Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

Zanna Van Loon @zannavanloon.bsky.social · 1d

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 💙📚📜

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

1 10 47

Zanna Van Loon @zannavanloon.bsky.social · 7d

Oh believe me, if it were up to me … 😄

1

Zanna Van Loon @zannavanloon.bsky.social · 7d

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

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.

1 8 36

Zanna Van Loon @zannavanloon.bsky.social · 9d

☞☞ 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 💙📚📜

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

1 40 110

Zanna Van Loon @zannavanloon.bsky.social · 10d

Thanks, flagged as one of my favourites!

1

Zanna Van Loon @zannavanloon.bsky.social · 10d

Great idea, but I’m afraid is too short notice!

1

Zanna Van Loon @zannavanloon.bsky.social · 10d

Thank you!!

Zanna Van Loon @zannavanloon.bsky.social · 10d

Oh yes, I need to see this! 😍

1 1

Zanna Van Loon @zannavanloon.bsky.social · 10d

Sounds very interesting! Noted!

Zanna Van Loon @zannavanloon.bsky.social · 10d

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

1 1

Zanna Van Loon @zannavanloon.bsky.social · 10d

Haha, definitely! The first thing on my list.

2

Zanna Van Loon @zannavanloon.bsky.social · 10d

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? 📜

7 3 12

Zanna Van Loon @zannavanloon.bsky.social · 13d

😍

Reposted by Zanna Van Loon

Steven Van Impe @svanimpe.bsky.social · 15d

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...

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

2 36

Zanna Van Loon @zannavanloon.bsky.social · 16d

FINAL CALL! ⏰

One week left to apply for our Nottebohm Fellowship!

☟ ☟ ☟

Zanna Van Loon @zannavanloon.bsky.social · 22d

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

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...

tinyurl.com

14 21

Zanna Van Loon @zannavanloon.bsky.social · 16d

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.

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.

14 62

Zanna Van Loon @zannavanloon.bsky.social · 21d

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

3

Zanna Van Loon @zannavanloon.bsky.social · 22d

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

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...

tinyurl.com

3 10

Zanna Van Loon @zannavanloon.bsky.social · 22d

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 💙📚📜

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.

1 2 10

Zanna Van Loon @zannavanloon.bsky.social · 22d

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.

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.

1 5

Zanna Van Loon @zannavanloon.bsky.social · 22d

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.

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.

4 39 120

Reposted by Zanna Van Loon

Paul Arblaster @paularblaster.bsky.social · 27d

Op koppen lopen!

1 4

Zanna Van Loon @zannavanloon.bsky.social · Sep 9

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

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

1 4 23

Zanna Van Loon @zannavanloon.bsky.social · Sep 6

🙏

Reposted by Zanna Van Loon

Jess Ayres @drjessayres.bsky.social · Sep 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

6 24 120