Imagination bound

Exposition in the Nottebohm room

In the light of the 100-year anniversary of the book art degree programme at the Academy of Berchem, we will showcase the expo 'Bound by Imagination' during our summer opening. An exhibition of 100 books, bound by former and current students and teachers of the academy. 

Summer expo Imagination Bound : meet the curator

Interview with Katja Clement

Book art has been taught at the Academy of Berchem for a hundred years. This anniversary is celebrated with the exposition ‘Bound by Imagination’ in the Nottebohm room of the Heritage Library Hendrik Conscience and other locations in Antwerp. But what exactly is book art? And how has this discipline developed itself? We turned to Katja Clement for answers since she has been active for 25 years as a maker and instructor of book art and as the curator of the expo. Moreover, she is the fifth woman in a row to head the programme.

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.

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.

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.

Blogpost 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.

Provenance research in the Conscience Library

Some books contain traces of earlier owners or users. These provenance marks can be used to research the way a book or text functioned in society, or to reconstruct the reading behaviour or book ownership of a person or a group of people.

Two international scientists receive travel grant to Antwerp (2025-2026)

Two international scientists receive travel grant to conduct research in Antwerp in the Hendrik Conscience Heritage Library and the museum Plantin-Moretus.

You suggest, we digitize

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

Porn, pulp & literature

Online exhibit

In December 2019, the Hendrik Conscience Heritage Library presented an unknown and long-hidden part of Flemish literature and cultural history: pornographic literature with the exhibition "Porn, pulp & literature". View the online exhibition here.