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Edwina Penge

@edwinapenge.bsky.social

Rare books librarian & cataloguer | library & book history | moderately early modern

5 Posts367 Follower337 Folgt
Zanna Van Loon@zannavanloon.bsky.social · last yr.

This manuscript by Anselmus Faust, dated 1612, is the oldest surviving European manual on bookbinding. Written in Latin & Dutch, it was created for the St Bernard's Abbey near Antwerp. What makes it especially unique is its rare dos à dos binding: 2 books bound back-to-back, sharing a single spine.

Title page of the manuscript which reads 'Beschrijvinghe ende onderwijsinghe ter discreter ende vermaerder consten des boeckbinders handwerck, hier inne te sien ende te lesen hoemen de boecken op alderhande manieren binden ende maecken sal.'Dutch cover of the book in parchment painted in red and part of it in white sheep leather that has been blind tooled.Detail of the edges of the manuscript painted in red and green respectively.French cover of the book in parchment painted in green and part of it in white sheep leather that has been blind tooled.
Martine van Elk@martinevanelk.bsky.social · last yr.

Fantastic post on the blog today by Joe Black, who discusses Lady Bindloss's booklist--evidence of what books she bought, how she ordered them from London, and even how she shelved them by color earlymodernfemalebookownership.wordpress.com/2025/08/20/l... #EarlyModern #HerBook

Lady Bindloss Buys Some Books (1676)

Of the various kinds of documents that provide evidence of book ownership in the early modern period, purchase records are among the scarcest survivals: most booklists take the form of wills, inven…

earlymodernfemalebookownership.wordpress.com

Edwina Penge@edwinapenge.bsky.social · last yr.

Delighted to see Longleat library's project with Birmingham Uni announced. Rewarding work producing the digitised MS and collaborating with Liv to create physical & online exhibitions for general audiences. Longleat MS 258 is fascinating - do explore the online content or come visit us!

Project shines new light on famous medieval poem at Longleat House - University of Birmingham

The University of Birmingham and Longleat House have collaborated on a new project re-examining the famous medieval poem, La Belle Dame sans Mercy.

birmingham.ac.uk

Elise Watson@ewatson.bsky.social · last yr.

Yet another example of daughters‘ essential roles in bookselling families: In 1581-2, Middelburg bookseller Dierick van Helmondt repeatedly sent his daughter Janne to buy books from Plantin in Antwerp and settle his accounts (his son worked in the business too) (Museum Plantin-Moretus Arch. 60 f. 2)

Text of a ledger describing the client as 'Dierick van Helmont, libraire a Middelborch, par sa fille Janne‘
Edwina Penge@edwinapenge.bsky.social · last yr.

Interested in big house libraries? My article about the library at the National Trust's Springhill is out now: www.euppublishing.com/doi/abs/10.3366/lih.2025.0189 Many thanks to LIH's editors Nadine Kozak & @jilld17.bsky.social.

The big house and the book-collecting game: notes on a partial twentieth-century library dispersal | Library & Information History

The big house library in Ireland was on a precarious footing in the early twentieth century. Successive sales assisted the demise, or diminishment, of the houses’ book collections. Libraries were ofte...

euppublishing.com

Anna-Lujz Gilbert@annalujz.bsky.social · 2y ago

For anyone interested in the early Bodleian Library or early modern book owners, the Shaping Scholarship project at CELL, UCL has made the project data available: ebdo.org.uk/data/ It details every officially recorded donation made c. 1600-1620, plus some extras, which is around 10,000 items.

Phtotograph of Bodleian Benefactors' Register, open and showing gifts of Robert Barker and William Ballow, in italic print and manuscript on parchment.