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The Golden Compasses (1969-1972)

The Golden Compasses

(1969-1972)–Leon Voet–rechtenstatus Auteursrechtelijk beschermd

The History of the House of Plantin-Moretus


Vorige Volgende

Chapter 11
The Library1.

The masters of the Gulden Passer did not only build themselves a sumptuous residence, filling it with paintings, sculptures, and costly furniture, but they also spent much money in collecting books and manuscripts. There have been families and collectors in the Netherlands who assembled a greater number of volumes, but their libraries were dispersed sooner or later or lost their individual character by being taken over wholly or partly by public institutions. The miraculous preservation of the Plantinian estate included the family's collection of books. It constitutes one of the few private libraries in the Low Countries to have survived almost exactly in its original form after three centuries of private ownership.

Christophe Plantin was the founder of the library as well as of the house. If a date has to be given for the start of this library, then it is at the end of 1563 when the printer, after signing his deed of partnership with the Van Bomberghen family, purchased a number of books, most of which are still to be found on the shelves in the Plantin House.

Plantin respected and admired scholars and scholarship; it has already been pointed out that he could meet the greatest humanists of his day on equal terms. But he was always primarily a hard-working, rather overambitious businessman, beset by financial troubles, who had little time or opportunity for poring over books in the tranquillity of a study. The books he bought at the end of 1563 were for utilitarian purposes, being intended ‘pour le service cotidian ou futur de l'imprimerie’. These earliest acquisitions consisted of dictionaries and scriptural texts, for the Plantinian book collection began as a proof-readers' library.1.

On 6th April 1564 Plantin noted another series of purchases of ‘books for the service of the printing press’.2. For the books included in the settlement of accounts on 22nd April 1564 he merely stated the total cost of 5 pond 6 schellingen Flemish (31 fl. 16 st.).3. But in 1565, under the heading ‘meubles de l'imprimerie’, he itemized a fresh series of acquisitions: ‘J'ay achapté à. la vendue des livres de feu mr. Eustache medecin à Francfort: Alex. Medici opera, 24 st.; De rebus furtarum etc., 15 st.; Herb. Tragi Imag. Philost. etc., 40 st.; Amatus Lusit[anus] Nigolius et Suidas avec plusieurs autres, 7 fl. 10 st. Casse credit par livres pour meuble des correcteurs: 11 fl. 9 st.’4.

Through the years Plantin received a number of manuscripts and books as presents; some of these are among the most interesting in the collection.1. From time to time he probably also bought books for the sake of helping friends and acquaintances,2. but for the rest he seems to have been guided mainly by utilitarian considerations in building up his library, collecting works which could be of service to the proof-readers or useful in some other way to the firm; the products of rivals, for example, which might be considered for possible republication and books or manuscripts needed for the preparation of his own editions.3. It was presumably during the preparatory work on the Polyglot Bible4.that he was able to acquire the showpiece of the library - the three volumes, in their original fifteenth-century bindings, of the 36-line Gutenberg Bible.5.

Plantin seldom bothered to keep a copy of each work he printed. It is not surprising that the library contains hardly any Plantinian impressions dating from before 1562 and the auction of his goods and chattels, but there are also many and sometimes inexplicable gaps after that year.

When Plantin died in 1589 the library books and manuscripts he had collected for his proof-readers' use were classified with the presses and other equipment and material as an appurtenance of the printing office. But



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(90) Opposite: Page from the first catalogue of the Plantinian library, compiled by Balthasar I Moretus in 1592. The first page of the medical section is shown. The top right-hand corners of the first few pages were charred.




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(91) Opposite: Page from the second catalogue of the Platinian library, compiled about 1675. The first page of the section listing ‘very large - sized books’ is shown.


whereas the presses, matrices, punches, founts, copperplates, and woodblocks were carefully itemized and their value estimated, the library was lumped together with the trays, baskets, and other unimportant trifles, and transferred en bloc to the new owner of the Officina Plantiniana.1.

Jan I Moretus had his own small collection of manuscripts,2. and presumably of books as well, but he seems to have had the same ideas about the library he inherited as his father-in-law. We may assume, however, that his son Balthasar soon made this library his particular concern. In 1592, on the eve of his departure for Louvain, where he was going to study under Justus Lipsius, the eighteen-year-old Balthasar arranged and catalogued the collection.3.

A new phase in die development of the library began with the accession of Plantin's scholarly grandson. Balthasar extended the library, giving it a less strictly utilitarian, more humanist character. He also separated it from the printing office and made it the ‘particuliere bibliotheque’ [private library] of the masters of the Gulden Passer.4. This did not mean that there was no longer a proof-readers' library: there is specific mention of one in 1692, in addition to the private library.5. The original ‘bibliotheque van de correcteurs’ may have continued its independent existence in the printing

office. But it is also quite possible that in the course of time the masters of the house thought it desirable to build up a new reference library for their proof-readers.1. In all probability it never amounted to more than a few dictionaries, liturgical and scriptural exemplars, and other useful works. After 1592 all the books of any value were to be found in the private library.

The development of the library can be traced through three catalogues. The first gives the position in 1592, a few years after Plantin's death, when Balthasar began to take a personal interest in the collection and compiled a catalogue.2. He carefully divided the books into a number of categories3. and arranged them according to size within these categories. The author and the abbreviated title of each work were recorded, together with the place of issue, publisher, and year of publication. The manuscripts were listed towards the end, between the ‘libri ecclesiastici’ and the ‘musici’.4. Unfortunately the first pages, up to and including the medical works, were charred at the top so that the entries for a number of books are missing, illegible, or mutilated. All that can be made out of the opening words and the first book listed - which must be the Gutenberg Bible - is: ‘T[heologici]. Biblia ex pr... sine nomine loci...’

The second catalogue is usually referred to as the catalogue of 1650 or, more correctly, of c. 1650.5. This date is given in the Catalogus manuscriptorum Balthasaris Moreti in Officina Plantiniana Antverpie 1630 11 Julii, written

in the characteristic hand of Balthasar II, then the master of the officina. But this summary catalogue of the manuscripts1. is simply left loose in the large leather-bound volume inscribed Catalogus librorum bibliothecae Balthasaris Moreti in gold letters. The handwriting in this catalogue has been identified as that of Balthasar III. Many of the books have dates much later than 1650. The compiler was often out by a century, writing 1690 when he meant 1590 and so on. The dates which can be accepted nevertheless extend to 1673, suggesting that this catalogue of the Plantinian library was compiled in about 1675, twenty-five years after the catalogue of the manuscripts.2.

In contrast to Balthasar I's catalogue, the books are here grouped according to size,3. and each size is subdivided according to content, although the books in the various vernacular languages are kept separate, as in 1592. It seems rather as if as the work progressed - or dragged on - the compiler began to grow bored and tried to speed the work up by reducing the number of headings. Whereas there is a very long list of careful subdivisions in the folio books,4. the number is reduced appreciably in the quarto volumes and dwindles still further when the octavos are reached. For the smaller sizes (12mo and less) the classification is the simplest possible.5. This catalogue too gives author, title of work, publisher, and place and date of publication.

The last catalogue is an even bulkier volume entitled Catalogus librorum Bibliothecae Moretianae digestus anno 1805.6. The same method was followed

as in the previous catalogue, namely classification according to format and, within each format, subdivision according to content; this subdivision is taken to considerable lengths, but is not the same for each format. This time books in modern languages are classified with the rest according to size and subject matter.

The actual catalogue ends with an enumeration of the incunabula and manuscripts. After this come two indexes, one of the contents, the other of the authors.1. These are followed by a list of acquisitions of books made during or shortly after 1805 (newly acquired manuscripts were written up straight away in the libri manuscripti section). This catalogue was compiled by a bibliophile who inserted many comments on the value, significance or rarity of the works listed and indicated appropriate reference books.

These three catalogues listing the books of the Plantin House before its acquisition by the City of Antwerp in 1876 are the chief sources for studying the growth of the library. The 1592 catalogue lists 728 works (including 15 incunabula) and 83 manuscripts.2. By 1650 the number of manuscripts had risen to 154, and by 1675 the number of printed works had reached 2,895.3. The 1805 catalogue gives 121 manuscripts and 4,380 printed works, 55 of them being incunabula.4. In the 1592 and 1650/1675 catalogues each title was specified, even when bound with other works, but in 1805 manuscripts and printed books were numbered according to their bindings.

The total number of titles in 1805 must therefore have been between five and six thousand and must have comprised eight or nine thousand volumes. When the Plantin House was handed over in 1876 no inventory of the books was made, but there was mention of an estimated eight to nine thousand volumes - which corresponded closely enough with the 1805 figure.

Closer examination of the catalogues enables a more detailed picture to be built up. In 1592 the collection was, for a private library, worthy of note without being extraordinarily large. Eighty years later it had quadrupled. The great majority of printed books acquired between 1592 and c. 1675 have dates that fall within the period 1592 to 1641. It is safe to assume that it was Balthasar I who extended the modest collection of books for the proof-readers into a quite impressive private library.

Balthasar I's books included some that were not listed in the catalogue of c.. 1675. Besides his ‘official’ library he had a rather less official one, kept under careful lock and key in an ‘lankwerpige weecke houte casse staende in Lipsius camer’ [oblong softwood chest standing in the Lipsius room]. The existence of this collection was brought to light when on 16th March 1643 a notary drew up an inventory of the contents of this piece of furniture.1. The reasons for the notary's activity were not given, but it probably had nothing to do with the suspect character of the books: the small paintings, porcelain, and bric-à-brac which also filled the chest were too carefully detailed for this to have been the case and the inventory was presumably connected with one or other of the settlements of the estate.

Unfortunately the notary was no bibliophile. He hurried through the work, giving much abbreviated or even garbled titles and making no note of publisher or date. Many of the works are therefore difficult to identify. But however incomplete the entries are, this list of about sixty books comprising Balthasar I's secret library is very revealing. It is easy to see why the Printer to His Catholic Majesty did not display these volumes on his shelves. There were a few books of an erotic nature,2. a number of works presenting a Dutch Protestant view of events in the Netherlands,3. a larger

number dealing with the troubles in Henry IV's France and probably also Calvinist in flavour,1. and many books which discussed religious questions from an anti-Catholic viewpoint.2. In addition to these there were some works on magic and soothsaying.3.

Balthasar I had probably inherited some of these books from Plantin,4. but he must have acquired most of them himself in one way or another. History does not record what Balthasar II thought of this find. Some of the works - the more innocuous ones - found their way to the library proper.5. Others were carefully hidden away again, but not destroyed: this seems to have been the case with the Psaumes de David and the Instruction chrétienne of Ravillian, which do not appear in the 1675 catalogue, although copies with notes by or for Plantin have been preserved in the Museum.6. The rest have vanished without trace - this was probably Balthasar II's doing, shortly after the notary had compiled his inventory.

The manuscripts and books listed in the catalogues of 1650 and c. 1675

represent Plantin's original library augmented by Balthasar I's acquisitions. However, Balthasar II also left evidence of his interest. To judge from the number of books published between 1641 and 1673 which are entered in the 1675 catalogue,1. he added considerably to the collection he had inherited.

The 1805 catalogue reveals a treasury of books twice as large as that of 1675. The number of printed books published between 1675 and 1700 is quite considerable, but a sharp decrease can be observed in the following century. There are only about 265 works in the library which were printed in the eighteenth century, and of these some seventy date from before 1715. Acquisitions during the rest of the century include a few important and extensive publications (the Acta Sanctorum, 53 vols., 1643-1794, Encyclopédic ou dictionnaire raisonné, 35 vols., 1751 sqq., and Mémoires de l'Académie impériale et royale des Sciences et Belles Lettres de Bruxelles, 6 vols., 1777-1784), but most are of no great importance: some dictionaries and schoolbooks, works on recent political events, pamphlets on trade and commercial companies, catalogues of famous private libraries, and so on.

The conclusion cannot be avoided that a succession of bibliophile Moretuses-Balthasar I, who developed Plantin's utilitarian collection into an important private library, Balthasar II (1641-1674) and Balthasar III (1674-1696), who increased this family inheritance, and, probably, Balthasar III's widow who died in 1714 - was followed in the eighteenth century by Moretuses who had less interest in books. Their chief merit lay in having preserved their forebears' inheritance intact.

In the latter years of the eighteenth century and the beginning of the nineteenth century, however, another book-lover in the family must have concerned himself with the library. This is apparent from the care taken over the 1805 catalogue and the notes on the rare books it contains. This bibliophile - who can probably be identified as Lodewijk Frans Moretus, who died in 18202. - was less interested in contemporary works than in

earlier books and manuscripts. He enriched the library with a number of incunabula; he acquired hitherto missing Plantin editions,1. purchased fifteenth-century Flemish illuminated books of hours, and probably brought manuscripts with him when he returned from exile in Germany. Among these was one of the treasures of the Museum's manuscript collection: the two parts of the so-called King Wenceslas Bible. This beautiful early fifteenth-century work is one of the greatest achievements of late medieval miniature painting in Bohemia.2.

The collection also includes a number of manuscripts which were bought by nineteenth-century Moretuses - twenty-two from Canon J.F. van de Velde's library, auctioned in 1831 and seven from the collection of Count Clemens-Wenceslas de Renesse-Breidbach, which was sold in 1835.3. At least one Moretus of the last century must have been interested in books, but it is difficult to discover to what extent he increased the collection of printed books. In any case the later Moretuses too showed no interest in contemporary works, except for the Journal des débats which they kept up from 1800 to 1871. This is the only important nineteenth-century publication on the Moretus shelves. Everything considered it would seem that the library was not added to greatly between 1805 and 1876, when the collection was handed over to the City of Antwerp.

By what means did these various manuscripts and books pass into the possession of the masters of the Golden Compasses? For one group the explanation is simple: they were works printed by the Plantin press or manuscripts sent in for printing. It has already been pointed out, however, that not all such editions found their way to the library, Plantin being rather casual about keeping copies of his books. The 1592 catalogue lists



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(92) Books from the Plantinian library. The spines show Plantin's monogram, presumably applied by Balthasar II or III Moretus.




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(93) Opposite: Illuminated ninth-century manuscript, containing Sedulius's Carmen Paschale and Prosperus's Epigrammata. In the twelfth century it belonged to the Monastery of Saint James at Liège. In the sixteenth century it came into the possession of Theodoor Poelman, who bequeathed it to Plantin.


728 titles, but only 114 of these were Plantin editions, a very small fraction of what the great printer produced.

Plantin's immediate successors, less purely utilitarian in inclination, were a little more careful to put aside copies of their own editions for the library. In the catalogue of c. 1675 the number of these had risen to 612 (out of a total of 2,895 works). One of the heirs, either Balthasar II or Balthasar III, even pasted a label with Plantin's monogram on the back of each of the officina's editions, enabling bibliophiles wandering along the shelves to see at a glance what the house had produced.1. However, even these 498 acquisitions represent only a small percentage of what the Plantin press turned out between 1592 and 1675. The later Moretuses were equally remiss. The 1805 catalogue lists only 705 numbers, representing about one thousand publications of their house.

Particularly noticeable is the small number of service books that were kept.2. The Moretuses, although they had gone over almost entirely to the production of breviaries, missals and other liturgical books in the course of the seventeenth century and turned out vast numbers of them, only very occasionally put a copy of such works in their library. Many examples of later Moretus impressions in the present Museum library were taken by the curators from stocks left behind in the house in 1876. In fact among the Officina Plantiniana editions now in the Plantin-Moretus Museum, this class still presents the greatest gaps.

As far as the other books and manuscripts in the private library are concerned, it may be assumed that Plantin and the Moretuses either bought them or were presented with them; but where, when, and by whom can only occasionally be determined.

A bibliographer who was prepared to make it his life's work to sift

through the accounts and correspondence, and examine each book-plate and handwritten dedication, would undoubtedly bring to light interesting and remarkable information. In this general survey, however, a few typical examples must suffice.

From time to time learned friends of the family seem to have shown their affection by presenting suitably inscribed copies of their works. A 1574 Latin edition of the Theatrum Orbis Terrarum by Abraham Ortelius has a dedication in the great cartographer's fine humanist hand to ‘Do[min]o Christophoro Plantino Regiȩ Ma[ies]t[ati]s prototypographo auctori (?) suo, auctor DD.’1. A Latin edition of 15952. has a similar dedication to Jan Moretus: ‘Optimo, sibique amicissimo D[omin]o Io. Moreto, compatri suo carissimo, auctor benevolentii ergo DD.’3.

Sometimes these dedicated volumes had been printed in the officina itself, as for example the Paraeneticon by Joannes Hemelarius, in which the author wrote enthusiastic words in praise of Balthasar I who had published the work in 1621.4.

Only a few books passed into the library in this way, however; more important were the ordinary gifts, often in the form of bequests. After Theodoor Poelman died in 1581 part, or possibly all of the library of this excellent scholar (who had also been a fuller and a customs official) passed into Plantin's possession. The bequest included books with annotations made by Poelman in anticipation of further editions, books from his reference library, letters and notes,5. and a fine collection of old manuscripts of Latin authors. These greatly enhanced the value and importance of that section of Plantin's library.6. Two of these manuscripts had previously been given

by Plantin to his friend and collaborator;1. another one seems to have been given to Poelman by Victor Giselinus, who was associated with the Plantin press for a time as a proof-reader;2. while yet another was a present from the Antwerp printer Jan Bellerus.3.

When Ortelius died in 1598, the Moretus collection was enriched by a number of works from his library: various books in the Museum still have his signature, ‘Abrah[ami] Ortelii’, on their title-pages,4. and there are also some notable reminders of the Flemish mapmaker among the manuscripts.5.

Nicolaas Oudartius (Oudaert), Canon of St. Rombout's, Malines, and a humanist of some distinction, died on 1st July 1608. His will is dated 30th June and shows that, in the face of death, he did not forget his friend and publisher in Antwerp: ‘Item Joanni Moreto bibliopolae Antwerpien, laet hy alle de boecken gescreven byder hand staende by een boven aende schouwe, vuegende daer by Augustinum de Civitate Dei manu scripta die daer oyck omtrent staet, ende tot dyen Opera Ovidii van seer ouwen druck’ [Item. To Jan Moretus, bookseller at Antwerp, he leaves all the books written by hand standing together above the fireplace, with the addition of the manuscript of De civitate Dei by Augustine which is also somewhere there, and Ovid's Opera printed very long ago].6. The De civitate Dei is a beautiful manuscript dating from 1497.7. Of the other manuscripts bequeathed by Oudartius to Moretus, a Decretum Gratiani, also of the fifteenth century, has been identified.8.

It is not clear whether the Polydorus Virgil of 1540,1. with Plantin's ‘Sum Christ. Plantini’ as well as the owner's inscription of Cornelis van Bomberghen, should be regarded as a voluntary or involuntary gift. It may be that the book was left behind by Van Bomberghen when he fled the country in 1567 and then got included in the library.

Most of the works in the library of the Plantin House were undoubtedly acquired by purchase: it has been seen that the proof-readers' library began in this way. It may be assumed that Plantin and the Moretuses ordered any newly published works they wanted directly from their colleagues in the trade. They also visited auctions: Plantin's purchase of books from the estate of a Frankfurt doctor in 1565 is an instance of this.2. In his letter of 3rd September 1608 to Canon P. de Clerck, one of the executors of the Oudartius estate, Jan Moretus mentioned in passing: ‘Den catalogus vande bibliotheq die te vercoopen soude mogen vallen is in handen van mynen soone’ [My son now has the catalogue of the library which may come up for sale]3. which suggests that Balthasar I was already studying the document carefully, and it is easy to guess for what purpose. Later Moretuses bought many manuscripts at the auction of Canon J.F. van de Velde's library in 1831 and that of Count Clemens-Wenceslas de Renesse-Breidbach at Antwerp in 1835.4.

Plantin and the Moretuses also bought works from private persons. The incunabulum entitled Epistolae diversorum philosophorum (Venice, Aldus Manutius, 1499) has on its title-page the words ‘1565, 27 Oct. D. Clemens vendidit C. Plantino’. This D. Clemens who sold Plantin the Manutius edition was in fact the famous English doctor and philologist John Clement, the former tutor of Thomas More's children.5. A Catholic by conviction, he had fled to the Netherlands after the accession of Elizabeth I and died at



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(94) Opposite: Page from the so-called King Wenceslas Bible, a profusely illuminated manuscript made at Prague in the early fifteenth century for Conrad de Vechta, master of the mint to King Wenceslas of Bohemia. The first page of Genesis is shown. Conrad de Vechta's coat-of-arms are at the foot of the page.




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(95) One of the numerous miniatures in the King Wenceslas Bible.


Malines in 1572. He must have been able to take at least some of his library with him, and sold books from it from time to time. Besides the Manutius he sold Plantin a Xenophon for 3 fl. 10 st. in 1564-65 and a number of unspecified books (probably including the Epistolae) for the sum of 27 fl. 10 st., intended as payment for Bibles and classical authors with which Plantin had supplied him.

Among the works which Clement had managed to take with him were a number of valuable manuscripts. Plantin mentioned them in his letter of 29th January 1568 to Cardinal Granvelle, while in the preface to the Polyglot Bible Arias Montanus expressed his gratitude for the use of the Greek Pentateuch, originally from Thomas More's library, which Clement had lent him. Many manuscripts which were listed in the 1592 catalogue of the Plantinian library have inscriptions showing that they came originally from the libraries of Oxford colleges:1. in the light of the transactions mentioned above it may be assumed that Plantin acquired these manuscripts, either from Clement himself, or from other scholars who had fled from England in similar circumstances. Together with the Poelman bequest, they comprise some of die oldest and most valuable manuscripts of the collection.

There is no important library which has not suffered regrettable losses in the course of the years, and the Plantinian collection is no exception. The full extent of these losses since 1592 could only be determined by careful comparison of the various catalogues, but a cursory examination has already shown that a number of works have unfortunately disappeared. To quote just one example, the catalogue of c. 1675 lists the 1566 Plantin edition of Reynard the Fox, of which there are now only two known copies in the world-neither of them in the Plantin-Moretus Museum.

How much was lost before 1592 can only be guessed at, but there certainly were losses, witness the two Estienne editions (the Chronicon by Eusebius and the Chronicon by Sigebert of Gembloux, Paris, Henricus Stephanus, 1512 and 1513), bound as one volume (the binding dates from Plantin's time), with ‘Ad usum Christoph. Plantini Regii prototypographi’ in the printer's vigorous handwriting on the fly-leaf and the simpler ‘Plantini’ on the title-page of the Eusebius. The book must have disappeared from

the library before 1592 as it is not mentioned in the catalogue of that year. In 1964, after an absence of nearly four centuries, it was returned to the Museum through the intermediary of a New York antiquarian.1.

How this and other works went astray is a matter for conjecture. Plantin is known to have given manuscripts to his friends.2. The compiler of the c. 1675 catalogue seems to have thought it quite natural that books should disappear from his library,3. while a note in the same catalogue gives an actual instance of friends of the family receiving books as presents.4.

In other cases books were borrowed and never returned. When the younger Frans Raphelengius was planning to republish Joannes Sambucus's illustrated book Icones Mcdicorum, the copperplates for which were in his possession, he wrote to his uncle Jan Moretus (14th April 1602) asking him to send the 1574 Plantin edition of this work to Leiden so as to avoid mistakes in the captions.5. Moretus's reply is not known, but the Plantin-

Moretus Museum has a copy of the 1602 Leiden edition while the Plantin edition has disappeared.1.

In 1876 this wealth of manuscripts and books which Plantin and his successors accumulated was made over to the City of Antwerp as part of the new Plantin-Moretus Museum. The manuscripts were listed in J. Denucé's catalogue published in 1927. Since 1876 they have been somewhat augmented by purchases and gifts. Some of these have been documents with no connection with the Plantinian house,2. and some years after the publication of Denucé's catalogue they were passed on to the Stedelijk Prentenkabinet [Municipal Gallery of Prints] and the ‘Archief en Museum voor het Vlaamse Cultuurleven’ [Archives and Museum of Flemish Cultural Life], both in Antwerp.3.

This reduced the 506 titles in Denucé's catalogue by twenty-nine. Of the remaining 477 tides, twenty-one are manuscripts acquired between 1876 and 1927 which remained in the library,4. ten are fly-leaves taken from bound books when the library was catalogued5. and twenty-eight are manuscripts which had been bound in with printed volumes.6. There have been about twenty-five acquisitions since 1927, but only a very few of them are of any great importance.7.

The majority of the manuscripts in the Museum have come down from the collection of Plantin and the Moretuses. It should be pointed out, however, that when the contents of the house were inventoried after 1876, documents relating to the family or the officina (such as authors' manuscripts prepared for press, scholars' notes, travel journals and school exercise books belonging

to the Moretuses) were taken from the archives and added to the libri manuscripti of the 1592, 1650 and 1805 catalogues.

The manuscript library of the Plantin-Moretus Museum has therefore a dual character. There is what might be termed the ‘humanist’ section, with reminders of Plantin and the Moretuses and their scholarly friends, and with many manuscripts as they were prepared for printing; this section is of great interest for the history of humanism in the Low Countries.1. On the other hand there are the manuscripts, forming the bulk of what was collected by the masters of the Golden Compasses, which have no direct connection with the printing office as such. These old manuscripts cannot compare numerically with what has been assembled in the great libraries of the world, but nevertheless they include an impressive number of works which are remarkable for their age and contents, and sometimes for their illumination.2.

Of all the collections which were handed over with the Plantin House in 1876, only that of printed books has since been added to systematically. The first curator, Max Rooses, mapped out a policy of acquisition which his successors have faithfully continued. The first aim of this policy was to complete the collection of old (i.e. pre-1800) Antwerp editions, priority naturally being given to the still missing Officina Plantiniana editions. Edward Moretus handed over about 9,000 volumes in 1876 and there are now approximately 20,000: the present Museum library can be considered the most complete in the world with regard to Plantin-Moretus editions, and one of the richest in old Antwerp editions. But thanks to Plantin and the book-lovers among the Moretuses, there is also a wealth of books printed in other places, including many rare and remarkable editions.3.

Through its generous support the ‘Bestendig Dotatiefonds voor Stadsbibliotheek en Museum Plantin-Moretus’ [Permanent Donation Fund for the Antwerp Municipal Library and the Plantin-Moretus Museum], set up



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(96) Page from the 36-line Gutenberg Bible. This fine copy in three volumes came originally from the Augustinian Monastery at Nuremberg, which presented it in 1514 to the Order's new house in Antwerp. Presumably Plantin bought it from the latter.




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(97) Opposite: Renaissance bookbinding with the figure of the Emperor Charles V. Made in 1543 by the Antwerp bookbinder Claus van Dormale.


in 1905, has played a most important part through the years in this extension of the old Plantinian library.1. A notable acquisition was the library which Mr. Max Horn bequeathed to the Museum in 1953 and which now stands in the Max Horn room (Room 33): a unique collection of about a thousand original and rare editions of French literary works from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries, in equally rare and precious bindings.2.

Any unbound books and manuscripts acquired by Plantin and the Moretuses were bound before being placed on their library shelves. Purchases and gifts since 1876 have considerably increased the number of original bookbindings. This very beautiful collection has not yet been adequately surveyed and studied.3. The specialist who wanted to make a systematic investigation would be sure of being richly rewarded for his trouble.

Mention should also be made of the fact that since 1876 a modern reference library for typography and bibliography has been started alongside the old collection. It already contains about 20,000 volumes.4.

Before leaving the library of the Plantin House it is worth giving some attention to the rooms in which the books were housed through the centuries. There is no documentary evidence until 1640; in that year Balthasar I Moretus paid the carpenter Willem van de Velde 196 fl. 4 st. ‘for wood work for my library in the new room’.5. The carpenter actually put up shelves in three rooms on the first floor of the ‘new building’ in the west wing. They were specified in Balthasar II's inventory of 1658: ‘The private library of Balthasar Moretus, consisting of the books standing in three rooms, namely above the office or shop, above the little office, and above the Lipsius room, together with the antiqui libri manuscripti standing

behind the first door of the first room of the same library’ (now Rooms 20 and 21).1.

In 1691 the books appear to have been moved to the two rooms on the first floor of the east wing which they still occupy (Rooms 31 and 32), and a third room on the same floor (Room 33). Exactly when this happened cannot be said with any certainty, but the compilation of the catalogue of c. 1675 may be connected with this move.

The inventories of 1691 and 1714 give a vivid impression of these rooms and their furnishings. The 1691 inventory2. lists the following items:3.

‘In the Canon's library (Room 33). One hardwood cabinet with drawers or sliding panels; one hardwood sideboard; two globes; a brass spheramundi; one brass surveying instrument with two compasses belonging thereto;

one round wooden sundial; one magnifying glass; one metal mirror; two half-length portraits of Seneca and Plato; one painting of the Nativity; one painting of a philosopher studying; two likenesses, the one of Plantin and the other of Lipsius; five small paintings; one painting of Ecce Homo; five half-length portraits of Our Lady, St. Joseph, and the Three Magi; one hardwood extending table with a blue table-cover; one wooden escritoire with twenty-four drawers with letters concerning the family and the press; a number of unbound books lying on, in, and beside the shelves of the library, or books belonging to the Canon; two Spanish leather chairs; one jewel-box with drawers.

In the big library consisting of two rooms. First the small room (Room 32): One hardwood extending table with red leather table-cover; one Spanish armchair and a tall chair of black leather; one double reading-desk on a stand; one painting of Christ; one painting of a woman; another portrait; two stone busts; one consignment of inferior shagreen; the same room is lined with wooden bookcases full of all kinds of different books in various languages and sizes, together with many parchment manuscripts by divers authors.

In the big room of the same library (Room 31): one large hardwood extending table with a red leather table-cover; two large globes on pedestals; two black Spanish leather armchairs and four low chairs; one painting of the interpreters of the Hebrew scriptures; six stone busts; the same room is lined with wooden bookcases filled with all types of bound books on all kinds of subjects and in all languages by many and various authors. The contents of these books and of those in the small room below are listed in a large handwritten index bound in calf's leather, lying on the table here, to which we refer for the sake of conciseness [so as not to be obliged to itemize all the books].1. Lying on the bookcases is a great quantity of bound and unbound books which are similarly referred to.’

The 1714 inventory2. reveals a few small alterations and adds a more

frivolous touch to the formerly austere library of the Canon, now described as the third library room.1.

‘In the first room of the library (Room 31): fifteen paintings depicting Christ, the Virgin Mary and thirteen apostles; five other paintings depicting Mary, Joseph and die Three Magi; six other paintings showing various views of Rome; one piece showing a view of Venice; two small pictures of ships; one flower piece; one landscape painting; four small landscapes on copperplates; one large print showing the park at Enghien; four prints showing the four parts of the globe; one print of the city of Paris; one barometer and one thermometer; one painting of a statue; one painting of Venice; one painting depicting an advocate studying; one large clavecymbal tailpiece by the old Cochet; some instruments for surveying; one magnifying glass; one small chest with eleven drawers containing various antique medallions, both of lead and of copper; one hardwood cabinet with four doors; seven single and two double black Spanish leather chairs; one library of various books; one brass globe.’

‘In the second room of the library (Room 32): one picture of a landscape on copper; one hardwood extending table with a yellow woollen table-cover; one swivelling reading-desk for four; two black leather chairs; a library



illustratie
(98) Gilt leather bookbinding, made at Antwerp about 1565.




illustratie
(99) Opposite: Plantin book given by the printer to his friend Abraham Ortelius. After having been in the possession of the humanist Gaspar Gevartius the book finally returned to the Plantinian library.


with various books, both printed and manuscript; fifteen Antique plaster busts.’

‘In the third room of the library (Room 33): one billiard table with its appurtenances; one long hardwood extending table; one Parisian bench; two black leather double chairs; one terrestrial and one celestial globe; a library of various books; twenty-four plaster busts; one green woollen table-cover.’

The contents of the ‘third room’ were later moved by the Moretuses to another room on the first floor of the south wing, the present ‘small library’ (Room 17). The other two library rooms have remained with their shelves, decorations and various books, although some of the furniture inventoried in 1691 and 1714 has disappeared or has been moved to other rooms.

Shortly afterwards the Moretuses set up their private chapel in the ‘first big room of the library’.1. The altar was removed in 1876, but the altarpiece bought in 1757 - a Christ on the Cross by Peter Thijs (1624/6-1677/9) - is still in its old place.

During the Second World War concrete was used to convert one of the Museum cellars into a bomb-proof, air-conditioned storage place for the Plantinian treasures. This cellar now contains the old archives, the manuscripts and the rarest of the printed works.


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