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Kristof Selleslach @kristofselle.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

The #manosphere ruled the Plantin Press in Antwerp: Printer Jan Cornet insulted his fellow printer Peter Baron in September 1630 by saying he’d be well suited to a monastery, where he could give the monks a blow job. #earlymodern #bookhistory #skystorians #plantinpress 1/

Complaint by Gielis Lamberkein against Jan Cornet for insulting Peter Baron, taken from the Plantin Press's Book of Complaints 1625-1641, fol. 17r

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Kristof Selleslach @kristofselle.bsky.social · 19/03/2026

To work at the #PlantinPress, you needed proven experience. Pressman Joannes Lievens trained with Jouret, spent 3 years in Mechelen with Van der Elst, then worked briefly for Du Caju and later for the widow Van der Cruys. In 1733, at age 26, he looked for a new job. #Skystorians #PrintingHistory /1

Work experience of Joannes Lievens in 1733 (MPM Arch. 735, item 422)

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Kristof Selleslach @kristofselle.bsky.social · 13/03/2026

Ever wondered how pressmen and compositors at the early-modern Plantin Press structured their careers? 📘🕰️ Join the University of Antwerp as a PhD fellow and dive into the rhythms of labour between 1580–1840 Apply by 1 July 2026 👇 #PhDPosition #EarlyModern #PlantinPress #PrintingHistory #Antwerp

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Kristof Selleslach @kristofselle.bsky.social · 03/12/2025

New blog post! Explore Maria de Sweert’s overlooked contribution to the Plantin Press and its 17th-century legacy. Full story👉 medium.com/@museumplant... #BookHistory #earlymodern #WomensAgency #WomeninHistory #Bluestorians #Skystorians #PlantinPress #History

medium.com

The invisible partner

Unveiling Maria de Sweert’s role in the Plantin Press

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Reposted by Kristof Selleslach

Zanna Van Loon @zannavanloon.bsky.social · 15/07/2025

Studying #earlymodern #bookhistory, #rarebooks, or print culture? Antwerp’s Museum Plantin-Moretus & the Hendrik Conscience Heritage Library offer unmatched treasures. Apply for the Nottebohm Fellowship by October 1: museumplantinmoretus.be/en/page/fell...! 💙📚📜

museumplantinmoretus.be

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...

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Reposted by Kristof Selleslach

Rare Book School @rarebookschool.bsky.social · 25/06/2025

Mark McConnell will give the 2025 Karmiole Endowed Lecture on “Publishing in the Renaissance: Christophe Plantin’s Business Strategy” at 5:30 p.m. ET on 11 June in UVA’s Special Collections Library Auditorium or via Zoom. Details: rarebookschool.org/programs/lectures

A vertically oriented rectangular graphic features a partly colorized print of a large, arcaded building with high ceilings held up by tall pillars. Inside the building, as well as on the street in the foreground, are several people in Renaissance dress, as well as a couple of dogs. Some of the people are climbing ladders, while others appear to be operating printing presses. Below this image is information about Mark McConnell’s public lecture.

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Kristof Selleslach @kristofselle.bsky.social · 26/05/2025

Impressed by this #earlymodern bill measuring 105 cm in length, which resembles an exceptionally lengthy supermarket receipt. Table linen merchant Hans van Velroeij supplied dozens of tablecloths and napkins for the wedding of Maria de Sweert and Jan Moretus II in July 1605. #Skystorians #Antwerp

Museum Plantin-Moretus, Arch. 100, fol. 505, Invoice from Hans van Velroeij to Gaspas Offermans for the delivery of tablecloths and napkins for the wedding of Maria de Sweert and Jan Moretus II in July 1605. The archive document has an exceptional length of 105 by 15 centimetres.

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Kristof Selleslach @kristofselle.bsky.social · 27/04/2025

Ready for my lecture on Cavagnole, an 18th-century game of chance played by the higher circles. I reinvented the game based on the handwritten rules I found in the Plantin-Moretus Archives. To play the game, you just need a deck of cards, coins, and a washcloth. #Erfgoeddag #Skystorians

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Kristof Selleslach @kristofselle.bsky.social · 28/03/2025

Wannabe author Joannes Paulus de Mont already designed a title page for his book on the temptations of the Devil and the flesh. Unfortunately, the Antwerp priest never found a printer to actually publish his book. #booksky #bookhistory #skystorians #earlymodern #antwerp

Manuscript title page of Joannes Paules de Mont's book on the temptations of the Devil and the Flesh, Antwerp, ca 1680 (Museum Plantin-Moretus, Arch. 273)

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Reposted by Kristof Selleslach

Patricia Stoop @dr-patriciastoop.bsky.social · 27/02/2025

Join us for the Summer School Books and Culture on The Religious Image @Ruusbroec Institute and @Museum Platin-Moretus in Antwerpen (30 June-5 July 2025). More information and apply: buff.ly/3QjN4EY #uantwerpen #summerschool #bookhistory

buff.ly

Books and Culture: The Religious Image | Books and Culture | Summer School | Antwerp Summer University | University of Antwerp

Book Historic Summer School of the University of Antwerp on Religious Imagery.

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Reposted by Kristof Selleslach

Zanna Van Loon @zannavanloon.bsky.social · 12/02/2025

Easy as ABC? During his first years of printing, it seems that Christophe Plantin as a printer with French origin had no letters 'k' available for this particular roman typeface, leading him to combine the letters 'lz' in his printed regulation for his employees in the printing office. 📚💙📜

The regulations in Dutch for the employees working at the Plantin Press dated from 1555. Printed on parchment in a roman type. The leaf contains some annotations on the bottom with added regulations.

Detail of the word 'druclerie' (printing office) spelled with an 'lz' instead of a 'k'

Detail of the word 'boeclzbinders' (bookbinders) spelled with an 'lz' instead of a 'k'

Detail of the word 'winclzellznecht' (shop assistant) spelled with an 'lz' instead of a 'k'

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Kristof Selleslach @kristofselle.bsky.social · 28/01/2025

How do you correct (liturgical) proofs when you have three proofreaders at your disposal? 1. The first or oldest proofreader reads the red proof and corrects the 2nd and 3rd proofs. [1/2] #bookhistory #earlymodern #howto #proofreading #anno1808

Instruction on proofreading, ca 1808 (MPM Arch. 193, f. 97v)

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Kristof Selleslach @kristofselle.bsky.social · 17/01/2025

Looking at tiny holes with rusty brown edges, indicating that Antwerp printer Christophe Plantin once nailed this work regulation to the wall of his workshop. #bookhistory #earlymodern #plantinpress #workregulations #skystorians

Printed work regulation of the Plantin Press, Antwerp, [1570-1572], tg:mpmak:25

Tiny hole with rusty brown edges in one of Christophe Plantin's printed work regulations, Antwerp, [1570-1572], tg:mpmak:25

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Kristof Selleslach @kristofselle.bsky.social · 13/01/2025

Creative accounting: #Earlymodern accountants often started a new accounting book with a calligraphic title. Contemporary accountants no longer have the opportunity to indulge their calligraphic talents in digital accounting systems. #Accounting #Calligraphy #Skystorian #History #Booksky

'Grooten Boeck' in calligraphic letters, Museum Plantin-Moretus, Arch. 432, incipit

'Journael' in calligraphic letters, Museum Plantin-Moretus, Arch. 487, incipit

'Livre du magasin commençant l'an 1745' in calligraphic letters, Museum Plantin-Moretus, Arch. 848, binding.

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Kristof Selleslach @kristofselle.bsky.social · 20/12/2024

Very excited that my article on the privilege summaries printed by Balthasar Moretus I has just been published in @emlcjournal.bsky.social 😍📖 The article is available in open access at emlc-journal.org/article/view... (the DOI provided appears to be invalid) #bookhistory #earlymodern

emlc-journal.org

A Reliability Check of Privilege Summaries Printed by Balthasar Moretus I (1610-1641) | Early Modern Low Countries

Early Modern Low Countries

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Kristof Selleslach @kristofselle.bsky.social · 18/12/2024

I love the obsolete Dutch word ‘boeksluiter’, the contemporary term in the Plantin Archives to denote the craftsman who makes metal book clasps. Even women were employed in this trade like Willem vander Waeren’s widow. What would be the English equivalent for ‘boeksluiter’? #bookhistory #herbook

Account of Willem vander Waeren in the bookbinders ledger 1666-1681, MPM Arch. 763, fol. 13r.

Account of Willem vander Waeren's widow in the bookbinders ledger 1666-1681, MPM Arch. 763, fol. 14r.

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Kristof Selleslach @kristofselle.bsky.social · 15/12/2024

I have never seen Granjon's combinable ornaments so tiny as in this frame. I understand that sometimes you have to exhibit a facsimile instead of an original print, but why does the replica have to shrink so much? #houseofeuropeanhistory #bellumetartes #bookhistory #earlymodern #typography

Replica of Georg Köler, Kurze Beschreibung des auß Irland, Nürnberg 1631, Germanisches Nationalmuseum

Details of Granjon's combinable ornaments in the replica

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Kristof Selleslach @kristofselle.bsky.social · 13/12/2024

The first time Christophe Plantin used his trademark, he still included the letter ‘C’ of his first name. Later, Plantin and his successors from the Moretus family simplified the trademark to PLNT. #bookhistory #earlymodern #skystorians

Christophe Plantin's first trademark CPLNT

A page in Christophe Plantin's journal for the shipments of books to Paris and Frankfurt, 1556-1559 (MPM Arch. 34, p. 30)

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Reposted by Kristof Selleslach

Natale Vacalebre @natvacalebre.bsky.social · 06/12/2024

The first speaker of the Materiality session @zannavanloon.bsky.social gave a fantastic talk about the collaboration between Christoph Plantin and the bookbinders in 16th-century Antwerp. #bookhistory #bookbinding #Antwerp #books #Plantin #earlymodern

Zanna Van Loon explaining the craft of bookbinding

What a bookbinding order looked like in early modern Antwerp

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Kristof Selleslach @kristofselle.bsky.social · 26/11/2024

Very pleased to find facsimiles from the Plantin-Moretus Archives in the temporary exhibition "Text is not our type" at the National Library of Latvia

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Kristof Selleslach @kristofselle.bsky.social · 26/11/2024

Presenting a paper on the training of Balthasar Moretus III on the shop floor of the #PlantinPress with a phenomenal view on Riga's old city on the background. I would like to thank the National Library of Latvia for this opportunity. #bookhistory #earlymodernhistory #plantinmoretus

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