The Syair Tabut, an overlooked scroll

This long overlooked scroll, the Malay language Syair Tabut, is the only eyewitness account of the last Muharram commemorations in Singapore in 1864, a practice still banned to this day.

Guest author • August 07, 2019

Following Ganesha’s footsteps through the Leiden Special Collections

Follow Ganesha in his many forms through the Asian Special Collections at Leiden University Library.

Doris Jedamski • July 17, 2019

Donum I. Ludolfi

Two beautifully decorated bindings donated to Leiden University Library and Bibliotheca Thysiana, as a token of friendship to a deceased travel companion.

Kasper van Ommen • June 24, 2019

A silk binding from Yemen

It’s very rare to come across a binding that seems to be unrelated to any type of binding we know. But it does happen. A cloth binding on a Yemeni manuscript is a case in point.

Karin Scheper • June 07, 2019

The cartography of Captain James Cook

It must have been quite the sight. On the 3rd of June 1769 – now 250 years ago – Englishmen were on the island of Tahiti looking through high-quality telescopes to watch a rare natural phenomenon: the transit of Venus across the face of the Sun.

Guest author • June 02, 2019

The Ricklefs collection at Leiden University Libraries. Some material features.

Manuscripts are not only about content. The leather bindings, the kinds of paper, and the ink used may tell us stories without words – material talks. Dr. Dick van der Meij will introduce us to some Javanese manuscripts

Guest author • May 13, 2019

A fifteenth-century manuscript from The Hague

“Dit boeck hoert toe den susteren van sinte agnieten binnen scrave[n] haghe van sinte augustijns oerde” (This book belongs to the sisters of St. Agnes of the Augustinian order in The Hague)

Guest author • April 29, 2019