iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

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Zanna Van Loon @zannavanloon.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Tiny title page pasted in Jan Moretus’ New Years gift for Christophe Plantin with title pages of all editions printed at the time at the Plantin Press. #bookhistory #rarebooks #earlymodern 💙📚📜

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KU Leuven Libraries Special Collections @speccoll-kuleuven.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

Church Father Augustine of Hippo (354–430) was one of the most prolific authors of late antiquity. In 1520, Lyon printer Jacques Sacon published De civitate Dei and De trinitate. Both editions survive in more than twenty copies, including one at KU Leuven. (1/2)

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Old Paper Collector @oldpapercollector.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

Hard to believe, but today marks exactly 450 years since the death of Franciscus Sonnius (1576), the very first Bishop of Antwerp and Den Bosch. A key figure in 16th-century church and print history, yet completely ignored by institutions today. #BookHistory #Sonnius #otd

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Tamara Atkin @tamarajatkin.bsky.social · 27/06/2026

Any liturgical scholars out there? I think this leaf straddles two consecutive Sundays: Homilia III in Dominica Tertia post Trinitatem on Luke 15:4 and Homilia IV in Dominica Quarta post Trinitatem on Luke 6:37. There's notation (v rubbed) on the lower half. Need some help identifying use. Thanks!

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Old Paper Collector @oldpapercollector.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

Pfff nowhere to escape the heat today… Otho Vænius (Amoris divini emblemata - 1615). #bookhistory #heatwave

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Old Paper Collector @oldpapercollector.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

After Edward Moretus sold the old printing establishment to the city of Antwerp, it became the best museum in the world: the Plantin-Moretus Museum. #OTD, 150 years ago, it was opened as museum! Congratulations with your 150th anniversary! 🥳🎈🎊 📚 #bookhistory #plantin #MPM

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Old Paper Collector @oldpapercollector.bsky.social · 02/06/2026

I just identified probably the oldest printed fragment in my collection! It's a rubricated leaf from Johann Mentelin’s 1474 Concordantiae bibliorum, surviving in situ as binder's waste inside a 1585 Protestant anti-Jesuit tract from La Rochelle. 📚🔍 #BookHistory #incunable

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Old Paper Collector @oldpapercollector.bsky.social · 30/05/2026

Antiphonarium Romanum (Aertssens, Antwerp 1633) used for personal devotion by Catholic women, probably in Amsterdam. Bartha de Wit and Anna Wansbeeck. #lithurgy #bookhistory #herbook

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Old Paper Collector @oldpapercollector.bsky.social · 26/05/2026

A fascinating look at early modern typography showing how different printers tackled the exact same year (1602). The use of this ligature (∞ = 1000) was new for me. #bookhistory

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Old Paper Collector @oldpapercollector.bsky.social · 24/05/2026

#Pentecost from a Missale Romanum (small folio - 1574 - Plantin). The woodcuts are designed by Pieter van de Borcht (PB) and executed by Antony van Leest (AVL). #Plantin #bookhistory

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Zanna Van Loon @zannavanloon.bsky.social · 22/05/2026

Frisket Fragment Find Friday 🎉  Fragment of a frisket reused in a 17th-c. religious binding. Red printed text meant to be excluded remains visible, pointing to a liturgical context. The frisket itself is recycled from a liturgical manuscript. Also present: other fragments of printed binder’s waste.

Detail of the binder’s waste showing fragments of printed text, cut-out holes, red printed text on parchment and underneath music notes and a gothic script.

Detail of a piece of parchment with cut-out holes and red printed text.

Close-up of the red printed text on parchment and one cut-out hole

The two pieces of frisket fragment laid out horizontally

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Zanna Van Loon @zannavanloon.bsky.social · 19/05/2026

Once carrying chant, now carrying contents: this liturgical #manuscript fragment is recycled as the cover of a small storage case. Just one of the many examples of the afterlives of medieval manuscripts! #rarebooks #bookhistory 💙📚📜

A small chest on a chair covered in a parchment fragment with liturgy, showing a large illuminated initial letter H on top.

Front view of a small chest on a chair covered in a parchment fragment with liturgy, showing a large illuminated initial letter H on top.

Opened chest showing more manuscript waste of a liturgical piece repurposed as the interior lining.

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Old Paper Collector @oldpapercollector.bsky.social · 15/05/2026

I visited this antique bookshop today. You literally had to climb over piles of books to reach more books! 😄 I wonder how much longer places like this will exist? #bookhistory

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Milda Kvizikevičiūtė @mildakviz.bsky.social · 15/05/2026

So much to admire! 🔥 Breviarium Romanum. Antverpiae: Ex Officina parva Plantiniana, apud Aegidium Beysium, 1595

A small early printed book shown standing upright on a dark surface against a pale textured background. The book has a worn wooden or leather-covered binding, raised bands on the spine, and fragments of handwritten text visible on reused parchment or manuscript waste wrapped around the spine. The edges and covers show age, wear, staining, and signs of historical use.

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Old Paper Collector @oldpapercollector.bsky.social · 15/05/2026

7 Dutch books from the same Carmelite Convent Elzendaal in #Boxmeer (Netherlands). All printed in Antwerp in the 17th century. #bookhistory #devotion

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Leo Cadogan @leocadogan.com · 13/04/2026

A feather in the opening of an incunable. Would be very interested to know what bird this came from.

Small yellow and black variegated bird feather in the gutter of a book.

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Old Paper Collector @oldpapercollector.bsky.social · 12/04/2026

A new addition to my Plantin collection. This beautiful binding by Jaak Mössly (bookbinder) and F. Beates (engraver) from Antwerp. Gifted as a first price for the Middle School for Young Ladies in 1892. 😍 #bookhistory #plantin #Antwerp

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Old Paper Collector @oldpapercollector.bsky.social · 05/04/2026

Depictions of the resurrection of Christ in 4 centuries of Plantin Press Missals! 1574,1658,1722,1837 #easter #bookhistory #plantin

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Old Paper Collector @oldpapercollector.bsky.social · 01/04/2026

A fascinating little book from my collection with an interesting list of clothing received by a Franciscan monk called William in the 18th century. What is the difference in this case between a “tunic” and a “habit”? #bookhistory

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Old Paper Collector @oldpapercollector.bsky.social · 28/03/2026

After a few great articles in the "Golden Compass" about female printers/publishers at the #Plantin Press, I searched in my collection for examples. I didn't know I had so many 😱. I put them together on my website: sites.google.com/view/oldpape... #bookhistory

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Old Paper Collector @oldpapercollector.bsky.social · 27/03/2026

New in my collection! Ecce Homo by Hendrick Goltzius (1597), #8 from his Passion series. I had a ‘after’ copy (mirrored) already, but this is real deal! What a details 😍 #renaissanceart #goltzius #passion

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Old Paper Collector @oldpapercollector.bsky.social · 25/03/2026

Can anyone help me clear this up? I’m looking at a 1687 edition of Drexel’s 'De sonne-bloeme,' supposedly published by the widow of Jan Cnobbaert (Maria de Man). However, records show she passed away in 1671—16 years earlier. Is the date 1687 a typo, or am I missing something? #bookhistory #Antwerp

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Old Paper Collector @oldpapercollector.bsky.social · 17/03/2026

A book with a great provenance! @johanoosterman.bsky.social was this book once part of the Saint Agatha library in Cuijk? #bookhistory #steelsius

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Vincenzo DM @vincenzodm.bsky.social · 29/01/2026

The Plantin-Moretus Museum in Antwerp. In the 16th c. this was the most important and largest printing business in Europe. The museum still holds the oldest still existing printing presses in the world.

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Vincenzo DM @vincenzodm.bsky.social · 03/02/2026

A copy of the New Testament, printed in 1526 by Willem Vorsterman in Europe’ printing capital Antwerp. The book was still in use in the 1790s. Photo: Plantin-Moretus Museum, Antwerp.

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Old Paper Collector @oldpapercollector.bsky.social · 06/01/2026

Epiphany 2026. 👑👑👑 The Adoration of the Magi, from the magnificent 1583 Biblia Sacra. 🖨️ Printed by Christoffel Plantin, Antwerp. 🎨 Artist: Crispijn van den Broeck. Epiphany #Antwerp #Bookhistory #Plantin

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Zanna Van Loon @zannavanloon.bsky.social · 19/12/2025

The Plantin archives: the gift that keeps on giving. An #earlymodern ledger for expenses on ‘white paper’ for the printing office with printed binder’s waste on its spine & a #medieval Vulgate Bible fragment as its cover. 😍 Happy holidays everybody! #rarebooks #bookhistory 💙📚📜

Open spine of an archival ledger showing its ribs and fragments of printed binder’s waste

Upper cover of the ledger with a medieval manuscript in a gothic hand together with a decorated initial letter D

Lower cover of the ledger with a medieval manuscript in a gothic hand together with a decorated initial letter Q and a large ink stain

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Old Paper Collector @oldpapercollector.bsky.social · 13/12/2025

"Meet the Lada of my book collection. 🚙💨 Exterior: A tragic, low-budget 20th-century rebinding. 📦 Under the hood: Precision 1642 engineering by Balthasar Moretus. 💎 It’s ugly, it’s boring, and it has zero aerodynamics... but the engine is world-class. 😤📚 #RareBooks #BookCollecting #PlantinMoretus

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Old Paper Collector @oldpapercollector.bsky.social · 09/12/2025

16th-century recycling. ♻️ This 1524 edition in my collection hides a secret: 13th-century canon law used as flyleaves. The binder clearly didn't care about the text anymore, placing the lovely blue initial upside down. #BookSky #BookHistory

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Old Paper Collector @oldpapercollector.bsky.social · 05/12/2025

In one of my books (Tirini - JP Verdussen 1688) I found this printer mark. It is signed with the monogram DMP. Does anyone know who this engraver is? Thanks in advance! #bookhistory #antwerpen #verdussen

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Vincenzo DM @vincenzodm.bsky.social · 28/11/2025

A student at the University of Leuven was bored in 1613 and decided to draw a weird figure. Photo shared by Zanna van Loon (Plantin-Moretus Museum, Antwerp)

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Old Paper Collector @oldpapercollector.bsky.social · 23/11/2025

Infographic to explain so called “frisket sheets”. Generated by Google’s Nano Banana Pro. Impressive! The example is from my collection. #bookhistory #fragmentology #recycling

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Old Paper Collector @oldpapercollector.bsky.social · 16/11/2025

These 16th-century Antwerp volumes still carry inked titles on their fore-edges—a reminder that they once stood the other way around on the shelf. A small detail, but a wonderful glimpse into how early readers organised their libraries. #BookHistory #OldBooks

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Old Paper Collector @oldpapercollector.bsky.social · 11/11/2025

Just identified a fragment in my collection as a leaf from the Šaraknocʿ (Amsterdam, 1664) — the first Armenian hymnal ever printed in Europe. It features a woodcut of the Virgin & Child by Christoffel van Sichem II, reused by Voskan Yerevantsi in Amsterdam. #bookhistory #Armenia #Amsterdam

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Old Paper Collector @oldpapercollector.bsky.social · 08/11/2025

A wonderful page from a Parisian Book of Hours (Horae Beatae Mariae Virgine, 1490-1510) with and unusual floral border in the style of Bruges-Ghent. I love it! 😍 #bookhistory

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Dr Bryony Coombs @bryonycoombs.bsky.social · 06/11/2025

Ohh look at this:

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Old Paper Collector @oldpapercollector.bsky.social · 05/11/2025

This frontispiece of Hubert Goltzius’ “Les Images de tous les empereurs” (Antwerpen, 1557) is an early form of multi color printing (Chiaroscuro woodcuts), here shown in 3 and 2 colors. What an artist! #bookhistory

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Pieter Beullens @pieterbeullens.bsky.social · 03/11/2025

Colophon in red ink from a recycled unidentified MS by Johannes Gredinger, completed on the “feria vi” after the feast of S. John “ad portam Latinam” (12 May?). The exact year is masked by the book’s spine label (@stabiberlin.bsky.social, Cs 6738) resolver.staatsbibliothek-berlin.de/SBB000157260...

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Old Paper Collector @oldpapercollector.bsky.social · 02/11/2025

Jan Luyken’s The Plate Printer (1694) from Het Menselyk Bedryf shows the heart of an early modern copperplate workshop. The pressman strains at the rolling press while fresh prints hang to dry — a perfect tribute to human skill and ink. #PrintHistory #Luyken #CopperplatePrinting #BookHistory

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Old Paper Collector @oldpapercollector.bsky.social · 01/11/2025

Happy All Saints! Woodcut designed by Pieter van de Borcht and cut by Antonie van Leest. From a Missale Romanum (Plantin, Antwerp -1574). #bookhistory #plantin

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Zanna Van Loon @zannavanloon.bsky.social · 31/10/2025

Spilled my coffee travel mug in my backpack this morning - can you imagine the horror - so let’s just say some time with these wonderful #earlymodern miniature books was very much needed! 1) Gregorian Calendar (1585) #rarebooks #bookhistory 💙📚📜 /1

Close up of a very small book bound in a fragment of a medieval liturgical manuscript on parchment

Yellow-black pencil for scale next to the miniature book which is with a parchment cover of medieval manuscript fragments

Close-up of the title page of the book: a Gregorian calendar printed in red and black.

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Pieter Beullens @pieterbeullens.bsky.social · 29/10/2025

Not only MSS were used in early book bindings, incunabula leaves were recycled, too. Here is a short anthology! First, from the Corpus iuris civilis printed in Rom, 1476 (GW 7678). Only 15 copies are known! (@stabiberlin.bsky.social, Dq 8880) resolver.staatsbibliothek-berlin.de/SBB0001655D0...

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