That's how most of #earlymodern printed books were offered and consumed: unbound, likely not stab-stitched, usually just slightly folded.
Say hello to the world of quartos and octavos, small prints, cheap prints, #Flugpublizistik, street literature, etc. Forget about bound books and libraries - this was the most typical way of reading the printed words and images in Europe.
After submitting my Habil thesis I have finally time to read other stuff, as this essay collection on the wedding of Charles I and Henrietta Maria. It's waiting for me to review for... too long.
So, far I'm really enjoying it. As it's about a royal wedding there's also lots of #emdiplomacy going on.
There is a lot going on in Pieter van Laer's 1630s "Self-Portrait with Magic Scene" (e.g. #earlymodern#alchemy and #magic, and #books). But have a look at the paper cone in the right foreground of the painting. Likely seeds or #peppercorns are spilling out. This is relevant for #PaperHistory and #BookHistory, dear #histodons.
Paper was used for more than just writing, drawing, and printing, as #histodons of #EarlyModernEurope know. Paper was mainly used for wrapping purposes too, as I said here in my introduction to the volume "The Paper Trade in Early Modern Europe. Practices, Materials, Networks"
#emdiplomacy was a multilingual affair. An #emdiplomat who could speak several languages had a clear advantage - not the least because he could thereby show equal respect to different parties, as this example by @dbellingradt shows. (1/2)
Together Condren & Luiten accepted the challenge to give an overview on Italian #emdiplomacy! This is a great task indeed, as #earlymodern Italy consisted on a great variety of different political entities: duchies, princely composite states, the possessions of foreign monarchs and city-republics of different size and influence, meaning that Italy was itself “a hive of diplomatic activity”. (5/11)
In a second step, Condren and Luiten discuss how the different Italian diplomatic actors were integrated in the developing European diplomatic system from the 16th century up to the Napoleonic Wars. As their role and their political status changed over time, they had to adapt their practices. (8/11)
Studying Italian #emdiplomacy is so rich of case studies that we could have several separate articles – and we indeed have a special article on papal diplomacy. (10/11)
Alexander Koller is deputy director at the DHI Rome and we couldn’t have found anyone more suitable to write the article on papal #diplomacy for the #handbook. He has published extensively on Italian and German relations in the 16th and 17th c. His special interest being the papacy. He even edited two volumes of the reports of the nuncios.
Talking about papal diplomacy one has to differentiate between legations and permanent nunciatures. By the 16th c. 13 such nunciatures had been established, e.g. in Florence, Cologne and Brussels. (4/6)
Papal diplomats – legates as well as nuncios – differed from other secular diplomats, as it was their task to represent the Apostolic See on a spiritual and a secular level.
But just like other diplomats papal envoys’ main tasks were representing, negotiating and of course reporting – the many volumes of the reports of the nuncios are an impressive testimony to this.
Koller thereby not only explains the development of papal diplomacy and its legal aspects, but also takes a closer look on the careers, the assignments and the daily life of the papal diplomats. (5/6)
The #emdiplomacy#handbook, aka the Big Pink Book, finally found its way to its wonderful authors. So we asked them to sent us pictures of its new home.
Under #BigPinkBookOnTour we take you on a journey to all the places where #emdiplomacy research takes places.
If you spot the handbook in the wild, please post pictures, too! (1x)
#smoking, #history#PaperHistory
1671 painting by Hubert van Ravesteijn - an exclusively designed paper packet leaning against a clay pipe, ready for consumption in a tavern, to sell small units of tobacco, paper was needed
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In this 1671 painting from Hubert van Ravesteijn we see an exclusively designed paper packet leaning against a clay pipe, ready for consumption in a tavern.
In order to sell small units of tobacco, paper was needed: used papers and freshly printed papers. Zoom in:
There is a paper story to this painting from 1672 waiting to be told. Meet Jan Berckheyde's "A Notary in His Office" highlighted in 5 steps - a thread for friends of #paperhistory and #mediahistory of #EarlyModernEurope, and for #histodons in general. Expect a view into the inky paper states of Europe, a paper age dealing also with waste papers, fresh paper sheets waiting to be used, a high paper demand, and some document bags literally full of used papers. Let's roll @histodons
@histodons Wherever paper was used, waste paper could also be found. Here, in detail no. 5 paper leftovers, waste papers, are lying on the floor next to a used quill. The presence of fresh unused papers, written upon "used" papers, and waste papers, in one scene remind #histodons of the material life of hand-made paper in early modern Europe: it was produced, it was used, and it was recycled - often to fresh 'new' paper. #EarlyModernEurope was a paper age with #recycling rhythms.
On the painting with the title "The Alchemist" from the Flemish Mattheus van Helmont, circa mid seventeenth century, are many uses and abuses of #earlymodern paper products reflected in the details. I will address 7 of these paper issues in the thread. Bonus for #Alchemy friends: a large écorché figure, a distillation apparatus over a fire, and metal working assistants.
Enjoy.
@histodons That's a thematic folder to organize loose paper sheets: drafts, notes, letters, you name it. Folders were and are a handy tool of organizing paper knowledge. Battling the information revolution of #EarlyModernEurope meant very often: organizing your papers in thematic or chronological folders. As a knowledge field, #alchemy too was a paper business. #histodons#histknow