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.”
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)
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.
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
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.
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.
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
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
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.
I don't like math either, but there is no need to splash ink all over it!
Tübingen UB Mc 64
Tübingen UB Mc 64
December 11, 2024 at 9:16 PM
I don't like math either, but there is no need to splash ink all over it!
Tübingen UB Mc 64
Tübingen UB Mc 64
Ivory panels with two evangelists writing, pen and inkwell in hand. Binding looks odd with 11th-century ivory cuttings in much later (18th/19th-century) leather board.
Berlin, SBPK, theol. lat.fol. 2. https://buff.ly/49sovhH
Berlin, SBPK, theol. lat.fol. 2. https://buff.ly/49sovhH
December 11, 2024 at 3:51 PM
Ivory panels with two evangelists writing, pen and inkwell in hand. Binding looks odd with 11th-century ivory cuttings in much later (18th/19th-century) leather board.
Berlin, SBPK, theol. lat.fol. 2. https://buff.ly/49sovhH
Berlin, SBPK, theol. lat.fol. 2. https://buff.ly/49sovhH
This rather tired-looking medieval book clearly shows how some of the quires have detached from the binding. They have given up. Also, you wouldn't say, but the object is the size of a deck of cards.
Gotha Chart. B 938, 15th century https://buff.ly/4gsKibd
Gotha Chart. B 938, 15th century https://buff.ly/4gsKibd
December 10, 2024 at 9:16 PM
This rather tired-looking medieval book clearly shows how some of the quires have detached from the binding. They have given up. Also, you wouldn't say, but the object is the size of a deck of cards.
Gotha Chart. B 938, 15th century https://buff.ly/4gsKibd
Gotha Chart. B 938, 15th century https://buff.ly/4gsKibd
This one is fun for all you early music lovers: a twelfth-century page with a LOT of neumes (early musical notation). For monks who liked a musical challenge?
Wolfenbüttel HAB Cod Guelf 496c Helmst. https://buff.ly/3OPvnfB #medievalsky
Wolfenbüttel HAB Cod Guelf 496c Helmst. https://buff.ly/3OPvnfB #medievalsky
December 10, 2024 at 7:39 PM
This one is fun for all you early music lovers: a twelfth-century page with a LOT of neumes (early musical notation). For monks who liked a musical challenge?
Wolfenbüttel HAB Cod Guelf 496c Helmst. https://buff.ly/3OPvnfB #medievalsky
Wolfenbüttel HAB Cod Guelf 496c Helmst. https://buff.ly/3OPvnfB #medievalsky
For when you need a distraction, get energized with this c. 1500 modelbook for medieval handwriting styles. Many modelbooks are composite/unbound, making it easier to have many pages open at once, for teaching purposes. Beinecke MS439
https://buff.ly/41tmksq
https://buff.ly/41tmksq
December 10, 2024 at 5:46 PM
For when you need a distraction, get energized with this c. 1500 modelbook for medieval handwriting styles. Many modelbooks are composite/unbound, making it easier to have many pages open at once, for teaching purposes. Beinecke MS439
https://buff.ly/41tmksq
https://buff.ly/41tmksq
December 6, 2024 at 9:40 PM
Vancouver is all Swifted up. 6.40 am: selfie time.
December 6, 2024 at 2:40 PM
Vancouver is all Swifted up. 6.40 am: selfie time.
I saw these two inserted leaves today and look how their painted main side is bleeding through to their backs. Such contrast.
Also, the 2 bad sides are facing each other and I wonder if the idea was to turn 2 leaves at once, so you’d miss that backstage mess.
The Hague KB, 76 F 13, 12th c
Also, the 2 bad sides are facing each other and I wonder if the idea was to turn 2 leaves at once, so you’d miss that backstage mess.
The Hague KB, 76 F 13, 12th c
December 4, 2024 at 9:52 PM
I saw these two inserted leaves today and look how their painted main side is bleeding through to their backs. Such contrast.
Also, the 2 bad sides are facing each other and I wonder if the idea was to turn 2 leaves at once, so you’d miss that backstage mess.
The Hague KB, 76 F 13, 12th c
Also, the 2 bad sides are facing each other and I wonder if the idea was to turn 2 leaves at once, so you’d miss that backstage mess.
The Hague KB, 76 F 13, 12th c
Saw some really lovely penwork decoration today. Dutch flourishing from 15th century has distinct regional features, this style is from Haarlem. More importantly, the happiness just jumps off the page!
The Hague, KB, 1900 A 406
The Hague, KB, 1900 A 406
December 4, 2024 at 7:46 PM
Saw some really lovely penwork decoration today. Dutch flourishing from 15th century has distinct regional features, this style is from Haarlem. More importantly, the happiness just jumps off the page!
The Hague, KB, 1900 A 406
The Hague, KB, 1900 A 406
Last item in this upside-down thread on exhibited medieval books. Click on item to travel down. It all turned out messier than I had hoped. Will try a simple hashtag next time.
(5) Export product: manuscript made in Bruges for the English market.
(5) Export product: manuscript made in Bruges for the English market.
December 3, 2024 at 9:22 PM
Last item in this upside-down thread on exhibited medieval books. Click on item to travel down. It all turned out messier than I had hoped. Will try a simple hashtag next time.
(5) Export product: manuscript made in Bruges for the English market.
(5) Export product: manuscript made in Bruges for the English market.
Here is a close-up of signed and dated border illumination: “sperinc 1499”. Not very common, but acted - intended I assume - as advertisement.
December 3, 2024 at 9:02 PM
Here is a close-up of signed and dated border illumination: “sperinc 1499”. Not very common, but acted - intended I assume - as advertisement.
I’m showing items of a pop-up exhibit. This is an upside-down thread: clicking on post will show the next - and suck you further into the rabbit hole.
(4) high-end decoration from famous Dutch illuminator Johan Spierinck, who signed and dated his miniatures.
(4) high-end decoration from famous Dutch illuminator Johan Spierinck, who signed and dated his miniatures.
December 3, 2024 at 8:58 PM
I’m showing items of a pop-up exhibit. This is an upside-down thread: clicking on post will show the next - and suck you further into the rabbit hole.
(4) high-end decoration from famous Dutch illuminator Johan Spierinck, who signed and dated his miniatures.
(4) high-end decoration from famous Dutch illuminator Johan Spierinck, who signed and dated his miniatures.
Came to Leiden University Library, made a pop-up exhibit of medieval manuscripts. Next item: something cool.
(3) Two copies of same Middle Dutch text made by same scribe c1450 for different clients. One ordered copy on parchment, the other on paper (see alt text). Now reunited on same table.
(3) Two copies of same Middle Dutch text made by same scribe c1450 for different clients. One ordered copy on parchment, the other on paper (see alt text). Now reunited on same table.
December 3, 2024 at 8:46 PM
Came to Leiden University Library, made a pop-up exhibit of medieval manuscripts. Next item: something cool.
(3) Two copies of same Middle Dutch text made by same scribe c1450 for different clients. One ordered copy on parchment, the other on paper (see alt text). Now reunited on same table.
(3) Two copies of same Middle Dutch text made by same scribe c1450 for different clients. One ordered copy on parchment, the other on paper (see alt text). Now reunited on same table.