Donate your book or collection

There is no better place for unique books and special collections than the Heritage Library. We therefore welcome donations that will complement our existing collection with open arms.

Priorities

The Hendrik Conscience Heritage Library is the reference library for anyone interested in finding out more about Antwerp, Dutch literature or the Flemish cultural heritage.

Travel grant to Antwerp for two international researchers

Since 2018, the Heritage Library Hendrik Conscience and Museum Plantin-Moretus, with the support of the Nottebohm Foundation and the Book and Literature Endowment Fund, have offered an annual travel grant to encourage research on the history of the printed book in Antwerp. Two foreign researchers will receive financial support to carry out several weeks of research in their collections.

Two manuscripts added to list of Flemish Masterworks

Two early modern manuscripts from the collection of the Hendrik Conscience Heritage Library have been added to the register of official Flemish Masterworks (‘topstukkenlijst’). The Minister for Culture recognizes the importance of these books for Flemish cultural history.

Images of a changing city: photographs of Antwerp from the 1860’s

In 1860, photographer Edmond Fierlants (1819-1869) was given the task of documenting the historical monuments of the city. It was one of the first large-scale series of urban photography in the world.

The trajectories of a sixteenth-century physician’s books

Upon opening a copy of the 1572 Venetian edition of Natale Conti’s Historiarum sui temporis libri decem, the ex-libris caught the attention of Dr. Nina Lamal. Opposite the title page of the book there was an engraved portrait of Alvarus Nonnius by Jan Wierix, dated 1586. In the following weeks, she came across the same portrait pasted in several other books in the Hendrik Conscience Heritage Library. Her interest was piqued: she wanted to reconstruct Nonnius’ library and investigate how his books became part of the collection of the Conscience library. This short blog offers the first results of that quest.

Collection

The Hendrik Conscience Heritage Library spans more than five centuries of Antwerp and Flemish history. Its unique and complete collection encompasses rare old editions as well as more contemporary publications and popular, contemporary periodicals, on paper, microfilm or in digital form.

Contact us

Contact us with your questions or for further information. You can use our general contact details for this. Contact one of our employees directly for specific questions.

Flemish collections on Italian humanism

By Fabio Della Schiava

Fabio Della Schiava is visiting professor in the history of humanism and neo-Latin Literature at the University of Leuven. Currently, he is working on a project about the reception of St. Augustine’s De civitate Dei. On 17 May he took his students in Latin Literature to the Hendrik Conscience Library for a workshop on Humanism. In this blogpost he gives us a vivid account of their visit.

Mission

Collecting and preserving Flemish cultural heritage and granting public access to this collection, for a wide, contemporary and future audience. For decades, the Hendrik Conscience Library has pursued this mission, the very justification of its existence, now and in the future.