KU Leuven Libraries Special Collections
@speccoll-kuleuven.bsky.social
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We take care of KU Leuven Libraries' heritage collections housed in the University Library: rare books, lecture notes and other manuscripts, graphics... We also have a reference collection of more than 65.000 titles on book history.
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Literature
J. Ockeley, “Primussen van de universiteit van Leuven afkomstig uit Vlaams-Brabant en Brussel (1427-1797)”, ESDB 108/1 (2025), p. 50-62.
E. Reusens (ed.), Documents relatifs à l’histoire de l’université de Louvain (1425-1797), Leuven 1881-1903, vol. III p. 27 en 80 en vol. 4 p. 68.
speccoll-kuleuven.bsky.social
Special Collections preserves a manuscript (ms. 1447) containing mainly French songs, which, according to the text on the book cover, were written by him. They are not the spiritual songs one might expect from a canon, but often texts about love and Burgundian life.
speccoll-kuleuven.bsky.social
He was also canon at the chapter of Our Lady in Alba Longa in the Holy Spirit College, which was founded in 1606 by Jacobus Bosius. Guilielmus Lion died young, at the age of 25, in 1766. What is not mentioned in the literature is that Guilielmus Lion apparently had a poetic bent.
speccoll-kuleuven.bsky.social
In 1760, Guilielmus Henricus Lion was proclaimed primus of his year. Literature tells us that this son of the well-known Leuven clockmaker Alexander Lion studied pedagogy at The Castle (De Burcht), where he was also appointed professor in 1765. #leuven1425
speccoll-kuleuven.bsky.social
The oldest stories date back to the Middle Ages, while the most recent ones are, so to speak, from yesterday. The stories are available in Dutch (Netherlands and Flanders), Frisian and all kinds of regional languages.
speccoll-kuleuven.bsky.social
Exceptionnaly a #asiteoftheweek in Dutch. The Folktale Database of the Low Countries at the Meertens Institute contains over 100,000 stories from the past and present. All genres are represented: fairy tales, sagas, legends, riddles, jokes, urban myths and the like.
Volksverhalenbank van de Lage Landen
De Volksverhalenbank van de Lage Landen van het Meertens Instituut bevat ruim 100.000 verhalen uit heden en verleden. Alle genres zijn vertegenwoordigd: sprookje, sage, legende, raadsel, mop, broodjea...
www.verhalenbank.nl
speccoll-kuleuven.bsky.social
The pictures are necessary, because from now on, all books will be stored in acid-free custom-made boxes or collection boxes. Over the coming months, several thousand rare books will go through this process, thanks to the efforts of many colleagues and a few volunteers.
speccoll-kuleuven.bsky.social
The different stepts are: removing the book, taking photos of the binding, scanning the barcodes of the book and the shelf for location registration, and finally putting the book in the right place on the shelf.
speccoll-kuleuven.bsky.social
A rare book in an acid-free box: what is so special about that? Well, it is one of the first works to be moved to a depot with better storage conditions as part of the project #tomorrowsresearch. On Monday, all colleagues involved were given an explanation of the entire process.
speccoll-kuleuven.bsky.social
The BP16 database (Bibliographie des éditions parisiennes du 16e siècle) aims to catalogue all works printed in Paris during the 16th c. This database pays particular attention to identifying shared publications, signalling emissions and identifying typographical material. #siteoftheweek bp16.bnf.fr
Accueil (BP16)
Renouard numérisées de la Bibliothèque nationale de France.
bp16.bnf.fr
speccoll-kuleuven.bsky.social
The work was also made into a film, but this film is banned in Afghanistan, where the story is set. And in the American Library Association's top 100 of most banned books from 2010-2019, it even ranks eleventh.
speccoll-kuleuven.bsky.social
The works of Khaled Hosseini, an American author of Afghan descent, are very popular, also in the Netherlands. By the end of 2007, more than a million copies of his debut novel, the Kite Runner, had been sold in the Netherlands. #bannedbooksweekNL
speccoll-kuleuven.bsky.social
The book was a huge success among the hippie movement in the 1960s. Reading the book was therefore condemned by the authorities: Carroll's absurd world would encourage experimentation with mind-altering substances.
speccoll-kuleuven.bsky.social
One of the books we want to present for #bannedbooksweeksNL is Alice in Wonderland.
Alice enters a fantastic +absurd world through a rabbit hole. In China, the book was criticised bc the animals in the story could talk (or was the real reason the indirect criticism of the government in the book?).
speccoll-kuleuven.bsky.social
This is a campaign week in which libraries celebrate freedom of speech and invite readers to read these books. Belgian libraries are also invited to participate, and with the hashtag #bannedbooksweekNL, we will be posting a number of messages on the theme of censorship over the next few days.
speccoll-kuleuven.bsky.social
Unfortunately, the themes of censorship, fake news and (dis)information are more relevant than ever. That is why the Netherlands is now organising its first Banned Book Week, following the example of American libraries.
speccoll-kuleuven.bsky.social
Almost two years ago, we opened our exhibition (Un)chained Knowledge, subtitled “Fake news, censorship and information around 1500 and today”. The digital version of this exhibition is still available online. Why are we putting this exhibition back in the spotlight now?
(Un)chained Knowledge
In the mid-15th century, at the time when Dieric Bouts (ca. 1410-1475) settled in Leuven as a town painter, access to scientific knowledge was very limited. Professors could afford manuscripts, while ...
tinyurl.com
speccoll-kuleuven.bsky.social
Our #siteoftheweek is Old English Poetry in Facsimile (OEPF). This is a collaborative, open-access resource of facsimile editions, linking together moments of manuscript images, transcriptions, editorial annotations and translations of Old English poetry, to better allow people to study these works.
Old English Poetry in Facsimile
Old English poetry editions Anglo-Saxon poetry editions digital Old English editions
oepoetryfacsimile.org
speccoll-kuleuven.bsky.social
But rest assured, we will of course continue to post photos about our collection here. If you would like to read (again) exactly what the Tomorrow's Research project entails, please visit: bib.kuleuven.be/english/spec....
speccoll-kuleuven.bsky.social
Today we end our series of #tomorrowsresearch. For over 2y, we have posted weekly about a discovery in the collection. Now that we are preparing for the actual relocation, we are bringing this series to a close with a few photos that did not make it into a separate post.
Reposted by KU Leuven Libraries Special Collections
speccoll-kuleuven.bsky.social
On Monday, we were visited by our colleagues from the manuscripts and rare books department of the KBR, the Royal Library of Belgium. We showed them some works linked to university history, as well as items from important donors.
speccoll-kuleuven.bsky.social
Our #siteoftheweek is IThAC which aims to study the reception of ancient theatre in 16th-century Europe through an analysis of the scholarly paratexts devoted to it at the time, and to make the translation of this corpus into French available to the scholarly community.
IThAC ⠶ Page d'accueil
ithac.elan-numerique.fr
speccoll-kuleuven.bsky.social
The text of the Décret is followed by a signed text from the printer on the same page, promising to take legal action against any counterfeiters.