Our catalogues

The library's holdings have been described in 2 catalogues so far.

The first catalogue is the sales catalogue accompanying the 510 books and broadsides that we acquired in 1991 at Brussels. These were all printed in the second half of the 16th C at Antwerp, by Christophe Plantin (Christophorus Plantinus, Christoffel Plantijn).
Catalogue #1:
Bibliographical info:
1589-1989. Labore et constantia. A Collection of 510 Editions Issued by Christopher Plantin from 1555 till 1589. Catalogued by Claude Sorgeloos. Introduction by Leon Voet [Honorary Director of the Museum Plantin-Moretus]. Brussels, Eric Speeckaert, 1990. No ISBN. Legal depot number: D/1990/2948/1. 465 p. Illustrated. Hard cover (cloth).

In auction catalogues, this catalogue #1 is often simply referred to as "Sorgeloos".

Claude Sorgeloos, an historian (ULB, Brussels), was our library's first curator (1991-1999). In 1999 he left Cultura Fonds to head the Rare Books Department at the Royal Library at Brussels (Koninklijke Bibliotheek/Bibliothèque royale, a.k.a. KBR).

Claude Sorgeloos is one of our most prolific authors regarding books, having produced numerous books, exhibition catalogues, and articles regarding book history, bindings, and other historical topics. He heads the research unit Groupe de contact 'documents rares et précieux' and is scientific director to the Bibliotheca Wittockiana.

The KBR, our Royal Library, houses not only one of the finest collections of Printed Books in the world, but also -in other Departments- of Manuscripts and of Etchings and Prints.

Claude Sorgeloos authored the second catalogue pertaining to our collection. This catalogue comprises rare books and manuscripts purchased prior to and following the big Plantin acquisition of 1991, up to December 1999. As to printed books, it comprises not just works from Plantin's printing press, but also by other European printing houses.

This catalogue appeared as an imprint of Le livre et l'estampe, the journal of the Royal Society of Bibliophiles and Iconophiles of Belgium, known as the venerable Société Royale des bibliophiles et iconophiles de Belgique (SRBIB).
Catalogue #2:
Bibliographical info:
Claude Sorgeloos: La bibliothèque du Cultura Fonds: acquisitions 1991-1999. Tiré à part de la revue [imprint of the journal] Le livre & l'estampe, XXXXVI, 2000, n° 154. 256 p. Illustrated. Paper. BE ISSN 0024533 X.

Acquisitions from the year 2000 onwards have not yet been published, neither in print, nor online.

Holdings: Figures

I will approach our holdings from a few angles. In terms of figures, Cultura Fonds Library currently holds the following items:

• 7 manuscripts (15th-16th C), all of which are part of bindings, except one double parchment leaf (grand folio)
  

• 3 etchings (all framed; 2: 16th C, 1: 18th C)

• 2 autograph letters (16th C)

• 125 ordinnances and broadsides (16th C)

• printed books spanning 4 centuries (excluding one 20th C reprint of a 16th C book), published from from1470 till 1789.

If we look per century, we get the following figures:

• holdings from the 15th century: 21 (3 manuscripts and 18 incunables or books printed before 1501)

• holdings from the 16th century: 795 (among them 35 postincunables or printed books published before 1541)
  

• holdings from the 17th century: 169

• holdings from the 18th century: 43 (among them 2 reprints of 16th C books)

And we add:

• holdings from the 20th century: 1 (its sole interest being a 20th C facsimile of a 16th book)

Welcome to Cultura Fonds Library

The Cultura Fonds Library is a library of Rare Books and Manuscripts situated at Dilbeek, Belgium.

It is privately, company-owned, and was founded in 1991, following the acquisition of 510 books printed by a 16th C printer born in France around 1520, but based at Antwerp: Christophe Plantin (Period of activity: c.1549-1589). We will come back to the holdings in detail shortly.

The Library can be visited by the larger public and by researchers every weekday from Mo-Fri, during business hours: 9.00 a.m - 5.30 p.m. Visits are arranged by appointment with the curator.

The purpose of presenting it in these pages is to acquaint the larger public with the library's holdings and features, but our approach certainly takes into account the interest of book historians.

Perhaps these pages become superfluous once a presentation by other digital means becomes possible, which will be of greater research interest, but this is uncertain at the moment.

More precisely, we hope to highlight in these pages certain partial features of the collection, such as bindings or provenances.