is Wednesday at 5 pm in EHC’s Nottebohmzaal, a 19^th-century hall filled with books which for every tourist in Antwerp is a must see.

Too much related to paper heritage in this country is still a best kept secret, and these pages are vibrantly trying to get much out of that category. We have in this country a paper heritage so fine, that I think foreign visitors should travel to us to become acquainted. Just like one should travel for Old Masters - Old Masters shouldn’t travel for us.

Now on to the first VWB lectures in 2010. On Wednesday 24 February, Renaud Adam, from the Rare Books Department at Belgium’s Royal Library (Brussels), is holding a lecture in French on Belgium’s first 15^th-century printers, entitled “Alost, le berceau de l'imprimerie en Belgique? Retour sur l'atelier de Jean de Westphalie et Thierry Martens (1473-1474).”

We have previously mentioned the new census on Dirk Martens that Renaud Adam and Alexandre Vanautgaerden have published (ISBN 978-2-503-53112-0 ; jointly with Passeurs de textes: 978-2-503-53118-2). Next to well-known bibliographies for incunabula and Van Iseghem for Martens, Adam & Vanautgaerden should become a new staple in reference libraries.

On Wednesday 28 April, Rémi Mathis (Bibliothèque de l'Université Paris Descartes/CNRS) will hold a talk in English entitled “Red in a black and white world. Coloured title-pages in early printed books.” He will no doubt summarize the most important findings about the use of colored ink on title pages in the earliest days of hand-printed books.

Venue: EHC – Erfgoedbibliotheek Hendrik Conscience - Hendrik Conscienceplein 4, 2000 Antwerp – Wednesdays, 5.00-6.30 pm. Entrance is free.

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.

Marie-Claude Felton: To Publish and Perish: The Misadventures of Self-Publishing Authors in 18th Century Paris (Antwerp, 24 June 2009)

Vlaamse Werkgroep Boekgeschiedenis has the pleasure to announce its second lecture in book history: "To Publish and Perish: The misadventures of self-publishing authors in 18th-century Paris." Speaker is Marie-Claude Felton (EHESS, Paris/UQAM, Montreal).

Ms. Felton's abstract: In 18th-century Paris, the booksellers' guild maintained a well-established monopoly over the publishing business: no book was to be printed or sold by anyone outside of their corporation. During a century when authors sought more independence and began to assert their authority and rights over their work, however, some writers tried to get published on their own terms without having to relinquish their rights to a bookseller (and publisher), which was then the rule. The study of these authors' multiple endeavors allows us to examine the tensions that subsisted between authors and publishers in a world still dominated by privileges, and to realize just how far some writers would go to see their talent and knowledge be immortalized in print.

Venue: Erfgoedbibliotheek Hendrik Conscience, Hendrik Conscienceplein 4, 2000 Antwerpen (Nottebohmzaal). Wednesday 24 June 2009 at 5 p.m. (until 6.30 p.m.).

Entrance free, but advance notification preferred. Lecture followed by drink. Notification: via Boekgeschiedenis.be, joint site of the Flemish chapter of Book researchers and practitioners, and of the Bibliophile Society at Antwerp.

Vlaamse Werkgroep Boekgeschiedenis kicking off lecture series at Antwerp (29 April 2009)

Vlaamse Werkgroep Boekgeschiedenis, the society uniting every person who takes a keen interest in rare books and manuscript research in the Dutch-speaking part of this country, is premiering a new international lecture series at Antwerp, in collaboration with the UA, University of Antwerp, and the EHC, Erfgoedbibliotheek Hendrik Conscience.

Venue is the historical Nottebohmzaal of the Erfgoedbibliotheek Hendrik Conscience (formerly Stadsbibliotheek), on Wednesdays, at 5 p.m.

The idea is to invite researchers from abroad who are in this country for research to deliver a talk about their current projects. Kicking off today, Wednesday 29 April 2009, is Professor Paul Dyck of Canadian Mennonite University, with "Picturing the World: Antwerp Biblical Illustrations at Little Gidding."

Professor Dyck will explain how a family from Little Gidding near Cambridge devised a cut and paste method to combine Prostestant New Testament text to Catholic imagery, largely biblical illustrations originating from Antwerp, resulting in 17th century illustrated Bibles.

Details: Wednesday 29 April 2009 from 5-6.30 p.m. Nottebohmzaal, Erfgoedbibliotheek Hendrik Conscience, Hendrik Conscienceplein 4, 2000 Antwerpen. Free access.

The next lecture, to be announced, will be held on 24 June 2009, same venue, same time, by Marie-Claude Felton (EHESS Paris - UQÀM, Montreal).

Erasmus's Social Network: Talk at Erasmus House (30 April 2009)

2.0., Netlog, Facebook: sometimes one wonders how Vives and Erasmus would have dealt with these means of social networking. It's all the more exciting however to learn how a researcher today succeeds in unearthing the intellectual network of a humanist who lived 500 years ago.

Tomorrow, 30 April 2009 at 7.30 p.m., Franz Bierlaire, professor at ULg, University of Liège, and at the ULB , University of Brussels, delivers a talk, in French, at the Erasmus House at Brussels entitled "Le carnet d'adresses d'Erasme" or "Erasmus's address book".

Primary source is Erasmus's correspondence. Bierlaire will show to what extent the humanist's network helped to shape his writings.

Venue: Rue du Chapitre 31 Kapittelstraat 31, 1070 Brussels (Anderlecht). Metro: Saint-Guidon/Sint-Guido.

Women Latinists of Renaissance England (Lecture at Leuven, 24 September 2008)

Neo-Latin scholars at the University of Leuven recently informed their fellow members at IANLS - International Association for Neo-Latin Studies - of a lecture, to be held at Leuven tomorrow, by Professor Brenda M. Hosington (University of Warwick): ' "Minerva and the Muses". Women Latinists of Renaissance England'.

This lecture both serves as the third Jozef IJsewijn lecture, and as the opening of the 2008-2009 Master in Medieval and Renaissance Studies at the University of Leuven.

Jozef IJsewijn (1932-1998) was professor of Neo-Latin at Leuven. In 1966, he founded the Seminarium Philologiae Humanisticae for the study of Neo-Latin language and literature, and somewhat later, a journal called Humanistica Lovaniensia.

Related to the journal, Leuven University Press publishes a publication series called Supplementa Humanistica Lovaniensia. Number 16 in this series was a volume of essays edited by Dirk Sacré and Gilbert Tournoy in honor of Jozef IJsewijn: Myricae. Essays on Neo-Latin Literature in Memory of Jozef IJsewijn (Leuven, 2000, ISBN 978-90586705-40).

The Master in Medieval and Renaissance Studies is an interdisciplinary, post-initial Master's degree ('Manama') on offer in English at the university of Leuven. Various research centers participate in it: the Seminarium Philologiae Humanisticae; Illuminare or the Center for the Study of Illumination; the 'Aristoteles Latinus' project; the De Wulf-Mansion Centre (philosophy); the Research Unit History of the Middle Ages, and the Institute for Medieval Studies.

Details Prof. Hosington's lecture: Lipsiuszaal, Faculty of Arts (Blijde-Inkomststraat 21, 3000 Leuven), 5 p.m. Lecture followed by a reception. Organisation: Seminarium Philologiae Humanisticae, KU Leuven.

Talk on manuscript illumination at Public Library Bruges (18 September 2008)

In libraries in the Dutch-speaking part of this country, the term stadsbibliotheek (City Library) is falling in desuetude. At Antwerp, Stadsbibliotheek Antwerpen (SBA) has become Erfgoedbibliotheek Hendrik Conscience. We also should stop saying Stadsbibliotheek Brugge to Openbare Bibliotheek Brugge (Public Library).

In Bruges, the main building in the public library system is also called Hoofdbibliotheek 'Biekorf' (beehive). Now its Friends, Vrienden van de Biekorfbibliotheek vzw, are the organizers, about twice a year, for public events related to its older holdings.

The Biekorf now welcomes the public for a talk by Dutch illumination specialist Saskia van Bergen, in Dutch, entitled Een Brugs handschriftenatelier in de late middeleeuwen, which is based on the results of her doctoral research.

Van Bergen completed a PhD at the University of Amsterdam in 2007 with a thesis called
De Meesters van Otto van Moerdrecht. Een onderzoek naar de stijl en iconografie van een groep miniaturisten, in relatie tot de productie van getijdenboeken in Brugge rond 1430.

The Biekorf holds manuscripts, including books of hours by Bruges facture, but none, so far as we know, by the so-called Masters of Otto van Moerdrecht.

Van Bergen will no doubt explain who Otto van Moerdrecht was, but via this case study of a workshop around 1430 also show how vast an illumination and manuscript industry, solely working for export, was at Bruges.

Details: Hoofdbibliotheek Biekorf (Reading Room), Kuipersstraat 3, 8000 Brugge, 18 September 2008, 8.pm. Entrance fee: 3 € (free entry for Friends of the Biekorf).

Photo: Christ before Pilate, illumination from Book of Hours, use of Bruges (late 16th C). Illuminations on the verso side of interfoliated leaves. Cultura Fonds Collection.