425 years Leiden University Library: from Vaulted Room to ‘the cloud’ On October 31, 1587 Leiden university created its first library room, in the Academy Building at Rapenburg. André Bouwman • October 31, 2012
The ‘Divisiekroniek’: Leiden book production in the year 1517 The costs of the work must have been substantial: 880 pages and over 300 illustrations, printed from 110 separate woodblocks. No wonder that its publisher Jan Severszoon requested an imperial patent in Brussels. André Bouwman • March 18, 2011
Imagining the past in a royal codex It took four folio volumes to contain an illustrated Miroir historial. A manuscript now kept in Leiden and one in Paris form the first two volumes of such a set, ordered by the French royal family. André Bouwman • November 19, 2010
Wigalois, a German Arthurian Hero The remarkable style of the miniatures, perhaps influenced by medieval tapestries, is clearly distinct from the contemporary Arthurian iconography, dominated by Parisian illuminators. André Bouwman • July 09, 2010
Exhibition on the 400th anniversary of the invention of the telescope On 25 September 1608 Hans Lipperhey, an optician from Middelburg applied for a patent for a 'certain instrument to see far'. André Bouwman • March 12, 2010
Walewein and the Floating Chessboard Walewein's initial quest for a wondrous floating chessboard can only be completed if he undertakes a second quest (for the Sword with Two Rings) and even a third (for princess Ysabele). André Bouwman • January 29, 2010
Latin gospel book from the Franco-Saxon School Each gospel in the Leiden manuscript opens with two illuminated pages built up with decorative elements and letters. André Bouwman • August 19, 2009
Something from Everything An anonymous Dutchman 'reading with his pen'. The result: sixteen volumes with a total of more than 4,300 pages, written in a tiny but legible hand. André Bouwman • May 20, 2009
The Leiden Aratea Made at the court of Louis the Pious at Aachen, this codex bears witness of the great interest of the Carolingian emperors in classical antiquity André Bouwman • April 16, 2009
