After the enormous #landslide of 1618 in #Piuro (then a city within the Three Leagues, Raetia) that wiped out the city and killed thousands, a #Zurich based printer came up with this idea: using a liftable flap. The flap offers a before and after scenario; a reading engagement with the catastrophe. The printed flap is the #mudslide.
That's a fish painted in the 1780s. A still life by Giuseppe Artioli. And there is also a used handmade paper sheet, with calculations on it. In #earlymodern Europe, paper was used and re-used regularly.
In fact, the contemporary paper markets offered 'fresh' and blank paper sheets as single-sheets, in units of 5 sheets, in units of 24/25 sheets etc.
But fishmongers often used used papers for wrapping purposes.
An addendum to my #BookHistory post about the 15C breviary using <ç> for <z>: It also shows up in 16C Italian inscriptions which affect a medieval style, like this one from Santa Maria Novella. But, notably, it never seems to be used in inscriptions which use roman letterforms.
There is a lot going on in Pieter van Laer's 1630s "Self-Portrait with Magic Scene" (e.g. #earlymodern#alchemy and #magic, and #books). But have a look at the paper cone in the right foreground of the painting. Likely seeds or #peppercorns are spilling out. This is relevant for #PaperHistory and #BookHistory, dear #histodons.
The Scottish Novel in 1824
1 July, University of Edinburgh – free
This one-day in-person symposium marks the bicentenary of 1824, an ‘annus mirabilis’ in the history of Scottish fiction that saw the publication of two experimental masterpieces: James Hogg’s The Private Memoirs & Confessions of a Justified Sinner, & Walter Scott’s Redgauntlet.
Some #BookHistory: French lawyer & author Marc Lescarbot (d.1641) (‘ML’) had a client involved in an expedition to Acadia, New France. He invited ML, who accepted. 1606 July: They reached Port Royal (now in #NovaScotia )… with ML’s #books in tow: the 1st known library* in what is now #Canada.
Depending on your definition of ‘library’, of course. Let’s say, ‘Lescarbot’s books are regarded as the first known collection of European-style codices in what is now Canada’. @bookhistodons
florid poem by Col. J. J. von Scheler in honor of the 54th birthday [when you're an enlightened despit, it doesn't have to be a round number] of Duke Carl Eugen of Württemberg
Small folio from the presses of Court Printer Christoph Friedrich Cotta the elder, Stuttgart
Among the beauties of traditional printing, as book historians know, are the distinctive character and robust materiality.
Note here, the tactile quality of the rag paper (photo 1), the deep impression of type and ornament (2) and the way the border is assembled from individual ornamental pieces (3)
The Complicated Ethics of #RareBook#Collecting: Literary treasures are too often hidden away from the public—but the world of private collecting isn’t all bad. - The Atlantic
Not sure it's as complicated as all that 😀 (especially compared with other fields), the more so as it's from a collector and in effect answers its own question (attached). But good to put the issues out there. Also nice that features local collector Lisa Baskin
#TIH#OTD in #BookHistory 6 May 1236: Death of Roger of Wendover, Benedictine monk & 1st of a series of important chroniclers at St Albans. His best-known chronicle, Flores historiarum, survives in 2 #MedievalManuscripts—including the 1 shown in the 📷—& an edition in Matthew Paris’ (c.1200–1259) Chronica majora. @bookhistodons@medievodons
#TIH#OTD in #BookHistory: Happy birthday to the French publisher Louis Christophe François Hachette (1800 May 05–1864 Jul 31), founder of @HachetteLivre (estab. 1826). Initially called Brédif, the company became L. Hachette et Compagnie on 01 Jan 1846.
#OTD in #HorrorHistory#WeirdHistory#BookHistory: Death of Eleanor Sleath (1770 Oct 15–1847 May 05), best known for her 1798 #gothic novel The Orphan of the Rhine, listed as one of the 7 ‘horrid novels’ recommended by Isabella Thorpe in Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey.
(‘The Northanger Horrid Novels’ were believed to be of Austen’s own invention until Montague Summers began publishing on the seven, refuting the denial of their existence. Other scholars soon followed suit.)
The printer's idea to support the mocking intention of this pamphlet from around 1700 #Hamburg: insert some free space into the layout - encouraging to insert a nonsense argument from the addressee.
The pamphlet author's intention, to mock the Lutheran orthodox pastor of St. Jacobi church, Johann Friedrich Mayer, and his supporters, is supported by the printer's layout decision. This is how you support an argument and stress the nonsense of your opponents.
Walking in style in a library in 1654. The shoes he's wearing while transporting 4 big books in Wolfenbüttel's Herzog August Bibliothek were trending in mid-seventeenth century Europe.
Yes, you see correctly, there is a drawn person on the right side of this manuscript page trying to slurp away the dirt-stained part of the page with a giant straw. #bookhistory#histodons#history
And what about using a red ink library stamp to make the stamp almost disappear on the title page printed with red and black ink?, mumbled a smiling librarian once and used the library stamp accordingly on this #earlymodern#Schreibkalender.
What a beauty of an #earlymodern#Schreibkalender (writing calendar) featuring a Christ, a Jew and a Muslim looking into the stars. Printed in red and black, in 1729 Nuremberg, and made by the almanac maker Gottfried Kirch:
"Christen- Jüden- und Türcken-Calender, Auf das Jahr Christi Verb. 1730"
This is just a reminder that, in 1631, Robert Barker in London misprinted a famous line of the Holy Bible, namely „Thou shalt commit adultery“.
The forbidden copies with the famous slip sold well, and a few survived in our catalogues. The edition was called the Wicked Bible afterwards. #bookhistory#histodons#history#bible