Zanna Van Loon
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zannavanloon.bsky.social
Zanna Van Loon
@zannavanloon.bsky.social
4.6K followers 1.4K following 310 posts
Curator of rare books and manuscripts at Museum Plantin-Moretus ❦ Doctor in early modern history ❦ Book historian and bibliographer ❦ Research on the materiality of early modern books
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Reposted by Zanna Van Loon
bramderidder.bsky.social
Eindelijk tijd om eraan te beginnen, maar al heel de ochtend zeer benieuwd naar de aflevering van Voorproevers in het Plantin-Moretus met @zannavanloon.bsky.social en @chanelled.bsky.social!

Vrouwenzaken Zakenvrouwen in Museum Plantin Moretus - Voorproevers | VRT MAX share.google/QUubCMdcy0Wg...
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November 9, 2025 at 9:56 AM
zannavanloon.bsky.social
What a day! Had a great time hearing all these specialists talk about the self-evident involvement of women in the book production. Now time for dinner at the most beautiful location at the Samenloop restaurant housed in the former Maiden’s House of Antwerp!
Courtyard of an early modern house, the Maiden’s house with brick walls and cheerful lights hanging up
November 6, 2025 at 8:00 PM
zannavanloon.bsky.social
‘Women’s traces of involvement in the #earlymodern book trade are there in the archives, just sitting there waiting to be reconnected with research.’

- Opening keynote lecture of Susan Broomhall perfectly capturing the essence of our conference Women & The Household in the Early Modern Book Trade!
November 5, 2025 at 4:26 PM
Reposted by Zanna Van Loon
drkarrschmidt.bsky.social
Pink Panther Returns?!

#Caturday
#NewberryLibrary (Inc. 5656)
Detail of 15th c. book with cat (?) paw prints! Open book with several paw prints.
October 25, 2025 at 3:46 PM
Reposted by Zanna Van Loon
ninalamal.bsky.social
For those visiting Antwerp (esp. those of you attending for the Women&Household in Book Trade conference next week) do not forget to go and visit this library gem as well! #bookhistory
October 28, 2025 at 8:10 AM
zannavanloon.bsky.social
Spilled my coffee travel mug in my backpack this morning - can you imagine the horror - so let’s just say some time with these wonderful #earlymodern miniature books was very much needed!

1) Gregorian Calendar (1585)

#rarebooks #bookhistory 💙📚📜

/1
Close up of a very small book bound in a fragment of a medieval liturgical manuscript on parchment Yellow-black pencil for scale next to the miniature book which is with a parchment cover of medieval manuscript fragments Close-up of the title page of the book: a Gregorian calendar printed in red and black.
October 31, 2025 at 12:07 PM
Reposted by Zanna Van Loon
svanimpe.bsky.social
This #FragmentFriday is found in De Thiende (1585), a groundbreaking #mathematical book by Simon Stevin, introducing the decimal separator (now , or . ) for fractions. It has a 19th century library binding, but retains the medieval parchment wrappers it was originally bound in.
📚💙
📜
October 24, 2025 at 9:29 AM
Reposted by Zanna Van Loon
dbellingradt.bsky.social
Just a 1399 unicorn watermark from a paper manufacturer from Valencia to make your day. Friends of #paperhistory know that these paper sheets of around 1400 are among the first sheets of European paper to appear on the market. European #bookhistory was a different game afterwards. #skystorians
A unicorn watermark in one of the oldest European paper sheets. Source: https://memoryofpaper.eu/apccv/apccv.php?Signatura=1475.1
October 25, 2025 at 6:40 AM
zannavanloon.bsky.social
This parchment is FUR REAL!

Remnants of animal hair on a parchment leaf originally intended as the exterior of the earlier binding for a 13th-century manuscript with English origin containing theological texts of Guillaume Peyraud, William of Tournai, Hugh of St Victor, and Richard of St Victor.
Detail of the parchment leaf wit remnants of brown animal hair, still in a very good condition Detail of the parchment leaf with remnants of brown animal hair, still in a very good condition View on the entire leaf with the remnants of brown animal hair First folio of the manuscript written in the Gothic script in two colums starting with 'Incipit t[ra]ctat[us moralis de vii vitiis capitalibus...
October 23, 2025 at 12:49 PM
zannavanloon.bsky.social
A bundle of miscellaneous papers once belonging to Abraham Ortelius with letters & working notes, and a rudimentary sketch of the Strait of Gibraltar, demonstrating how he envisioned depicting the meeting point of the Atlantic and the Mediterranean for his world atlas.

#bookhistory #rarebooks 💙📚📜
Sketch of the Strait of Gibraltar on early modern paper with iron gallon ink with some cities named, such as Tanger. The map is positioned with the north at the bottom. Detail of a printed and hand coloured map of Span displaying the Strait of Gibraltar. It is an engraving. Very rudimentary sketch of the world in the medieval worldview and a legenda View of the miscellaneous notes inside the bundle containing inscriptions in Latin and drawings
October 21, 2025 at 3:31 PM
zannavanloon.bsky.social
Typographic apparitions 👻

Spotted in a 1498 Cologne missal: a case of off-set printing, where ink from the forme (or from another printed page?) accidentally transferred onto these printed page.

#bookhistory #rarebooks 💙📚📜
Detail of a page with musical staf printed, added music by hand, and off-set printing of other type in the margins Detail of a page with liturgical text printed, and off-set printing of other type in the margins Detail of a page with liturgical text printed, and off-set printing of other type in the margins
October 8, 2025 at 3:09 PM
zannavanloon.bsky.social
Making a case for every museum to have a resident museum cat. Meet Nuno, who literally owns the ruins of the Carmo Convent in Lisbon!

The convent was destroyed in a fire after the great earthquake in 1755.

#earlymodern
Black and white cat sitting on an early modern fragment of sculpture. In the background the ruins of the church belonging to the monastery with a clear blue sky. Close up of a black and white cat resting on an early modern fragment of sculpture. In the background the ruins of the church belonging to the monastery with a clear blue sky. Close up of a black and white cat resting on an early modern fragment of sculpture. In the background the ruins of the church belonging to the monastery with a clear blue sky.
October 3, 2025 at 10:54 AM
zannavanloon.bsky.social
☞☞ Hands-on reading ☜☜

The manicules in #rarebooks are fantastically diverse. Some are tiny & discreet, others take up half the margin; some have flowing sleeves, or even little faces.

They’re glimpses into the personality of readers/scribes highlighting passages worth reading.
#bookhistory 💙📚📜
Detail of a manicure and a little face gesturing towards the handwritten text of a manuscript in gothic script written on parchment. The man depicted seems angry. The manicure has a sleeve A manicule with a stretched sleeve drawn in red in the margins pointing towards a text in Gothic script written on parchment A manicule used to highlight a rubricated section title in a medieval manuscript written in gothic script on parchment A very large vaguely drawn manicule pointing towards text in gothic script written on parchment
September 30, 2025 at 3:31 PM
zannavanloon.bsky.social
Dear #earlymodern, #bookhistory, #rarebooks, and #skystorians people: I’m travelling to Lisbon in a few days!

What do you recommend? Libraries, historic spots, bookshops, exhibitions? 📜
September 29, 2025 at 6:15 PM
Reposted by Zanna Van Loon
svanimpe.bsky.social
A remarkable #bookhistory experiment: a title page printed in *blue* and red ink. Ambrogio Leone, Novum opus quaestionum. Venice : Bernardino & Matteo Vitali, 1523. EHC D 2181:3. Online: books.google.be/books?vid=EH...
Title page of the book, showing a woodcut border in dark blue and a typographical title in red.
September 25, 2025 at 9:18 AM
zannavanloon.bsky.social
FINAL CALL! ⏰

One week left to apply for our Nottebohm Fellowship!

☟ ☟ ☟
September 24, 2025 at 5:57 AM
zannavanloon.bsky.social
A 17th-century bookbinding in full bloom!

While screening the collections for books to show during a hands-on workshop on historical bookbindings, we stumbled upon this devotional book bound in a beautiful embroidered binding featuring flowers, usually associated with female makers and/or owners.
Front cover of the book with a brownish cloth binding decorated with flowers by means of needle work in different colours. It contains the library shelf mark on the top left corner Spine of the book with several flowers sewn on a cloth cover in different colours. Back cover of the book with a brownish cloth binding decorated with flowers by means of needle work in different colours. You see a fragment of a silk thread in the middle.
September 23, 2025 at 2:47 PM
zannavanloon.bsky.social
This manuscript by Anselmus Faust, dated 1612, is the oldest surviving European manual on bookbinding. Written in Latin & Dutch, it was created for the St Bernard's Abbey near Antwerp.

What makes it especially unique is its rare dos à dos binding: 2 books bound back-to-back, sharing a single spine.
Title page of the manuscript which reads 'Beschrijvinghe ende onderwijsinghe ter discreter ende vermaerder consten des boeckbinders handwerck, hier inne te sien ende te lesen hoemen de boecken op alderhande manieren binden ende maecken sal.' Dutch cover of the book in parchment painted in red and part of it in white sheep leather that has been blind tooled. Detail of the edges of the manuscript painted in red and green respectively. French cover of the book in parchment painted in green and part of it in white sheep leather that has been blind tooled.
September 18, 2025 at 10:46 AM
Reposted by Zanna Van Loon
paularblaster.bsky.social
Op koppen lopen!
September 13, 2025 at 9:35 AM
zannavanloon.bsky.social
Counting down until Saturday for the opening of Women’s Business/Business Women while adding the finishing touches… So excited to share this project in Museum Plantin-Moretus with the public!

All info: tinyurl.com/26tyw6r6

#skystorians #bookhistory
Big blue poster being placed by two people on scaffolding. The lettering is in a peach pink and reads as a title Women’s Business/Business Women. Close-up of a white sleeve entirely made of buttons inside a blue jacket Close-up of early modern silverware staged on a surface with in the background a painted wall
September 9, 2025 at 5:55 PM
Reposted by Zanna Van Loon
drjessayres.bsky.social
Believe it or not, this is a parish register from the seventeenth century that was damaged during a fire! 🔥

Heat causes the collagen fibres in the parchment to denature and shrink and eventually turn to gelatine, which sometimes has a ‘glassy’ appearance.

#EarlyModern #Skystorians
September 3, 2025 at 8:07 AM
Reposted by Zanna Van Loon
svanimpe.bsky.social
Why is everything so bloody interesting all of the time? I don't have time for this!
September 5, 2025 at 11:29 AM
zannavanloon.bsky.social
Still calling for applications, still time to apply!

Come to Antwerp to dive into #earlymodern #bookhistory, and explore the libraries of Museum Plantin-Moretus and the Hendrik Conscience Heritage Library! #rarebooks #manuscripts 💙📚📜

🖣🖣
September 4, 2025 at 1:19 PM
Reposted by Zanna Van Loon
svanimpe.bsky.social
When Wenceslas Hollar etched his famous illustration of the Antwerp Cathedral in 1649, he also caught the bookshop of François II Fickaert, situated at the bottom of the North tower, near the famous well with the wrought iron covering forged by Quinten Metsys.
December 16, 2023 at 8:55 PM
zannavanloon.bsky.social
Interesting find at the back of this book: two #medieval manuscript fragments cut into shape and sewn together with white cord and two small patches. They form an L-shape, with the end of the longer piece rounded and reinforced.

Used as a bookmark? A reading aid? What do you think #skystorians?
L-shaped manuscript fragments with music notes on them on top of the leather cover of an early modern book. Detail of the attachment on the L-shaped manuscript fragments with music notes on them on top of the leather cover of an early modern book. End of the shorter part with a cord attached to it on top of the leather cover of an early modern book. Detail of the longer fragment with a rounded and reinforced end on top of the leather cover of an early modern book.
August 27, 2025 at 5:44 PM