Assessing the significance of early printed mathematical books

In the Spring it was exactly 400 years since the death of the mathematician Simon Stevin (1548-1620). In order to better understand the world in which Stevin lived and wrote, five flemish heritage libraries assessed their collection of early printed books in the field of mathematics. The Hendrik Conscience Heritage Library was one of the partners participating in this collection assessment project.

Conditions of sale

Conditions of sale when purchasing an online ticket

Travel grant brings Ashley Gonik (Harvard University) to Antwerp

Three research vlogs

In 2019, Ashley Gonik received a travel grant from the Nottebohm Foundation to conduct research on the collections of the Hendrik Conscience Heritage Library and the Plantin-Moretus Museum. Are you curious about the life of an American researcher in Antwerp? In three short research vlogs she tells about her journey, research and experiences.

Pornography in the library

Interaction between porn and literature in Flanders

Until recently, pornography has mostly been neglected by literary scholars and historians. Academic attention to pornographic texts was confined to a small range of literary authors with a canonical status, such as the notorious libertine author Marquis de Sade. Similarly, librarians were not interested in pornographic publications, which usually circulated in a secondary circuit of junk reading. As a result of this, the mass of these pulp publications, printed on low-quality paper and deemed unworthy of keeping, has vanished through time.

Ulysses to Baedeker

Three centuries of travel advice in pocket size

Gerrit Verhoeven is a postdoctoral fellow at the Department of History of the University of Antwerp. As an urban historian, he specialises in early modern Europe, particularly – but not only – the Low Countries and Western Europe. He has published on travel and tourism, on time awareness and human capital, on the resilience of social relations, and on book history. In this blogpost he writes about the research potential of travel guides kept in the collection of Hendrik Conscience Heritage Library.

City of Antwerp and Google put more than 100,000 books online

The City of Antwerp and Google signed an agreement to digitise a large portion of the collections of the Hendrik Conscience Heritage Library and the Plantin-Moretus Museum.

New acquisition: Albertanus de Brescia, Liber de arte loquendi et tacendi

In December 2018 the Endowment Fund for Books and Literature acquired a rare Antwerp incunable, which it donated to the Hendrik Conscience Heritage Library. The Liber de arte loquendi et tacendi by Albertanus of Brescia was printed in Antwerp in 1485 by Gerard Leeu.

Podcasts Miraeus Lectures

Together with the Flanders Book Historical Society and the Antwerp Bibliophile Society, the Hendrik Conscience Heritage Library organizes book-historical lectures that place book history in the Netherlands in an international perspective. Browse our archive of a few past lectures and listen to the podcasts.

I found my Holy Grail

Marianne C.E. Gillion has a PhD in musicology. In her Miraeus Lecture on 27 March 2019 she will talk about the liturgy of the Antwerp Cathedral of Our Lady and St. James’ Church. In this interview she gives us a preview.

You suggest, we digitize

Can we support your research by scanning one or more publications from our collection? Submit your request here.