Erik Kwakkel
@erikkwakkel.bsky.social
Professor of Book History at UBC School of Information, Vancouver. Into medieval manuscripts. He/his. Blog: https://medievalbooks.nl. Writing a book on ads by medieval scribes.
“There is more to life than medieval books, but it's a good place to start.”
“There is more to life than medieval books, but it's a good place to start.”
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Erik Kwakkel
@erikkwakkel.bsky.social
· Nov 17
Introductions: I’m a book historian in love with medieval manuscripts. Sharing research updates, manuscript news, images, and random findings from digitized manuscripts. Occasional blogger. Left Twitter for Mastodon, but you #medievalsky folks are all here, so here it is! (Pic: Bod CanClassLat257)
Extraordinary lecture that will give you an hour+ of pure joy. Highly recommended.
Rare Book School has posted a lecture by Paul Needham on his most recent work on the Catholicon Press: youtu.be/o4aMEB38slw?... Paul is in good form and his presentation of the evidence is clear, whether you're on board with the theory or not.
#bookhistory
#bookhistory
"The Catholicon Press Revisited: The Evidence of Nailheads"
YouTube video by Rare Book School
youtu.be
August 12, 2025 at 4:00 PM
Extraordinary lecture that will give you an hour+ of pure joy. Highly recommended.
Reposted by Erik Kwakkel
August 12, 2025 at 9:38 AM
Testing 1,2,3: this original cover for a schoolbook (Cicero and other classical school texts) is completely filled with pen trials. The name Hainz/Haintz appears a lot, perhaps student’s name?
(Munich, BSB, Clm 18941, 15th c, digitized here: tinyurl.com/5n8furud, see pic 143)
(Munich, BSB, Clm 18941, 15th c, digitized here: tinyurl.com/5n8furud, see pic 143)
June 24, 2025 at 9:50 PM
Testing 1,2,3: this original cover for a schoolbook (Cicero and other classical school texts) is completely filled with pen trials. The name Hainz/Haintz appears a lot, perhaps student’s name?
(Munich, BSB, Clm 18941, 15th c, digitized here: tinyurl.com/5n8furud, see pic 143)
(Munich, BSB, Clm 18941, 15th c, digitized here: tinyurl.com/5n8furud, see pic 143)
Reposted by Erik Kwakkel
🎉✨The Destruction of Medieval Manuscripts in England ✨
Absolutely delighted to announce that my second book has just been released (and it's open access; free to download at the link below!).
academic.oup.com/book/59790?f...
Absolutely delighted to announce that my second book has just been released (and it's open access; free to download at the link below!).
academic.oup.com/book/59790?f...
The Destruction of Medieval Manuscripts in England: Institutional Collections
Abstract. It is generally accepted that the contingencies of manuscript survival have disproportionately destroyed some sorts of manuscripts and not others
academic.oup.com
April 3, 2025 at 11:57 AM
🎉✨The Destruction of Medieval Manuscripts in England ✨
Absolutely delighted to announce that my second book has just been released (and it's open access; free to download at the link below!).
academic.oup.com/book/59790?f...
Absolutely delighted to announce that my second book has just been released (and it's open access; free to download at the link below!).
academic.oup.com/book/59790?f...
Just came across this web resource: 76 digitized handwriting manuals 1600-1800 - mostly with models for handwriting exercises (bibliotheques-specialisees.paris.fr/search/N-503...). A bored child learning to write doodled in one of them (source: bibliotheques-specialisees.paris.fr/ark:/73873/p...).
June 20, 2025 at 8:47 PM
Just came across this web resource: 76 digitized handwriting manuals 1600-1800 - mostly with models for handwriting exercises (bibliotheques-specialisees.paris.fr/search/N-503...). A bored child learning to write doodled in one of them (source: bibliotheques-specialisees.paris.fr/ark:/73873/p...).
Encountered during morning walk in Stanley Park. Love the scene, shoe not mine.
June 10, 2025 at 6:45 PM
Encountered during morning walk in Stanley Park. Love the scene, shoe not mine.
Reposted by Erik Kwakkel
June 9, 2025 at 1:09 PM
This spectacular Bible was created by a scribe in Mainz in 1452-53, while elsewhere in the city Gutenberg was creating the printed equivalent that would put the scribe out of business. The digitization is of equal high quality: www.loc.gov/item/52002226/. #medievalsky
March 20, 2025 at 4:58 PM
This spectacular Bible was created by a scribe in Mainz in 1452-53, while elsewhere in the city Gutenberg was creating the printed equivalent that would put the scribe out of business. The digitization is of equal high quality: www.loc.gov/item/52002226/. #medievalsky
Reposted by Erik Kwakkel
Just saw this on #TodayILearned and that led me to @erikkwakkel.bsky.social ! #OldBooks
www.thisiscolossal.com/2014/01/this...
www.thisiscolossal.com/2014/01/this...
This 16th Century Book Can Be Read Six Different Ways
Sure, the Amazon Kindle might have dynamic font adjustments, and it can hold thousands of books, but can it do this? Printed in the late 16th century this small book from the National Library of Swede...
www.thisiscolossal.com
March 12, 2025 at 9:26 AM
Just saw this on #TodayILearned and that led me to @erikkwakkel.bsky.social ! #OldBooks
www.thisiscolossal.com/2014/01/this...
www.thisiscolossal.com/2014/01/this...
Started to work on something new, a manuscript lost in the 1870 fire that destroyed the Public and University Library in Strasbourg. The pile in the foreground I imagine holds the remains of the codex I am writing about, how sad (Musée hist. de Strasbourg, R.20694), more exhibit: buff.ly/srNXVZy.
March 10, 2025 at 10:13 PM
Started to work on something new, a manuscript lost in the 1870 fire that destroyed the Public and University Library in Strasbourg. The pile in the foreground I imagine holds the remains of the codex I am writing about, how sad (Musée hist. de Strasbourg, R.20694), more exhibit: buff.ly/srNXVZy.
Give yourself a free present. Here’s a OA download for your paleography fix.
Related to @lisafdavis.bsky.social Breakfast #Paleography post today: let me recommend @erikkwakkel.bsky.social's "Biting, Kissing and the Treatment of Feet: The Transitional Script of the Long Twelfth Century" in this excellent book:
www.aup.nl/en/book/9789... (short 🧵)
www.aup.nl/en/book/9789... (short 🧵)
Turning over a New Leaf
Books before print – manuscripts – were modified continuously throughout the medieval period. Focusing on the ninth and twelfth centuries, this volume explores such material changes as well as the var...
www.aup.nl
March 4, 2025 at 3:41 PM
Give yourself a free present. Here’s a OA download for your paleography fix.
Alert: great opportunity if you are interested in doing a PhD around early book. Salaried (!) Marie Curie Doctoral Research position advertised by the U of Bristol within the exciting “Remediating the Early Book: Pasts and Futures” project (@rebpaf.bsky.social).
uk.indeed.com/viewjob?jk=c...
uk.indeed.com/viewjob?jk=c...
December 16, 2024 at 5:55 PM
Alert: great opportunity if you are interested in doing a PhD around early book. Salaried (!) Marie Curie Doctoral Research position advertised by the U of Bristol within the exciting “Remediating the Early Book: Pasts and Futures” project (@rebpaf.bsky.social).
uk.indeed.com/viewjob?jk=c...
uk.indeed.com/viewjob?jk=c...
Reposted by Erik Kwakkel
There's an interesting new blogpost by Ellie Jackson at the BL:
blogs.bl.uk/digitisedman...
#fragmentology #mssprovenance
blogs.bl.uk/digitisedman...
#fragmentology #mssprovenance
An unknown leaf from the Poor Clares of Cologne
The involvement of nuns in creating beautiful medieval manuscripts is often underappreciated. It is very exciting, then, to discover a new example of their work. While searching for items to include i...
blogs.bl.uk
December 14, 2024 at 11:24 AM
There's an interesting new blogpost by Ellie Jackson at the BL:
blogs.bl.uk/digitisedman...
#fragmentology #mssprovenance
blogs.bl.uk/digitisedman...
#fragmentology #mssprovenance
Rehearsal for Handel’s Messiah, tomorrow in the beautiful Orpheum in Vancouver. We sound good and I feel you should all come.
December 14, 2024 at 4:28 AM
Rehearsal for Handel’s Messiah, tomorrow in the beautiful Orpheum in Vancouver. We sound good and I feel you should all come.
Reposted by Erik Kwakkel
Picard management tip: Share the credit. Take the blame.
December 13, 2024 at 9:49 PM
Picard management tip: Share the credit. Take the blame.
Peaceful coexistence: Ox (in watermark) sharing the page with several "book worms" (beetle larvae), who left those oddly-shaped channels.
Berlin, SBPK Magdeb. 89, 15th c https://buff.ly/49xfsft
Berlin, SBPK Magdeb. 89, 15th c https://buff.ly/49xfsft
December 13, 2024 at 9:16 PM
Peaceful coexistence: Ox (in watermark) sharing the page with several "book worms" (beetle larvae), who left those oddly-shaped channels.
Berlin, SBPK Magdeb. 89, 15th c https://buff.ly/49xfsft
Berlin, SBPK Magdeb. 89, 15th c https://buff.ly/49xfsft
All I want for Christmas is a red medieval binding with an original title label (fenestra) and brass-enforced corners...
Marburg UB Ms. 37
Marburg UB Ms. 37
December 13, 2024 at 4:17 PM
All I want for Christmas is a red medieval binding with an original title label (fenestra) and brass-enforced corners...
Marburg UB Ms. 37
Marburg UB Ms. 37
This book on astronomy has a great deal of student notes bound in with the text. These small inserts did not usually make it, but here they are, in abundance! More on these tiny class notes ("schedula") in this blog post: https://buff.ly/2rFt0Vl.
Tübingen UB Mc 64, 15th c https://buff.ly/41tCodx
Tübingen UB Mc 64, 15th c https://buff.ly/41tCodx
December 12, 2024 at 9:16 PM
This book on astronomy has a great deal of student notes bound in with the text. These small inserts did not usually make it, but here they are, in abundance! More on these tiny class notes ("schedula") in this blog post: https://buff.ly/2rFt0Vl.
Tübingen UB Mc 64, 15th c https://buff.ly/41tCodx
Tübingen UB Mc 64, 15th c https://buff.ly/41tCodx
I’ve gotten into this odd but useful routine of writing a page or two and then read it back on my phone. The small screen creates the distance I need to see if what I wrote made sense. More text in a single view helps with that.
December 12, 2024 at 7:00 PM
I’ve gotten into this odd but useful routine of writing a page or two and then read it back on my phone. The small screen creates the distance I need to see if what I wrote made sense. More text in a single view helps with that.
Reposted by Erik Kwakkel
Delighted to announce that my second book, The Destruction of Medieval Manuscripts in England, is coming out with Oxford University Press in April
Details here: global.oup.com/academic/pro...
Details here: global.oup.com/academic/pro...
December 12, 2024 at 1:54 PM
Delighted to announce that my second book, The Destruction of Medieval Manuscripts in England, is coming out with Oxford University Press in April
Details here: global.oup.com/academic/pro...
Details here: global.oup.com/academic/pro...
Reposted by Erik Kwakkel
Fully-funded PhD scholarship opportunity on project on ‘The hidden voices of early printed books (c. 1450-1750)’ at the University of Manchester. Supervised by me and my wonderful colleague Tabitha Tuckett in collaboration with Chetham’s Library. Please share! www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
[HUMS Bicentenary PhD] The hidden voices of early printed books (c. 1450-1750): A data-driven approach to social justice in library catalogues of small and medium heritage collections at The Universit...
PhD Project - [HUMS Bicentenary PhD] The hidden voices of early printed books (c. 1450-1750): A data-driven approach to social justice in library catalogues of small and medium heritage collections at...
www.findaphd.com
December 11, 2024 at 3:41 PM
Fully-funded PhD scholarship opportunity on project on ‘The hidden voices of early printed books (c. 1450-1750)’ at the University of Manchester. Supervised by me and my wonderful colleague Tabitha Tuckett in collaboration with Chetham’s Library. Please share! www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
This is an interesting volume, which includes actual medieval letters - not copied onto new pages, but physically bound into the volume. Some have clear traces of having been folded, with seal and recipient name still in place (see pics).
Tübingen UB Mc 63 https://buff.ly/3ZNa6tp
Tübingen UB Mc 63 https://buff.ly/3ZNa6tp
December 12, 2024 at 3:50 PM
This is an interesting volume, which includes actual medieval letters - not copied onto new pages, but physically bound into the volume. Some have clear traces of having been folded, with seal and recipient name still in place (see pics).
Tübingen UB Mc 63 https://buff.ly/3ZNa6tp
Tübingen UB Mc 63 https://buff.ly/3ZNa6tp
Writing a book on advertisements sheets of lay scribes operating writing businesses in late medieval cities. They took momentum away from Church. BUT. Now I suddenly have a sheet tied to a monastic house. Pardon? Those folks shouldn’t be into commerce! This needs serious creativity. Coffee time.
December 12, 2024 at 3:43 PM
Writing a book on advertisements sheets of lay scribes operating writing businesses in late medieval cities. They took momentum away from Church. BUT. Now I suddenly have a sheet tied to a monastic house. Pardon? Those folks shouldn’t be into commerce! This needs serious creativity. Coffee time.
Got ya! Just identified the origins of a bookbinding I'm working on via 1931 pub with rubbings from German bindings: the Benedictine Abbey of Tergernsee! The attested date of the in-house (!) blindstamp (1503) matches the date of the volume (Augustine: Froben, 1506). Good end of a good day.
December 12, 2024 at 12:00 AM
Got ya! Just identified the origins of a bookbinding I'm working on via 1931 pub with rubbings from German bindings: the Benedictine Abbey of Tergernsee! The attested date of the in-house (!) blindstamp (1503) matches the date of the volume (Augustine: Froben, 1506). Good end of a good day.