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.

Help out as a volunteer or intern

Would you like to lend us a hand in preserving our heritage? We would be delighted to welcome you as a volunteer or intern.

Precious items

A few rules of thumb to consult rare books or valuable items.

Making reproductions

You may scan, copy or photograph some items from our collection yourself. Alternatively, you can request a high-quality scan from our reproduction service.

Globes in 3D

Through an online application, you now get the chance to watch the Blaeu-globes from the Nottebohm Room even closer. The digital tool allows to rotate the globes and to zoom in on the wonderful details.

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.

In search of Paradise

Dr. Claire Eager (The College of Wooster, Ohio) visited the Heritage Library Hendrik Conscience in the summer of 2019. Her research concentrates on the works of the English poet Edmund Spenser (c.1552-1599), who wrote The Faerie Queene, and the similarities with the work of the Flemish poet Jan van der Noot (c.1539-c.1595). We interviewed her about her research.

A Tale of Two Books: Two Sammelbände given to Antwerp by Margaret Cavendish, Duchess of Newcastle

Assistant Professor Liza Blake examined two rare books which were donated to the Antwerp city library by the English noblewoman and author Margaret Cavendish, Marchioness of Newcastle (1623-1673). In this article she stresses the importance of this donation and explains why these particular copies merit further investigation.

Georges Eekhoud: the Belgian Maxim Gorki

The Belgian author Georges Eekhoud (1854 – 1927), who lived in Flanders but wrote in French, was one of the first authors who wrote positively about homosexuality. Eekhoud’s personal library is a key collection in the Hendrik Conscience Heritage Library.

Forgotten chansons de geste?

New acquisition of a rare 16th-century romance of chivalry

Recently a rare copy of a Dutch epic poem (chanson de geste) printed in 1576 in Antwerp turned up at an auction. With the help of the Patronage Fund for Books and Literature the Heritage Library Hendrik Conscience acquired this copy of the romance of Roncevale.