Book History

Manuscript Studies · Book History

Sint Antonius en slimige spise: do's en don'ts tegen de pest

Tussen de gebeden in een Middelnederlands getijdenboek staat er plots een verrassende tekst: praktisch advies tegen de “nieuwe ziekte”, de pest. Voor de moderne lezer misschien onverwacht, maar voor een middeleeuwer meer vanzelfsprekend.

The maze of meaning: Interpreting Job through imagery in Leiden, UB, BPL 100 A

Leiden, UB, BPL 100 A, a glossed (annotated) copy of the biblical Book of Job dating from the twelfth century contains a number of sketches. What can these tell us about the interpretation of Job’s suffering in the Middle Ages?

Leiden's medieval manuscripts online: An update

Erik-Jan Dros, project officer on the ARMA (Art of Reading in the Middle Ages) project, takes us through the developments in the digitisation of the medieval manuscripts in Leiden University Library's collection which took place during 2021.

‘Red Riding Hood’ and the wolf: Marginal drawings in a collection of Cicero’s works

Leiden, Universiteitsbibliotheek, PER F 25, a fifteenth-century collection of works by Cicero, contains a number of interesting marginal drawings, but how, if at all, do they relate to its text?

Manuscript Studies · Book History

Why did Antonio de Nebrija draw faces into a Dutch book from 1480?

The humanist Antonio de Nebrija (c. 1444-d.1522) was a serious scholar, renowned for his work on the Spanish language. His hidden talent for drawing expressive faces, however, is less well known.

Manuscript Studies · Book History

Picture Perfect: The Life of a Fifteenth-Century Woodcut

Early printers often re-used their woodcuts. Previously created images could find new homes in a variety of texts. This post traces the life of a particular image that became the ideal image for the title page of a “love letter” from Christ.

Manuscript Studies · Book History

Following French Fashion: The Dutch Book of Hours in Print

On 16 August 1491, the most prolific printer of the Low Countries at the time, Gerard Leeu (d. 1492) published his only edition of a Book of Hours in Dutch. The book itself, however, looks French. Why was Leeu swayed by French fashion?

Literature

The Moving Finger: Glimpses into the Life of a Persian Quatrain

How did the Rubáiyát attributed to the medieval philosopher Omar Khayyam find its way on board of the R.M.S. Titanic, into a parody of Mark Twain, and even into a speech of President Bill Clinton?

Art History · Book History

Who’s That Guy? Identity Crisis in a Fifteenth-century Woodcut

In fifteenth-century illustrated printed books printers regularly re-used their illustrations. When working with this material, a feeling of déjà-vu is not uncommon. But sometimes you recognize just one person, and you ask yourself: Who’s that guy?