iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Zanna Van Loon @zannavanloon.bsky.social · 20h

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 💙📚📜

1347

Reposted by Zanna Van Loon

Suzanne Karr Schmidt @drkarrschmidt.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

ImPRESSed Yet? I am thrilled to announce that Impressive Textiles: Premodern Printing on Fabric will be published October 27 in print and Open Access with @acmrs.bsky.social, thanks to 30 textile and print scholars, and 1 groundbreaking exhibition @newberrylibrary.bsky.social! #CoverReveal 1/5

Cover art for Impressive Textiles: Premodern Printing on Fabric!

1526693

Reposted by Zanna Van Loon

Steven Van Impe @svanimpe.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Reminder: one more week to apply for the Nottebohm fellowship for #BookHistory research in Antwerp! For an idea of some of the research conducted using this travel fund, check out the recording of last week's Nottebohm Talks on YouTube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=JA2L...

youtube.com

Online Nottebohm Talks September 15 2016

YouTube video by Museum Plantin-Moretus

02018

Zanna Van Loon @zannavanloon.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Oh nothing fancy... Just an 18th-century binding with a crimson velvet spine and engraved silver-gilt plaques on both boards... #bookhistory #rarebooks #earlymodern 💙📚📜 1/

1317

Reposted by Zanna Van Loon

Liesbeth Corens @onslies.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

THEY GOT TO 2000 SUPPORTERS! Now in need of 3000 more in just under a year. LETS GO! #earlymodern #bookhistory #skystorians

14624

Reposted by Zanna Van Loon

Anna Opryszko @anna-opryszko.bsky.social · 16/09/2026

And I would have gotten away with it* too, if it weren’t for you meddling kids**! *an exact index **inexact printers Edward Herbert, The Life and Raigne of King Henry the Eighth (London, 1649) #bookhistory

Printed text reading: “In regard that this Impression passing in Presse through the hands of divers Printers, divers pages are mis-cyphered, and others have none at all, this Index could not be made so exact as it might have been made otherwise.”

1153

Zanna Van Loon @zannavanloon.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Failed attempt to make my posts less beige… Two decorated examples of binder’s waste: one a late eighteenth-century/early nineteenth-century printed fragment and the other a sixteenth-century manuscript leaf. #bookhistory #earlymodern #rarebooks 💙📚📜

1231

Reposted by Zanna Van Loon

Steven Van Impe @svanimpe.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Reminder: TOMORROW 2 researchers will give an online Nottebohm Talk about their #BookHistory research in Antwerp. 📚💙 📜 @ewatson.bsky.social on 'The Interconfessional Dutch Clients of the Officina Plantiniana, 1579-1723' Mitchel Gundrum on 'The earliest known European manual on #bookbinding (1612)'

0175

Reposted by Zanna Van Loon

Zanna Van Loon @zannavanloon.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Join us on 15 September, 8:00-9:30 pm CEST, for our very first Nottebohm Talks! Former Nottebohm Fellows will present their research conducted in Antwerp thanks to our Nottebohm Fellowship. More info & registration: sl1nk.com/ti9htou Meet our speakers! 👇1/ #rarebooks #earlymodern #bookhistory 📜📚💙

consciencebibliotheek.be

Online Nottebohm Talks | Erfgoedbibliotheek Hendrik Conscience

Every year, the Hendrik Conscience Heritage Library and the Museum Plantin-Moretus offer a short-term Nottebohm fellowship to two researchers, with the gracious support of the Thierry and Frédéric Not...

195

Zanna Van Loon @zannavanloon.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

consciencebibliotheek.be

Online Nottebohm Talks | Erfgoedbibliotheek Hendrik Conscience

195

Zanna Van Loon @zannavanloon.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

A glimpse into the sixteenth-century printing office. This 16th-century Bible sheet became a printer’s copy: a gathering from an earlier edition, marked in red by compositors and used as copy for a new setting, placed on the visorium above the type cases. #earlymodern #bookhistory #rarebooks 📚💙📜

First gathering of the edition with the unfolded pages visible, including the title page on the bottom left. The paper sheet contains printed text, red markings, and ink stains.

Detail of the ink stains on the sheet of paper

Details of the red markings added by hand

29231

Zanna Van Loon @zannavanloon.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

A curatorial dilemma from Museum Plantin-Moretus: this large collage of printed fragments from Plantin & Moretus editions, assembled by the museum team a long time ago & displayed for decades in the printing room. The fragments were pasted onto a support, and the effects are visible in the paper. /1

Large wooden frame next to a window in an interior with wooden elements. Reflection of the windows of the opposite wall visible. The frame contains a collage of printed fragments.

View of the frame next to the window and the wooden type cases.

126520

Zanna Van Loon @zannavanloon.bsky.social · 06/08/2026

At some point, someone looked at this limp parchment binding with a copy of the Index of Prohibited Books and thought: ‘That'll do for my calculations.’ #rarebooks #bookhistory #earlymodern 💙📚📜

Detail of handwritten calculations made on an early modern parchment binding with an early modern hand

Upper cover of the limp parchment binding with straps

Title page of the book reading Index expurgatorius librorum, the imprint reads that it was printed in Antwerp by Christophe Plantin in 1571

1272

Zanna Van Loon @zannavanloon.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

One last chance to visit! Museum Plantin-Moretus closes temporarily from Monday, 3 August while we prepare a renewed permanent exhibition. Reopening on 5 December 2026. We hope to see you then! ✨ #earlymodern #rarebooks #bookhistory 📜💙📚

Bird’s eye perspective of the great hall with wooden staircases and a tile floor with a star pattern in the middle. Copyright: LUCID

Exterior view of the museum of brick walls with one covered in creeper. Copyright: LUCID

24712

Zanna Van Loon @zannavanloon.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

Question for #earlymodern #bookhistory #rarebooks people!📜 Leon Voet claims 16,263 parchment sheets for thirteen copies of Plantin's eight-volume Polyglot bible required about 8,000 sheep to be slaughtered. Does this imply that a single sheep skin yielded two parchment sheets? /1

Engraved title page of the first volume of Plantin's Polyglot bible. It refers to the four biblical languages used in the first four volumes of the Old Testament, framed by a wreath of Mediterranean plants. At the bottom, animals living in peace symbolize an ideal harmony among peoples and under the Christian faith.

4188

Reposted by Zanna Van Loon

Daniel Bellingradt @dbellingradt.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

Searching for endnotes in a book. #academicchatter

A detail of a larger engraving featuring a figure resembling an elderly man holding a lantern. He is having an opened book on his head. The figure is in a dynamic pose, with one arm extended as if gesturing, surrounded by intricate decorative elements and mythological scenes in the background.

1023843

Zanna Van Loon @zannavanloon.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

Christophe Plantin printed a number of school editions, including Virgil’s Aeneid, with wide margins & generous line spacing for students’ notes. This copy is especially remarkable: it belonged to his grandson, the young Balthasar I Moretus. Judging by his aannotations, he was a diligent student!

Detail of two facing pages, on the left handwritten notes, on the right the heavily annotated printed Latin text

Title page of the book, reading ‘Pvbl. Virgilii Maronis Aeneidos Liber VI.’ It contains a woodcut engraving of Plantin’s printer’s mark and his imprint.

The first page of the main text with notes in between the lines and margins facing an interleaved page filled with handwritten notes.

04216

Reposted by Zanna Van Loon

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

33310

Zanna Van Loon @zannavanloon.bsky.social · 12/06/2026

Sometimes paper remembers more than it keeps. Three handwritten catalogues survive from the Plantin‑Moretus family library. This one is the earliest, compiled in 1592. Unfortunately, it has suffered from water damage: the first pages are only partially preserved and in places difficult to read. /1

First folio of the inventory, completely blank, but showing the water damage in the right corner spreading out in a brownish colour over a couple of pages with tears in the folios

Detail of the first folio with several entries of books starting with the letter B. The water damage has made parts of the first entries illegible

1305

Zanna Van Loon @zannavanloon.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

Final page turn in our permanent display before we temporarily close. From August, Museum Plantin-Moretus will be closed while we work behind the scenes on a renewed presentation. If you’re planning a visit in the autumn, you’ll have to wait just a little longer… We reopen in early December! 💙📚📜

4467

Zanna Van Loon @zannavanloon.bsky.social · 27/05/2026

THIS is your sign to come and do #bookhistory research in Antwerp in the outstanding collections of Museum Plantin-Moretus and the Hendrik Conscience Heritage Library. Apply here for the Nottebohm Fellowship by Oct 1: sl1nk.com/i61nfmk 💙📚 📜 Come and join us... It’s pretty great here! 😉

Library with rare books on shelves in leather and parchment. Copright: LUCID

View of the exterior of the museum. Copyright: LUCID

47827

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

15016

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.

410523

Reposted by Zanna Van Loon

Steven Van Impe @svanimpe.bsky.social · 19/05/2026

Prof. Pedro Rueda received a Nottebohm scholarship to research the #EarlyModern trade in movable type between #Antwerp, Seville and Spanish America. He focused on the bookseller Tomás López de Haro, who had connections in Leiden, Antwerp and Seville. #bookhistory

1135

Zanna Van Loon @zannavanloon.bsky.social · 04/05/2026

Very glad to welcome @pedrorueda.bsky.social in our reading room and to have him discuss his ongoing research as part of his Nottebohm fellowship!

0174

Zanna Van Loon @zannavanloon.bsky.social · 29/04/2026

Just the type of thing to find in our collections: a sheet with rows of characters probably printed as a working proof to assess wear & damage. This would explain why no frisket was used: the sheet was not a type specimen intended for presentation to potential clients. #bookhistory #rarebooks 📚💙📜

Paper sheet with rows of characters, including the letters P, Q, m etc. Below furniture visible consisting of 8 printed blocks.

Detail of the paper sheet focusing on the letters m in the middle, with one of the characters printed upside down

Detail of the paper sheet focusing on the letters Q in the middle, showing visible wear

65414

Zanna Van Loon @zannavanloon.bsky.social · 24/04/2026

We have finally completed the digitization of this unique work, so as of now it is available online for all #earlymodern #rarebooks #bookhistory people to enjoy! ☞ dams1.antwerpen.be/asset/KIataT...

dams1.antwerpen.be

Cunst der boeckbinders handwerck

16628

Zanna Van Loon @zannavanloon.bsky.social · 23/04/2026

An unusually unlucky start to the day, as I lost a shoe between the platform & the train this morning (don’t ask), so things are looking up with some time spent with our newest acquisition: a rare copy of Plantin’s book of hours (1570) printed on parchment, bound in a contemporary fanfare binding!

Title page of the Horae beatissimae virginis Mariae printed on parchment in red and black with the imprint reading it was printed in 1570,by Christophe Plantin in Antwerp

Detail of the binding with a focus on the tooling in fanfare style

Upper cover of the binding with the intricate design on leather

Two facing pages in the book with on your left blank space reserved for an engraving

7819

Zanna Van Loon @zannavanloon.bsky.social · 17/04/2026

Planned some cataloguing today, but didn’t expect to (re)discover this uncatalogued early 17th‑century specimen sheet comparing the same liturgical text in different type setting, with annotations noting the number of sheets required with that specific type and corresponding cost for printing!

Paper sheet with four different type settings of pages in liturgical books printed in black and red

Detail of two pages in different type but of the same text of a diurnum with handwritten notes below

Detail of a page of a breviary with a handwritten note below

59223

Zanna Van Loon @zannavanloon.bsky.social · 16/04/2026

Fictitious imprints deserve their moment. I’ll go first: 'Printed in the printing office of orthodox doctrine, by the heirs of Pope Juth, residing in Bricked‑Up Street in Rome, right next to the place where the excess good works of the Roman saints are sold for money, in the pissed‑out Purgatory'

Detail of the imprint reading:

Gedrukt in de verdruckerye der rechtzinnige leere, by de erfgenamen van Paus Juth, woonende in de toegemetselde straet tot Romen, aldernaest daermen de overtollige goede wercken der Roomsche Heyligen om ghelt verkoopt, in 't uytgepiste vagevier.

7459

Zanna Van Loon @zannavanloon.bsky.social · 10/04/2026

Finder’s fee: seasonal fruit. Early modern provenance mark on the flyleaf in a 16th-century illuminated manuscript: ‘This book belongs to Catrina Leoners. Whoever finds it should return it to her for an apple or a pear…’ #rarebooks #earlymodern #bookhistory 💙📚📜

Detail of the provenance mark reading: Catrina Leoners hoort dit bouck toe, die het vindt die doet haer weer om een appel of een peer die het en doet

First page in the manuscript with a decorated letter A in blue and red and border decoration in green and red

38734

Zanna Van Loon @zannavanloon.bsky.social · 03/04/2026

Me again, now with a query: might these binder’s waste flyleaves in our new acquisition (Dodoens, A new herball, Bollifant: 1595) be from an edition of the De termino Hillarii. Anno regni regis Henrici septimi? Anyone with EEBO access able to check? #rarebooks #bookhistory 💙📚📜

Flyleaves in an early modern bookbinding with law French in it

3155

Reposted by Zanna Van Loon

Bram De Ridder @bramderidder.bsky.social · 03/04/2026

🌿🌾 You like gardens? You like history? And games? Then rejoice, because LOBELIUS is here! Thanks to official partners, Museum Plantin-Moretus and the Meise Botanical Garden, the players can skim through the 1581 Kruydtboeck by Matthias de l´Obel. Can you make the most beautiful early modern garden?

1112036

Reposted by Zanna Van Loon

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

092

Zanna Van Loon @zannavanloon.bsky.social · 01/04/2026

Blank pages invite use. In this 1578 print album by Philip Galle, published in collaboration with the Officina Plantiniana, a later reader used the flyleaves and leftover white space to sketch contemporary faces and figures. #bookhistory #rarebooks #earlymodern 💙📚📜

Title page of the book, reading 'Principes Hollandiae et Zelandiae domini Frisiae'

Sketch of a woman in early modern attire carrying a child

Sketch of a woman carrying stuff on her head, on the right a person on a horse.

Sketch of a man with his arms crossed looking a woman who has her back to the viewer.

47220

Zanna Van Loon @zannavanloon.bsky.social · 27/03/2026

A new gem in our collection: a remarkable 1571 copy of Plantin’s Humanae salutis monumenta. Because text, borders and plates were printed separately, no two copies are alike. This one is beautifully bound in an exceptional French fanfare binding. #earlymodern #bookhistory #rarebooks 💙📚📜

Shot of the early modern open book on a grey book pillow on a wooden table. Inside you see printed text on the verso page and an engraving within an engraved border on the facing recto page

Engraved title page of the book. Designer/Engraver: The title page bears the monogram of Pieter Huys (active 1550–1581), a noted Flemish designer and engraver.
Imagery: The design is highly architectural, featuring large, elaborate columns framing the text. In the background, it depicts a Renaissance palazzo or building, which serves as a metaphor for the book’s title, Monuments evoking human salvation.
Symbolism: The engraving shows people walking in a foreground square, suggesting the reader is on a balcony or podium overlooking the scene, inviting them to enter the "architectural" structure of the book's theological meditations.
Text: At the head of the title is the inscription: "Regi seculor immortali s.".

Early modern book in an elaborate French fanfare binding, featuring dark leather boards decorated with intricate gilt tooling, interlacing strapwork, floral ornaments, and small gold dots.

39216

Reposted by Zanna Van Loon

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

03123

Zanna Van Loon @zannavanloon.bsky.social · 10/03/2026

Lost no more! A private individual recently contacted Museum Plantin‑Moretus after spotting our historical library stamp in a book bought at a flea market. Photos showed two clear impressions of our round stamp on the title page. #bookhistory #rarebooks #earlymodern 📚💙📜 /1

Title page of the book which reads: 'Novelle allegoriqve ov histoire des derniers trovbles arrivez av royavme d'eloqvence. Then a woodcut ornament and the imprint: 'A Paris, Chez Gvillavme de Lvyne, libraire iuré, au Palais, en la sale des merciers, à la iustice. M. DC. LVIII. Avec privilége du roy. Beneath a round library stamp reading 'Museum Plantin-Moretus • Antwerpen'

Detail of the round library stamp reading 'Museum Plantin-Moretus • Antwerpen'

15711

Reposted by Zanna Van Loon

Liesbeth Corens @onslies.bsky.social · 08/03/2026

#BookHistory gang, I *need* you to act. There had been one of an entire #ItsyBitsyGutenberg shop in 2022 and we didn't get it to the required number of votes 😭

13114

Zanna Van Loon @zannavanloon.bsky.social · 06/03/2026

And what, according to Pieter Bruegel the Elder, does one always need in the Land of Cockaigne to indulge in idleness? A book, of course. #bookhistory #rarebooks #earlymodern 💙📚📜

In this print, which accurately follows in reverse Bruegel's 1567 painting of the same title (Munich, Alte Pinakothek), three figures—a soldier, a farmer, and a clerk—are shown sleeping off the effects of their overindulgence, or waiting for more drink to imbibe—as the clerk does at left. Some of the remains of their meal are strewn on the platform encircling the tree in the center, while the mountain of buckwheat in the background and the house covered with tarts at right indicate this land has plenty to spare. The image's moralizing intent—to decry the vices of sloth and gluttony—is apparent from the first part of the Dutch inscription below: "The lazy and gluttonous farmers, soldiers, and clerks get there and taste all for nothing."

Detail of two men dozing off with the left man having a book and a written sheet of paper laying there

Detail of a book binding with clasps and a loose sheet of written paper

1202

Zanna Van Loon @zannavanloon.bsky.social · 05/03/2026

Stil life of untrimmed pages with proof corrections of the Polyglot bible #rarebooks #earlymodern #bookhistory 📚📜💙

Detail of untrimmed pages with very uneven appearance

36816

Zanna Van Loon @zannavanloon.bsky.social · 03/03/2026

It was an absolute delight having Laura Semlič around in Museum Plantin‑Moretus! Her blog shows her work on our incunabula for the CERL MEI database, including provenance traces linked to Dorothy and Mary Clement. Find out more here: cerlblog.wordpress.com/2026/03/03/c... #earlymodern #bookhistory

cerlblog.wordpress.com

CERL Internships 2025 – Museum Plantin-Moretus

By Laura Semlič Thanks to the support of the Consortium of European Research Libraries (CERL), I had the exciting opportunity to spend nearly five months at the M…

0120

Reposted by Zanna Van Loon

Daniel Bellingradt @dbellingradt.bsky.social · 01/03/2026

Back in 1588, everyone still knew that book trees grow better when there's music around, and when you speak to them. Attention and house organ music were the key.

This image from 1588 shows a tree with big bound books grewing instead of fruits. This tree starts in a house organ that is played from a well-dressed woman and a man. The image of part of. abook praising the art of making books, you may find it here if you fancy: http://diglib.hab.de/drucke/uh-20/start.htm

830677

Zanna Van Loon @zannavanloon.bsky.social · 02/03/2026

We all slip. In 1591, so did 1 of Mynken Liefrinck’s workmen quite literally. While printing engravings for this edition of Ovid’s Metamorphoses published by Jan I Moretus, a stray paper slip seems to have been left between plate & sheet. Its edge blocked ink, leaving a defined unprinted corner.

Detail of an early modern engraving with the corner left unprinted because seemingly a paper slip was between the plate and the paper sheet, as the unprinted area has a rectangular shape.

Page in the book with the entire engraving showing an unprinted area in the right corner below.

Title page of the book. Printed text surrounded by an engraved border reading ‘P. Ovidius Nasonis Metamorphoses.’ The imprint clarifies the book was published by Jan I Moretus.

37516

Zanna Van Loon @zannavanloon.bsky.social · 25/02/2026

Owning a printing office comes in handy when your family library needs labels for the books: just print the labels with the monogram on paper first, then paste it onto the spines! #bookhistory #earlymodern #rarebooks 📚💙📜

Early modern books with parchment and leather covers on a shelf with the spine out. In the middle a book with a parchment cover and on the spine a label with the monogram PLNTN.

A couple of early modern books with gold-tooled leather covers with the spine out, on a few on which the spines contain a label with the monogram PLNTN.

Detail of a small piece of paper with the monogram PLNTN printed on it.

Long pieces of paper with various monograms PLNTN printed on it.

1276

Reposted by Zanna Van Loon

Daniel Bellingradt @dbellingradt.bsky.social · 18/02/2026

Here is a cool call for the #bookhistory communities: “Women Printing for Institutions in Early Modern Europe”, at the HAB Wolfenbüttel (and organized by Saskia Limbach) in November 2026. CFP: www.hab.de/wp-content/u...

hab.de

13524

Zanna Van Loon @zannavanloon.bsky.social · 11/02/2026

When life gives you woodworms, go ahead and decorate the holes! #bookhistory

Detail of wormholes below printed text, one of which has been decorated by hand with a small doodle around the hole

520532