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Summaries/Samenvattingen
Sylvia van Zanen - ‘I look forward to the publication of that book’: the library of the botanist Carolus Clusius
The extant 1609 auction catalogue of the library of Carolus Clusius (1526-1609) seems to offer a good insight into the book collection of the famous Southern Netherlandish naturalist. Two specimens of this catalogue have been preserved: one in the Kongelige Bibliothek in Copenhagen (79ii 39, Vol i, 2), the other in the Thüringer Universitäts- und Landesbibliothek in Jena (8 Hist lit. xix, 5).
This article examines whether the auction catalogue indeed offers a realistic and complete picture of the scholar's book collection and whether the catalogue can reveal something about the way the collection was built up over the years. Moreover, it will give an impression of the ways books were collected in sixteenth century humanist circles. In addition to the research of the catalogue itself, three other complementary sources are used: Clusius's correspondence, books referred to by him in his own publications and preserved specimens from his library.
The catalogue, consisting of 28 pages and containing 643 lots of books, was printed by the Leiden publisher Thomas Basson. The auction took place on 21 May 1609, only six weeks after Clusius passed away. Circa 580 books (in 513 lots) must have belonged to Clusius' library: the remaining 130 titles of unknown origin occur in an Appendix, that fills the last five pages of the catalogue. The books have been classified into the traditional categories, each in itself divided according to the different book sizes. Noteworthy is that the catalogue announces the sale of Clusius's watercolours figuring plants and animals, his maps, coins and medals, natural curiosities and even the plants from his garden. The catalogue was printed with extreme care considering the lack of printing errors and the accurate cataloguing of the books. Places and years of imprint have been added consistently and in many cases even the names of the publishers occur. In some cases additional information on specific copies is mentioned, like provenances and annotations.
An auction catalogue shows the state of the library at one particular moment in time, i.e. the time of sale, and says little about the acquisition of the books. In this particular case however, the catalogue clearly reflects the different periods in Clusius's life, from his early school days, his years as a student in a.o. Louvain and Montpellier, to his final days as an elderly scholar in Leiden. The catalogue reveals that Clusius obtained books, usually recently published ones, during his many travels and in the different towns he lived in in the Southern Netherlands, in Vienna, Frankfurt and Leiden.
The analysis of the auction catalogue leads to the conclusion that the catalogue offers a rich, but incomplete representation of his library. Especially striking are the gaps in the category of contemporary studies on the natural sciences. The three complementary sources mentioned above offer additional information on these illogical lacunas. The correspondence and the list of books from which Clusius quotes in his many publications clearly show that the collection must have been substantially larger than it appears from the catalogue. Moreover, several books wearing Clusius's annotations and his name that are still extant in several libraries in the Netherlands and elsewhere are lacking in the auction
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catalogue, thus proving in the clearest way that the catalogue is incomplete. It is also evident from the correspondence that Clusius's library had all the most recent literature, as many books were disseminated by the authors among their friends immediately after publication: Clusius received many of the books written by his friends and in return presented them with his own publications. New publications are a recurring topic in the letters. Correspondents frequently asked their contacts to search the local bookshops for unavailable works.
The catalogue reveals an active acquisition policy, especially during the years when Clusius lived in Frankfurt and could make use of what was on offer at the biannual book fairs. A large number of books in the catalogue have an imprint year from this period (1588-1593). It is noticeable that almost al the books with a printing place in the Northern Netherlands, especially those printed in Amsterdam, The Hague and Middelburg, but to a considerable degree even those printed in Leiden, were published in the same period he lived in the Northern Netherlands.
Libraries have an important responsibility in enabling research like this, cataloguing information on provenances and bookplates on a large scale. Of even greater importance is the responsibility to offer good accessibility of collections of letters, preferably in searchable online editions. Initiatives such as those taken by the Huygens ing for the Clusius correspondence can serve as an example. Research into libraries and collections carried out in this way, is in all respects timeconsuming, but certainly more than rewarding.
Alex Alsemgeest - Nederlandse connecties in Zweedse collecties
In de collecties van Zweedse bibliotheken zijn tienduizenden Nederlandse boeken uit de zeventiende en de achttiende eeuw te vinden. In algemene zin zijn deze aantallen eenvoudig te verklaren. De Nederlandse Republiek is treffend omschreven als de boekwinkel van de wereld en in Nederland gedrukte boeken kom je overal tegen, dus ook in Zweden. Niettemin heeft het een vervreemdend effect om in een afgelegen bibliotheek in midden-Zweden kasten vol met Nederlandse boeken te zien staan. Zeker als blijkt dat een deel van deze boeken nergens anders voorkomt. Is het dan voldoende om te wijzen op de dominante positie van de Nederlandse boekhandel om te begrijpen hoe deze boeken in Zweden zijn beland en waarom ze op die plaats bewaard zijn gebleven?
Boeken belanden niet toevallig in specifieke collecties. Er zijn vaak duidelijke historische oorzaken aan te wijzen waarom een bepaalde titel wel op de ene plaats bewaard is gebleven en niet ergens anders. De enorme aantallen Nederlandse boeken in Zweedse collecties reflecteren de langdurige en omvangrijke sociale en culturele contacten tussen beide landen: politieke betrekkingen, handelscontacten, migratiepatronen en wetenschappelijke netwerken, het speelt allemaal een rol. Per collectie zijn er echter grote verschillen. In de praktijk blijkt er vaak een heel persoonlijk verhaal te kleven aan de vraag waarom een specifiek exemplaar in een collectie terecht is gekomen.
In dit artikel breng ik een viertal historisch gelaagde Zweedse collecties waar veel Nederlandse boeken in te vinden zijn onder de aandacht. De Finspongcollectie van de Nederlandse wapenhandelaar Louis de Geer in de stadsbibliotheek van Norrköping, de collectie van de Zweedse aristocraat, militair en staatsman Carl Gustav Wrangel in het kasteel Skokloster, de theologische collectie van Carl Fredrik Muhrbeck in de stiftbibliotheek van Västerås en de natuurhistorische collectie van de gebroeders Bergius die vandaag de dag beheerd wordt door de Universiteitsbibliotheek van Stockholm. Alle vier de collecties vertellen een geheel eigen verhaal over de manier waarop de Nederlandse boeken in Zweden terecht gekomen zijn. Via in Nederland gestationeerde ambassadeurs en agenten bijvoorbeeld, via de Nederlandse handel op de Oostzee of via wetenschappelijke correspondentie. In andere gevallen blijken boeken al decennia in Noord-Duitsland en Scandinavië gecirculeerd te hebben, voordat ze in de collectie van een Zweedse verzamelaar belandden. De diversiteit in verhalen ondersteunt de gedachte dat de sociale en culturele betrekkingen tussen beide landen alomvattend waren.
Om te begrijpen hoe de handel en verspreiding van Nederlandse boeken in Scandinavië precies in elkaar stak, is het essentieel om eerst een overzicht te hebben van wat er te vinden is en waar deze exemplaren liggen. Zo ver zijn we helaas
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nog niet, maar de Short-Title Catalogue, Netherlands bevat inmiddels wel enkele honderden unica uit Zweedse bibliotheken. Als deze gegevens gekoppeld worden aan de - qua omvang bescheiden, maar wat betreft de metadata zeer rijke - Zweedse provenance databases als ProBok en Alvin, kunnen we nieuwe, complexe onderzoeksvragen stellen. Op termijn zullen we een antwoord krijgen op de vraag hoe het toch mogelijk is dat er duizenden Nederlandse boeken in ‘afgelegen’ Zweedse bibliotheken te vinden zijn.
Erik Geleijns - ‘Five presses put up and one disassembled’. The books of an eighteenth-century Hague jobbing printer
On 17 January, 1729, the Hague printer Willem Blyvenburg died, leaving his grandson behind as an orphan. The Hague orphanage took charge of Blyvenburg's estate, and an inventory was made of all of his belongings, including the printing workshop and his books. Blyvenburg had come from Amsterdam and entered the Hague bookseller's guild in 1719. The guild's regulations required members to be able to bind books, but they do not mention requirements for printers or booksellers. Many members were printer, bookseller and bookbinder at the same time. Blyvenburg, however, is always referred to as ‘printer’. Presumably he was a jobbing printer and did not sell books.
Searches in the Short-Title Catalogue, Netherlands (stcn) and other databases at present only yield a handful of books printed by Blyvenburg, including a long poem by the Dutch poet Coenraed Droste, and a few theological books. The stcn ascribes a miniature bible to him on the basis of strong similarities to another bible with his name in the colophon.
The Orphanage file in the Hague Municipal Archives includes a long inventory of items found in the house of the deceased, followed by a list of type and other items found in the printing workshop. Rather surprising, in view of the limited number of books with Blyvenburg's name on the title page, is the fact that he had ‘five presses put up and one disassembled’. Printers in The Hague and other cities in the Dutch Republic in the early eighteenth century typically owned two or at most three presses.
What follows is a list of books found among Blyvenburg's possessions. There are 188 titles arranged by format and ranging from 1577 to 1729, the year of Blyvenburg's death. He owned some folio bibles and other large-scale and geographical works, some of them with coloured plates. There are some literary and medical works, and some theological ones, but there is no substantial collection of any subject. What is striking, however, is that the categories (folio, quarto and octavo and smaller) all end with a list of recent Hague publications. The folios end with, for instance, Pierre Bayle's Oeuvres diverses, published in 1725 by a company of nine Hague booksellers and Maria Sybilla Merian's Dissertatio de generatione et metamorphosibes insectorum Surinamensium (Pierre Gosse, 1726); in the list of quartos there are, among others, copies of the 1729 edition of William Temple's Nouveaux memoires, and of the 1726 Hague edition of the Ebauche de la religion naturelle by William Wollaston, while among the smaller formats can be found Gilbert Burnet's Memoires pour servir a l'histoire de la Grande-Bretagne, published by the Hague bookseller Isaac Vaillant in 1725, and Le grand mistere, ou L'art de mediter sur la garderobe, ascribed to Jonathan Swift (Jean van Duren, 1729). Many of these books, which make up more than a fifth of all books in the list, are named as ‘unbound’, that is, in sheets. They were published by different booksellers in the period 1719-1729, precisely Blyvenburg's years of activity. The obvious question is whether they could have been printed by him.
Looking at the books closely, they appear to have some characteristics in common. In the smaller books, it is especially the initials consisting of an upper case letter in a frame composed of typographical elements that recur over and over again. The fact that many of the books are listed as ‘unbound’ points in Blyvenburg's direction as well: printers often kept sheets of the books they had printed with a view to a possible reprint (which would be easier to typeset from printed sheets than from a manuscript or a bound copy of an earlier edition). These initial do not just occur in the Hague editions listed as ‘unbound’; they also appear in the bound ones in Blyvenburg's list.
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The initials by themselves are not enough proof that Blyvenburg is the printer of these books, but there is some circumstantial evidence to support this claim. The typographical frame also occurs in the miniature bibles and in some of the theological works printed by Blyvenburg mentioned above. Also, there is a vignette on the title page of the poem by Droste that is also found on that of Wollastons Ebauche de la religion naturelle and several other works. Both the initials and the vignette occur in many Hague books of the 1720s, including the first French translation of Gulliver's travels (1727).
There is no direct link between the vignette and initials on the one hand and Blyvenburg on the other. The vignette also occurs in books that have the name of Rutgert Alberts on the title page, a Hague publisher who is known to have had his own printing workshop. A catalogue compiled for the auction of the inventory of the workshop in 1728 has a page of ornaments similar and identical to the ones used to compose the initials in the books in Blyenburg's list. However, the fact that the (partly unbound) books were found together in Blyvenburg's house or workshop and that they share a number of characteristics with books that were undoubtedly printed by him, is sufficient reason to ascribe them to his workshop. The ascription is corroborated by more circumstantial evidence in the rest of the Orphanage file: in Blyvenburg's accounts there are entries for, among others, ‘the company of Bayle’, probably the booksellers who published the Oeuvres diverses in 1725.
A special case is La vie et l'esprit de mr Benoit de Spinosa, which is found among the Hague editions in smaller formats. The book appeared anonymously and without the name of a printer in 1719, but it is known that this controversial biography of Spinosa was published by the Hague bookseller Charles Le Vier. It is possible that Blyvenburg printed this book as well.
Marja Smolenaars - What do Haarlem lamp fillers, a baptist minister, and a maze have in common? Jan Nieuwenhuyzen, bookseller in the Verwulft 1743-1758.
The Haarlem oil lamp fillers published a broadsheet New Year's poem for the year 1781 with an illustration, dated 1751, showing one of the fillers ready to climb a ladder in order to top up the oil in a lamp. The lamp is fixed against the facade of a bookshop that can be identified as the one that was occupied by Jan Nieuwenhuyzen between 1743 and 1758. Nieuwenhuyzen had started his career in 1735 as the apprentice of Jan Bosch who himself had only started his business a year earlier, but who was to become one of Haarlem's major printer/booksellers. Nieuwenhuyzen acquired the freedom of the booksellers' guild in 1743 with the printing of an edition of the official town ordinance for that guild. He set up shop on the Verwulft, a covered section of the Oude Gracht, in a building bought for him by his father. He described himself in some of his publications as book and paper seller, so he was probably a stationer as well as a bookseller and printer. The number of publications that Nieuwenhuyzen produced is fairly limited and mainly of an evangelical and educational nature. In 1756, he published a compilation of his wife's poems with the last few pages dedicated to a list of other books for sale in his shop. No copies have been found of one third of the titles in that list, so the output of Nieuwenhuyzen's printshop must have been larger than can be assumed on the basis of the number of surviving titles. Another type of print work of which no copies have survived are various booklets he was commissioned to print for the Baptist community in Haarlem.
Books and booklets were not the only items printed and published by Nieuwenhuyzen; he also produced illustrated broadsides, some identical to the ones published by his Haarlem colleague Jan van Lee who had also produced the oil lamp fillers's New Year's poem. As the broadsides were not dated, it is impossible to determine whether they worked together or consecutively. The individual wood blocks of two of the sheets were re-used by Nieuwenhuyzen in his Historie van den koning en propheet David, also undated. An unusual broadsheet that was advertised in the Oprechte Haerlemsche Courant was H.A. Hoejewilt's Dool-hoff (‘Maze’). Nieuwenhuyzen stated in the advertisement that he had not only acquired the remaining copies, but also the forme, However, no copies of the Dool-hoff with his name in the imprint have been found. The print had been published before by Claes Braau, another Haarlem printer, in an undated and in a dated issue (1705), but whether Nieuwenhuyzen acquired the Dool-Hoff from Braau's heirs or via another printer is unclear.
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Nieuwenhuyzen was chosen as one of the officials of the booksellers guild in 1757 and 1758, but he did not finish this last term as he preferred the Baptist ministry to printing and bookselling and terminated his business in Haarlem. He moved to Middelharnis and later to Monnickendam where he was to co-found the Maatschappij tot Nut van 't Algemeen. The content of the shop on the Verwulft was auctioned off in July 1758. A catalogue was mentioned in the newspaper advertisement announcing the sale, but no copy has yet been found. Some of Nieuwenhuyzen's publications were reissued in later years by other booksellers, among them the collection of poems by Mrs. Nieuwenhuyzen. The shop itself was sold by Nieuwenhuyzen's father in 1767 and demolished in 1895. Another building was erected on the same spot that now houses an Italian restaurant.
Frans A. Janssen - The Amsterdam edition of Rousseau's Emile (1762)
We are well informed on the early editions of Rousseau's Emile by the excellent bibliography of Jo-Ann McEachern, Bibliography of the writings of Jean Jacques Rousseau to 1800, vol. 2 (1989); its chief source was the correspondence between the author and his publishers. For this work Rousseau did not turn to Marc-Michel Rey but he followed the advice of some people from his circle, among others Malesherbes, the ‘Directeur de la Librairie’. Two editions were to appear simultaneously, one for the French market, to be published in Paris by Nicolas-Bonaventure Duchesne, and an Amsterdam edition to be published by Jean Néaulme, for distribution to the rest of Europe. This construction would render an unauthorised reprint less attractive. Néaulme worked from sample sheets (copies of already completely printed forms) which his Parisian colleague sent him. Duchesne, however, did not only have his edition (of which there are two issues: in addition to the duodecimo edition he made from the same type matter also an edition in octavo) published before that of Néaulme but he had its imprint stating: ‘Amsterdam [in the octavo La Haye], Jean Néaulme, 1762.’; moreover, he had the privilege obtained by Néaulme from the Dutch Republic included (printed in Dutch) and without Néaulme's knowledge he had also sent sample sheets to the Lyonese publisher Jean-Marie Bruyset, who placed a portion of his edition under the name of the Amsterdam publisher as well. Indeed, in the same year 1762 another 11 reprints appeared, nearly all under Néaulme's name. However, immediately after the publication of the Duchesne edition the book was prohibited. The reason was the ‘profession de foi’ included in Emile in which a vicar expounded a natural religion. Subsequently the book was prohibited by the Dutch Republic as well, even before the Amsterdam edition had been
published. Néaulme replaced his original title page by another one, the imprint of which reads: ‘Selon la Copie de Paris. Avec Permission tacite pour le Libraire. 1762.’
So much for McEachern. But neither McEachern nor anyone of the other commentators on this matter (see n. 1) has signalled the absurdity of the phrase ‘Avec Permission tacite’. In France, the possibility of allowing a ‘permission tacite’ prevented the text from being subjected to the regulations concerning the ‘privilège’ and the ‘approbation’. The French publisher turned to the ‘Directeur de la Librairie’, who could issue a ‘permission tacite’, which was entered in a register only and was not allowed to be made explicit anywhere else. The French publisher then had to pretend a foreign origin, either by printing a false address (as Duchesne did), or by employing a formula like ‘A Amsterdam, et se vend à Paris chez...’ (follows the name of the French publisher). Further research taught me that Duchesne had indeed a ‘permission tacite’ at his disposal and that Néaulme knew this.
So how can we now explain the extremely puzzling formulation in Néaulme's imprint? The arrangement concerning the production of Emile must have angered him greatly. This anger was inspired by various reasons:
| - | Duchesne delayed sending the copy to Amsterdam so that his edition would be published earlier. |
| - | The false address on the Duchesne's title page was contrary to the arranged deal: he was to serve the French market and Néaulme the European market. Even before Néaulme had been able to sell his edition the Parisian publisher had already shipped copies of his edition to England. |
| - | Néaulme had to have a new title page printed. |
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| - | Duchesne had printed the Dutch privilege in his edition, and because of the subsequent prohibition in the Dutch Republic, Néaulme was put in a difficult situation. |
| - | Duchesne had also sent copy to the Lyonese publisher Bruyset; the latter focused especially on the German market. |
It was the great anger of the multiply-betrayed publisher which incited him to state the absurd formulation in the imprint. He must have thought: ‘If Duchesne is stealing my privilege, I will steal his “privilege” (namely the latter's “permission tacite”).’ The Amsterdam edition then professes to be an illegal French edition printed in France, composed after the first French edition, that of Duchesne (‘la Copie de Paris’). In this way Néaulme focused on the French market. But this is a farcical course of action, inspired by intense anger. In fact, I know no other example of a similar imprint.
Bertus Bakker - Rembrandt and Picasso on the ‘Tomadorekje’. The breakthrough of the popular art book, 1935-1970
In many European countries popular art books had appeared at the beginning of the twentieth century several, but in the Netherlands it lasted until the thirties before publishers decided to take the risk with art editions for the general public. In 1936 Kunstgeschiedenis der Nederlanden: van de middeleeuwen tot onzen tijd appeared, edited by museum director Hendrik Enno van Gelder. This comprehensive book at an affordable price seems to be the first popular history of Dutch art. Three years later it was followed by the Palet-serie, a series of 44 monographs of Dutch and Flemish painters, each of which was written by an eminent Dutch art historian.
Notwithstanding these forerunners it was not until after the Second World War before the art book made its breakthrough to the general public. There were several causes underlying this process. In the first place prosperity increased, resulting in higher salaries and more free time. Secondly the participation in education increased, causing a growing need for knowledge. In the third place a broader access of the public became a main issue for museums. The museum was discovered by the man in the street and especially by youth. Fourthly, newspapers, radio and television started to promote the arts. Finally innovative technologies in printing industries ensured that art books, even those with colour images, could be offered at affordable prices.
After the war international cooperation increased, both within Europe and across the Atlantic. This process of internationalisation penetrated nearly all sectors of social life. The museums no longer focused on Dutch art, but started to collect more art from abroad. They also organised more exhibitions of international artists. As a result the interest in foreign art grew and this was further fed by a growth of tourism. The internationalisation also penetrated the publishing world. Several foreign art series were featured in translations and publishers in several countries worked together on co-editions. Almost invariably, these art books were part of a series, a formula to which the subject of the art of painting preeminently lends itself. The popular art books were no longer exclusively products of Dutch publishers, written only by Dutch authors or mainly dedicated to Dutch painting. The range of subjects was considerably enlarged and the one-sided orientation on Dutch art made place for an international orientation.
An example of international cooperation was the series of Contact-kunstpockets, a joint publication of the New York publisher Harry N. Abrams and the Contact publishing house in Amsterdam. The series started in 1954 and became one of the most famous series of art pockets in the Netherlands. All volumes were written by foreign experts. A salient feature was that the majority of the 35 books were to the French impressionists. The best-known series of pockets in the Netherlands, comparable with Penguins in England, were the Prisma pockets of the publishing house Het Spectrum, that began in 1951. In this series, however, the number of art books remained limited.
In the sixties the pocket made its great advance and this resulted in de real breakthrough of the popular art book. It was the first time that art lovers who had little money to spare were able to choose from a wide range of art books. The main series were formed by artist monographs and art histories. In the first genre the best-known art series were the
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Zwarte Beertjes. The series, which started in 1960, was an international initiative of the Dutch publisher Bruna and was mainly written by Dutch authors. In the category of monographs invariably the well-known names from the international history of art were chosen, with Rembrandt and Van Gogh as the favourite Dutch representatives. In these years the French impressionists were strongly represented as well, but of the international masters Picasso got by far the most attention. The category of art histories consisted mostly of histories of European or world art. In most cases they were translations or adaptations of foreign editions. Furthermore numerous translations of famous art-historical books appeared at low prices. One of the most productive authors in the popular genre was the art critic Charles Wentinck.
After 1970 the popularisation of art was mostly taken over by other media: newspapers issued supplements with all kinds of information about the fine arts and the first illustrated art magazines started to appear.
Elisa Nelissen - Volhardend papier. Zines in de ‘digital age’.
In de eerste helft van het jaar 2014 toerde een mobiele bibliotheek over het Europese continent. Het busje, bemand door drie enthousiaste jongeren uit Frankrijk (soms meer, afhankelijk van wie ze onderweg oppikten), vervoerde een collectie van honderden onafhankelijke zines: goedkope, doorgaans in eigen beheer uitgegeven publicaties met het werk van een of meerdere fotografen, die meestal eerder gemaakt worden uit een passie voor het vak dan uit enig winstbejag. Overal waar het busje stopte werden er activiteiten en exposities georganiseerd in samenwerking met lokale culturele organisaties. Er werden zo'n duizend publicaties verzameld, tientallen evenementen georganiseerd, en het project werd gesteund door een beurs van de Europese Commissie: teken dat er iets meer gaande is dan een uit de hand gelopen hobby van een paar kunstenaars. In de afgelopen tien jaar zijn zines steeds vaker te vinden op blogs en online portfolio's van kunstenaars over heel de wereld, maar ook in bibliotheken, op beurzen en bij verzamelaars. Dat betekent echter niet dat het om een nieuw fenomeen gaat, integendeel: zines zijn al een kleine eeuw lang een uitstekend middel voor mensen met allerlei verschillende niche interesses om snel en goedkoop ideeën uit te wisselen.
Dit artikel onderzoekt hoe het tot dit punt is gekomen, namelijk welke weg de zine als medium heeft afgelegd doorheen de geschiedenis, en hoe technologie daarbij een katalyserende rol heeft gespeeld. Ruwweg zijn er vier fasen te onderscheiden, die samenhangen met nieuwe typ- en printtechnieken enerzijds, en andere subculturen die de zine adopteerden anderzijds. Om aan te tonen dat het fenomeen wijdverspreid, zullen in deze bespreking voorbeelden uit België en Nederland worden aangehaald.
Het verhaal begint bij de opkomst van sciencefiction en het idee van een tijdschriftredacteur om gepubliceerde lezersbrieven ook van adressen te voorzien. Omdat sciencefiction fans zo veel te vertellen hadden begonnen ze al snel rechtstreeks naar elkaar te schrijven, en uiteindelijk maakten ze gestencilde boekjes die ze naar verschillende mensen stuurden: de zine was geboren. Het medium werd later opgepikt door mensen (vaak jongeren) met andere niche interesses waarover (nog) niet in de traditionele pers werd geschreven, zoals stripboeken en rock-'n-roll, en spreidde zich al snel uit over de hele wereld.
Een tweede fase van de zine begint tijdens de hoogdagen van de punk. Via de wereld van de rock-'n-roll raakten ook punks op de hoogte van dit snelle en ongecensureerde medium, en het werd al snel de belangrijkste vorm van communicatie binnen deze groep. Via zines informeerden punks zich over opkomende concerten en nieuwe bands, en brachten ze hun politieke ideeën over door middel van een nieuwe grafische stijl, waarbij teksten en afbeeldingen uit de traditionele pers met een knip-en-plakstijl een nieuw leven kregen in felle kritieken op de maatschappij. Elektrische typemachines en offsetdruk schepten nieuwe mogelijkheden voor zij die het konden betalen.
In de late jaren'80 en beginjaren'90 kende de zine een ware explosie. Door dekstoppublishing en fotokopieerapparaten lag het maken van een zine nu binnen handbereik, en jongeren maakten daar gretig gebruik van. Met name jonge vrouwen, aangestuurd door de feministische riot grrl-beweging, begonnen massaal zines te produceren. De populari- | |
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teit van zines zette ene Mike Gunderloy aan om te beginnen met Factsheet Five, een magazine waarin hij alle zines in zijn bezit catalogiseerde met abonneedetails, een korte review en de prijs. Na bijna tien jaar raakte hij zo overweldigd dat hij niet anders kon dan stoppen: hij verkocht zijn tijdschrift. Tegen die tijd had het al een oplage van 10.000 exemplaren. Tegen 1998, het laatste jaar van Factsheet Five, was dat verder gestegen tot 16.000.
Het begin van het wereldwijde web leek eerst het einde van de zine in te luiden. Veel zines verhuisden naar het internet, een nog makkelijker, goedkoper en sneller medium om de resultaten van je creativiteit op te publiceren. Veel van die e-zines, die oorspronkelijk nog als txt-bestanden op servers stonden opgeslagen, waren echter geen lang leven beschoren. Veel zine-uitgevers werden namelijk vroeg of laat geconfronteerd met een vaste baan, leningen om af te betalen en kinderen om voor te zorgen, en stopten er dan ook vaak mee na enkele jaren. Waar er vroeger altijd een nieuwe generatie klaarstond om het over te nemen, leek dat rond de eeuwwisseling anders te lopen. Echter, een aantal jaren later kwam weer een nieuw soort zine naar boven. In plaats van snel bij elkaar geniet werd er plots veel aandacht besteed aan het papier, de druktechniek en de binding. Dit zijn het soort publicaties waarvan Zines of the Zone er zo veel van wist te verzamelen. Florian Cramer, die nieuwe media onderzoekt, wijt dit aan een bewuste keuze van jongeren om zich met analoge media bezig te houden, als reactie op de steeds groter wordende digitalisering van onze maatschappij. Met deze laatste wending is de zine weer een nieuwe weg ingeslagen, en wordt het weer eens duidelijk dat het gedrukte papier niet zo snel uit te roeien is.
Sandra van Voorst - ‘The secret of the reader’ revisited. Reading in book clubs in 2015
Book clubs are more popular than ever in the Netherlands. The people who join book clubs meet to discuss what they think of a particular book, how they identify with characters or situations, the significance of the book and the reflections it provokes. By taking part in book club discussions, these active readers play an important role in cultural transfer through books, and more specifically, through literature. So what type of book clubs do we have in the Netherlands? How do they work and most importantly, what do the members read?
A project entitled ‘Shared literature. Cultural transfer in book clubs’ examined questions concerning the type of literature that readers are interested in, and why and how cultural transfer in book clubs actually works. The project continued on from previous research carried out by partnerships between the University of Groningen, Stichting Senia and the Groningen and Eemland Public Libraries. It was funded through the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research Alfa Meerwaarde programme. In 2014, the University of Groningen dedicated an interdisciplinary research project to a study of cultural transfer in book clubs. During a joint preliminary reading period, eighteen Master's students accumulated knowledge of theories about book clubs and cultural transfer, before carrying out sub-research projects individually or in pairs. The various projects combined to form a caleidoscope of the world of book clubs.
The Netherlands boasts an estimated five thousand book clubs. More people than ever read books in groups, and the clubs discuss literature in very different ways. The reading clubs themselves are organised in many ways, varying from strictly run clubs affiliated to the Stichting Literatuurclubs Drenthe to ad-hoc groups and online reader communities.
With more than five thousand participants, Stichting Senia is the largest body organising regular book clubs. In 2015, a total of 746 different book clubs operated under the Senia flag. Senia distinguishes between languages and topics in order to cater to specific interests: it has book clubs for literature in Dutch, English, German and French, and book clubs for history and philosophy.
Every year, all the Senia book clubs select the books they intend to read and discuss during the next reading season. The readers are sent reader's guides for the books they choose, which provide some basic background material. The guides contain information about the author and the book, about the style, the characters and the perspective from which the book was written. The set questions are an important part of these guides, as they are used as the basis for group discussions and provide a constant structure in the readers' meetings.
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The literary book clubs can choose books from a new list of literary novels (Dutch and in translation) for the forthcoming reading season, and from the ‘back list’ comprising several hundred titles from previous years. Senia's literary book clubs ordered a total of 3,300 reader's guides for the 2015-2016 reading season, many of which were for the same books: 75 percent of the selected titles were on the new list for this season. So the Senia book clubs tend to choose books from the new list, and more specifically, many of them choose the same titles from the list. The book that came out in front in terms of book club popularity should not be a surprise: more than half of the book clubs chose to read Ik kom terug by Adriaan van Dis.
There would appear to be a slight preference for autobiographical books; Magdalena by Maarten 't Hart also came high up on the list. Other commonly selected titles differ in theme, but show definite similarities: family relations, moral dilemmas, loneliness and love are all topics that prompt endless discussions, making them highly suitable for book clubs.
More detailed examination of the titles chosen by individual book clubs shows a striking pattern in the selections they make and the combinations this produces. By far the most book clubs seem to ‘go along’ with the selection made by Senia; they choose three to five novels from the ‘top’ of the new list for the season in question. The clubs usually supplement this ‘top selection’ with titles from previous years, again largely titles chosen by many of the book clubs in previous years. Every now and then, a book demonstrating a personal preference or taste may appear on a club's list, or a classic if the club has decided to read one classic every year.
So despite operating independently, book clubs affiliated to Senia would seem to make a fairly predictable selection of books to discuss. This is partly because of the Senia formula, whereby it offers a number of new titles every year, and partly because of the topics of the selected books. So it would seem that the ‘secret of the reader’ largely lies in the sharing of literature.
Dick E.H. de Boer - ‘Brenghdy my eenighe nieumare?’ Gathering and spreading news in the Middle Ages
The names of many modern news-media mirror the fact that their roots go back to the medieval period in which heralds and messengers collected and spread the news. This contribution describes the way in which ‘zidunge/tidinge’ (tidings) from their oral roots entered the sphere of written messages and (news)letters. Both narrative sources (chronicles, novels and chivalric romance) and documentary sources (books of account, formal correspondence) show how the need to acquire and spread information, both about people and their whereabouts and about military and political situations, was met. Examples mainly stemming from the thirteenth through the fifteenth centuries and from the cultural and political area of the Netherlands are used to prove that this practice started much earlier that the introduction of printing and printed newsletters and avizzi. Of course news travelled always with people who moved through the countries. Among them not only merchants, soldiers and messengers, but also - and in large quantities - pilgrims. They often appear as intermediaries of news, like in the example of the spread of the news of a Sicilian earthquake (or landslide) in 1259 to a Frisian monastery.
In cases like that the speed of the transmission of news equaled the normal speed and distance of the traveler, who usually covered not more than an average of thirty (of foot) to fifty (on horseback) kilometers a day. To ensure a faster spread of news over longer distances special messengers were required. Therefore the - so far irregular - new-‘service’ got shape through (news)letters that from the early Middle Ages onward, but increasingly from the thirteenth century were sent. The phenomenon of newsletters contributed to a change of what Zwierlein called ‘Gegenwartshorizonte’, in short the historical concept of the interrelation of time, events and space. News and its actuality made their way into historiography, contributing to a multi-dimensional notion of history.
The so-called ‘Viennese newsletter’, probably originating from the Holland monastery of Egmond, in which shortly after the murder of count Florence v of Holland in 1296, an account of the dramatic events was distributed through
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parts of Europe, is a good example of such an early newsletter, and the way in which it is related to historiography. The same is true for several other letters preserved in the same monastery around 1330. In all of these cases the role of this monastery, serving as center of communication, recording and historiography is remarkable. A case study from the court in The Hague at the end of the fourteenth century points at the intensive letter-traffic of which it was the nucleus. Letters asking for and spreading ‘news’ about ‘situations’ were daily sent and received. Be it with a relatively small, functional scope as a tool of administration, be it as a more general source of information about episcopal elections, military operations, health of dynasts or even the ‘state of affairs’ in England during the Peasant Revolt of 1381.
The non-specified message about the Peasant Revolt, received by count Albrecht of Holland, Zeeland and Hainaut in his temporary residence in Le Quesnoy, may well have been equal to the newsletter, preserved in the archives of the Teutonic order. Of this letter, sent by the alderman of the Hanseatic merchants in London during the Revolt a transcription and translation is given, showing that indeed it was meant to be spread as a chain-letter.
Refraining from treating merchant correspondence as such, and urban letter-exchange, the contribution ends with some examples of the ways in which news about miracles, as one of the essential parts of life and devotion, was spread itself, end contributed to the spreading of news, like the pilgrims that were mentioned in the early paragraphs of the article.
All these examples show that collecting and distributing the news was not yet institutionalised in the way it came to be in early modern times, but that an increasing need for news and its actuality already in medieval times was satisfied in different ways. This justifies the allusive use of the medieval ‘instruments of news’ in the names of modern media.
Trude Dijkstra - ‘Het wordt gezegd dat’... De Chinese ritestrijd in Nederlandse kranten en pamfletten in de zeventiende eeuw
De vroegste kranten dateren tot het begin van de zeventiende eeuw, toen gedrukte kranten en tijdschriften de eerdere praktijk van het handgeschreven nieuwsblad vervingen. Deze vroege kranten verschenen in de Republiek der Zeven Verenigde Nederlanden in 1618 - eerst in Amsterdam, dat als belangrijk handelscentrum ook een centrale rol vervulde als Europees drukkerscentrum. China was ruim vertegenwoordigd in de vroegmoderne kranten. Nieuws uit en over China kwam naar Europa in grote hoeveelheden, en dit nieuws werd verwoed opgenomen in Nederlandse kranten.
Aan het einde van de zeventiende eeuw culmineerde de nieuwsvoorziening over China in de zogenaamde ‘Chinese ritestrijd’, een conflict binnen de rooms-katholieke kerk over de vraag of het de missie in China geoorloofd was bepaalde Chinese riten en gebruiken toe te staan binnen de uitoefening van het geloof aldaar. De berichtgeving hierover in Europa laat zien dat consumenten niet alleen geïnteresseerd waren in producten als porselein en zijde, maar ook in informatie over China; dit zeker wanneer de gemelde voorvallen mogelijk het contact tussen Europa en Azië konden beïnvloeden.
Dit artikel richt zich op een casestudy die is gerelateerd aan de Chinese ritestrijd en de berichtgeving daarover in Nederlandse kranten. In 1700 censureerde de Faculteit Godgeleerdheid van de Universiteit van Parijs een werk van Louis le Comte die als missionaris in China was geweest, en over zijn ervaringen een boek had geschreven. De casestudy laat zien dat de verschillende Nederlandse kranten op uiteenlopende manier bericht gaven over deze kwestie. Het belangrijkste verschil lag in de taal - en dus doelgroep - van de krant in kwestie. Terwijl de kranten gedrukt in het Nederlands meestal betrekking hadden op gebeurtenissen die een economische, politieke of militaire invloed op de eigen commerciële activiteiten in China en Azië konden hebben, waren de kranten gedrukt in het Frans meer gericht op de katholieke belangen van hun lezers. Deze casestudy toont hiermee het multivariabele karakter van nieuws over China in de vroegmoderne Republiek, en de manier waarop de producenten van dit nieuws de onderwerpen die ze rapporteerde beïnvloed hebben.
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Tycho Krom and Djoeke van Netten - ‘Geheymenissen en secreten’. Ideas about secrecy in Dutch pamphlets from 1672
1672 was a ‘disaster year’ in Dutch history. The Dutch Republic was simultaneously attacked by the French, the English and the armies of German bishops. The first Stadtholderless period ended with the gruesome public murder of Grand Pensionary Johan de Witt and his brother Cornelis and the subsequent installation of William iii as Stadtholder. The public, and public opinion, played an important role in the events of 1672, especially through the publication of multiple pamphlets (arguably over 1600 titles in tens, probably hundreds of thousands copies), reacting to the political situation, but also shaping public debate and shaping the course of history itself.
The literature on pamphlets and public opinion is extensive, and Roeland Harms, Ingmar Vroomen and Michel Reinders wrote books explicitly on pamphlets from 1672. This article concentrates on a neglected theme in this historiography, namely discourses on secrecy. The main question is how keeping and revealing secrets is presented and judged by pamphlet writers. Those authors were mainly middle class citizens (burghers) of Dutch cities, and the same is true of their public. This makes it possible to say something about prevailing ideas in this group, whereas most contemporary literature treating secrecy and dissimulation was aimed at a more limited and more elite public.
About a third of the pamphlets analysed mention secrecy, simulation and dissimulation (‘veinzen’ en ‘ontveinzen’), concealment and revealment. In short: Dutch pamphlet writers in 1672 saw secrecy as a bad feature. Many wonderful quotes illustrate this point. The authors used concepts as ‘secret (‘geheim’ or ‘secreet’ in Dutch) and ‘dissimulation’ to discredit political adversaries - mostly Johan de Witt, but also his opponent William iii. Revealing conspiracies plays an important part in many pamphlets, to show evil intentions of divergent main characters in Dutch and international politics and to disclose the ‘real’ course of events. This is comparable to the late seventeenth century British texts characterised as ‘secret histories’ by Rebecca Bullard in The politics of disclosure (2009). Thus pamphlets were responsible for explaining, and in a certain way rewriting, recent history. Almost without exception, they display a negative view on concealing affairs of state for citizens. At the same time they often stress the ‘sincere truth’ and advocate honesty and openness of regents, suggesting this was not always the case.
These ideas about secrecy and openness are in strong contrast to the historiography on secrecy in political thought and political practice, in court culture and in religious affairs in Early Modern times (by amongst others Guido de Bruin, Jon Snyder and Perez Zagorin). In contemporary literature secrecy was especially recommended for politicians and courtiers. Reason of state-arguments (originating from Macchiavelli) mentioned secrecy as necessary for the national interest and normative literature for courtiers presented dissimulation as indispensible to survive life at court. Most authors and the public of these texts are evidently more elitist than the citizens writing and reading pamphlets in the Dutch Republic in 1672. Of course, regarding tractates recommending dissimulation as well as pamphlets propagating honesty, it is questionable if practice matched theory. However, the difference in promulgated ideas and ideals is striking. For example in the pamphlets of 1672, Machiavelli in particular and his ideas about the prince who needed to simulate as a fox were used to vituperate opponents.
This history of ideas-perspective on seventeenth-century pamphlets is on the one hand an interesting complement on the aforementioned recent research into pamphlets and public opinion, in particular on the ‘disaster year’ 1672, but also nuances characterisations of the Early Modern period as ‘the age of dissimulation’ in which a ‘culture of secrecy’ prevailed.
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Steven Van Impe - With intelligence and strength, and trial and error too: Southern Netherlandish printers at the basis of the seventeenth-century newspaper trade in Vienna
It is generally accepted that early modern printers had broad international networks and were often mobile. A lot has been written about printers from the Southern Netherlands who, for confessional or economical reasons, migrated to the Dutch Republic after the Fall of Antwerp (1585) and helped shape the Dutch Golden Age. Much less attention has been paid to printers who moved in other directions.
Between 1666 and 1672, no less than four printers from the Southern Netherlands migrated to Vienna: Peeter Binnart, Hieronymus iv Verdussen, Jan Baptist Hacque and Jan iv van Ghelen. Their biographies are brought together in this article for the first time, showing that they worked closely together. Their settlement in the capital of the Austrian Habsburg Empire was part of a political programme by an ambitious Hungarian nobleman, count Ferenc iii Nádasdy. Nádasdy strived for a modernised Hungary with more power in the Habsburg monarchy. Using travelling agents, he acquired art and books in Antwerp to add to the splendour of his palaces. One of his agents, the son of the Antwerp printer Maarten Binnart, was given the task of finding four printers who could set up a press in Vienna under the patronage of Nádasdy. Peeter Binnart and Hieronymus iv Verdussen were both the sons of Antwerp printers who specialised in the publication of newspapers. It is possible that Nádasdy also wanted to publish a newspaper in Vienna.
Binnart, the first of the four to appear in imprints, published only three works. All three are closely linked to the Habsburg court or to important Hungarian noblemen. When Binnart disappeared, Verdussen took over. Most of his publications fit in Nádasdy's plan to modernise the Hungarian catholic church. After a while, Verdussens print shop was even relocated to Nádasdy's castle of Pottendorf, nearer to Hungaria, while Hacque remained in Vienna.
Binnart and Verdussen failed to set up a successful printing shop, and Nádasdy disappeared from the political stage in 1670 after a failed plot. Verdussen returned to Antwerp. Hacque managed to survive and even thrive, possibly with the support of the Habsburg court. He became the official printer to the university of Vienna and founded one of the first newspapers in Austria, the Italian-language Corriere ordinario, published from 1671.
Hacque's descendants gained influential positions in the Austrian court, while his son in law Jan iv van Ghelen continued running the printing firm. Johann van Ghelen, as he was known in Vienna, was a descendant of a long line of printers, starting with the Antwerp printer Jan i van Ghelen whose first impressions date back to the year 1519. Johann van Ghelen managed to secure important monopolies and became the official court printer for Italian works - which included all fashionable books, such as court almanachs and music books, and the Italian and Latin newspapers that Hacque had founded. In 1721, his successors took over the publication of Vienna's most important newspaper, the Wienerisches Diarium. Under the name of Wiener Zeitung, this newspaper still exists today. Van Ghelen's successors finally sold the printing firm in 1858.
Lisa Kuitert - ‘I have a very bad impression of the native press’. Walbeehms press surveys in the Koloniaal tijdschrift between 1912 and 1917
This article discusses the press surveys in the Koloniaal tijdschrift, and in particular the effect that these surveys of indigenous newspapers may have had on colonial politics in the Netherlands between 1912-1917.
In the former Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) the newspaper-press was a source of concern to the colonial administration. Newspapers in the Dutch language have been studied thoroughly by Termorshuizen (2001/2011). While Dutch newspapers in the Dutch East Indies were published as early as the eighteenth century, the first newspaper in Javanese was Bramartani in 1855. In those early years indigenous newspapers were basically a source for linguists and businessmen. But this situation slowly transformed into a more political direction when Chinese printers emerged on the market with
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newspapers in the Chinese-Malay language. The colonial administration introduced the ‘Persreglement’ in 1856, to apply censorship whenever necessary. However, with regard to newspapers in languages that the colonial administration could not read, censorship was not feasible. Only a few interpreters were employed, and this made it difficult to uncover what was going on in society. The situation became acute when the local population grew more and more discontented, and the number of newspapers increased. In 1900 there were 20 indigenous newspapers, and up to 1913 this number increased to 88 newspapers. In this decade several political movements were set up (such as the Sarekat Islam) and the first signs of a serious attempt towards independence and regime change were visible. The government experimented with new initiatives such as the establishment of a publishing company, the ‘Balai Pustaka’. Another initiative can be found in the journal for officials, Koloniaal tijdschrift (‘Colonial magazine’) which was published between 1912 and 1941.
One of the sections in the Koloniaal tijdschrift was the ‘Persoverzicht’ (survey of the press). It was compiled by A.H.J.G. Walbeehm, who must have been a language genius since he managed to translate several indigenous languages. Who was this ‘spy’ for the government and what was the nature of his reports in the Koloniaal tijdschrift? This article sheds light on his background. Walbeehm had been an official himself, rooted in the colony. However, where most of his colleagues welcomed a more positive and stimulating attitude towards the population of the archipelago, Walbeehm appears to have been rather old-fashioned and conservative in this respect. His selection of news from indigenous newspapers was not as objective as he claimed. He specifically selected those articles that could be read as warnings for the colonial government: articles that showed the discontent of the original population. Walbeehm was being criticised for that, by other officials who were able to read the indigenous languages as well. They claimed that Walbeehm was exaggerating. In 1917 Walbeehm left the journal. The publishing company Balai Pustaka took over his work, but the number of indigenous newspapers continued to grow. By 1925 there were no less than 140 of them in the colony: far too many to be controlled.
Paul van Capelleveen - Servant, compositor/printer, deserter and cool guy. The Dutch ship's printer, 1900-1940
Shipboard printing shops on ocean liners became a common feature in the twentieth century. In earlier centuries, small printing shops had been part of the equipment of military ships abroad. The first Dutch ship to have a printing shop was a passenger ship, the Nieuw Amsterdam (New Amsterdam), in 1906. The ship was owned by the Holland America Line (hal). Shipboard printing included the production of newspapers, menus, announcements and bulletins. Early on, newspaper articles focused on this new phenomenon, but soon the printing shop was considered a useful and regular feature, that was only mentioned in advertisement leaflets published by shipping companies in order to guarantee a comfortable journey on which the guests would receive the world's news on a daily basis.
The shipping companies did not immediately use the term ‘printer’ and may have seen the compositors and printers as regular servants fit for a number of jobs, such as cleaning. However, after some time ‘printers’ were mentioned in the enrolment books. The hal was the first company to employ a printer in 1906. The Dutch Royal Lloyd (khl) followed in 1909 and the Netherland Line (smn) in 1913. The printing shop could be located at starboard or portside, at the bow or at the stern of the ship, on the upper deck or below on D-deck; there seems to have been no consistency or logic behind the decisions about these locations.
Initially, only one printer was employed. By 1909 some ships had two printers and in the thirties the new ships had three. The small printing shops grew over the years, from c. 1×2 metres to c. 4×6 m. The equipment was austere, and somewhat old fashioned, although after World War I some companies decided to have electrically driven presses on board, and in the thirties some ships had an Intertype typecasting machine. Presses, type and instruments were provided by the Lettergieterij ‘Amsterdam’. Some companies used shipbuilders' companies or De Bussy's printing firm as subcontractors. For only a few ships inventories and invoices for these deliverances have survived. The first known printing press on a ship was of American origin, a Pearl manufactured by the Golding mfg Company, a jobbing press, installed on the Frisia
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(1909); a similar press, the Golding Jobber, was placed on board of the Gelria (1913). Other presses were said to be handpresses or electrical presses, but no more details have come to light.
The article gives information about a few of the early shipboard printers on passenger ships and about their working and living conditions. Some of them stayed on for only a few voyages, others were employed for years. They belonged to the lower ranks on board of a ship and were paid accordingly. The quantity and diversity of types was restricted. Usually the printers had only the Cheltenham at their disposal. After 1913 a number of ships had other types as well, and after World War I the famous Hollandsche Mediaeval by S.H. de Roos was introduced on several ships. The printers had limited means to produce the newspapers, menus and other necessary printed matter. Covers and other parts of these publications that were meant to radiate the luxuriousness of the ships were not printed on board. Shipboard printing served efficiency, not aesthetics.
Saskia van Bergen- Verluchte getijdenboeken en de erfenis van L.M.J. Delaissé. De archeologie van het boek in recente publicaties
In dit recensieartikel worden zes recente studies besproken die gaan over laatmiddeleeuwse verluchte handschriften, in het bijzonder gebeden- en getijdenboeken: Hindman en Marrow (ed.) Books of hours reconsidered (2013), Reinburg, French books of hours (2012), Rudy, Postcards on parchment (2015), Sands, Vision, devotion and self-representation in late medieval art (2014), Hourihane (ed.), Manuscripta illuminata (2014) en Bloem, De meesters van Zweder van Culemborg (2015).
In alle publicaties komt het gedachtegoed van L.M.J. Delaissé (1914-1972) terug, met name zijn theorie over de ‘archeologie van het boek’. Deze theorie gaat uit van de idee dat de betekenis van miniaturen alleen kan worden achterhaald wanneer deze worden geanalyseerd binnen de context van het gehele handschrift, en wanneer alle onderdelen hierin worden meegenomen, zowel materiële en tekstuele, als historische gegevens. Tot aan zijn dood in 1972 publiceerde Delaissé vele artikelen en boeken die voortkwamen uit zijn ideeën over de archeologie van het boek, waaronder een aantal op het grensvlak van kunst- en boekgeschiedenis. Zo schreef hij de catalogus voor de tentoonstelling De gouden eeuw der Vlaamse miniatuur: het mecenaat van Filips de Goede 1445-1475, die in 1959 in Brussel en Amsterdam werd gehouden. Delaissé had een bijzondere interesse voor het getijdenboek als studieobject. In 1974 schreef hij ‘The importance of books of hours for the history of the medieval book’. Omdat deze gebedenboeken voor leken in zulke grote hoeveelheden waren vervaardigd, met name in de vijftiende eeuw, vormden ze volgens hem een rijke bron voor het reconstrueren van het handschriftenbedrijf in het algemeen.
In de inleiding op Books of hours reconsidered verwijst Sandra Hindman expliciet naar de invloed van Delaissé op het vakgebied. De artikelen die in deze bundel bijeen zijn gebracht laten zien dat er de afgelopen decennia meer aandacht is gekomen voor getijdenboeken in minder bekende regio's, zoals Duitsland en Engeland en tevens voor boekverluchting in de overgangsperiode tussen handschrift en druk. Een van de onderwerpen die ontbreekt in de bundel is de consumptie van getijden- en gebedenboeken. Hiermee wordt niet alleen bedoeld hoe de gebeden werden gelezen door contemporaine bezitters, maar ook de omgang met de handschriften in latere eeuwen. Dit thema komt wel uitgebreid aan bod in enkele andere studies die de afgelopen jaren zijn uitgebracht, zoals die van Victoria Reinburg, Alexa Sands en Anne Rudloff Stanton over respectievelijk gebeden in Franse getijdenboeken, bezittersportretten en het gebruik van Engelse gebedenboeken in latere eeuwen. Het boek van Kate Rudy over ‘postcards on parchment’ vestigt de aandacht op een tot dusver nog weinig bestudeerd aspect van laatmiddeleeuwse gebedenboeken, namelijk geschilderde voorstellingen op perkament die oorspronkelijk werden vervaardigd om losbladig te worden gebruikt, bijvoorbeeld als souvenir of minialtaarstuk.
De artikelen van Stella Panayatova en Eberhard König en het proefschrift van Miranda Bloem geven samen een goed beeld van de ontwikkelingen op het gebied van stijlonderzoek en connaisseurschap. König kiest er voor om de traditionele visie op stijlonderzoek te vertegenwoordigen, die uitgaat van de visie dat het oog van de kenner allesbepalend is
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bij de beoordeling van stijl. Panayatova en Bloem bieden een modernere visie op connaisseurschap. Zij combineren de resultaten stijlonderzoek met zowel codicologie als materiaaltechnisch onderzoek om de productiewijze van verluchte handschriften te reconstrueren. En dit is precies waar de archeologie van het boek om draait. Helaas wordt er nog weinig materieeltechnisch onderzoek uitgevoerd naar miniatuurkunst. Dit type onderzoek kost veel tijd en geld en vereist in situ analyses van handschriften die vaak over meerdere continenten verspreid liggen.
Een tweede (relatief) onontgonnen terrein vormt het kwantitatieve onderzoek. De oogst van de afgelopen jaren doornemend is hiervan in elk geval nog weinig terug te zien in publicaties. Om voor elkaar te krijgen dat wetenschappelijke data zowel online beschikbaar als uitwisselbaar zijn, zullen onderzoekers van het middeleeuwse handschrift meer moeten samenwerken. Delaissé's theorie van de archeologie van het boek is daarbij nog altijd relevant en zal dat voorlopig ook wel blijven.
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