Call for applications: The Royal Swedish Academy of History, Letters and Antiquities is offering fellowships to young scholars and civil servants for projects dealing with the special collections at the Swedish National Heritage Board. Apply by 15 August 2026. www.raa.se/rettig

The latest issue of pre-Tinder studies

Sion, Switzerland, as depicted in Braun & Hogenberg’s Civitates orbis terrarum (1575). A fairytale-like cityscape from the collections of @raa-se.bsky.social.

Breaking vexillology news

Yesterday I had the pleasure to visit the Museum of Mediterranean and Near Eastern Antiquities in Stockholm and take a closer look at some of their books.

Runbleck i bly är en hopvikt plåt som troligtvis bars som en skyddande amulett. Med hjälp av neutronteknik har nu Riksantikvarieämbetets runolog Magnus Källström, och forskaren Helena Berg vid Göteborgs universitet, lyckats upptäcka runskrift på runbleckens dolda sidor. www.raa.se/nyheter/2026...

Vad händer om du hittar ett fornfynd? Välkomna på föredrag!

Easter is just days away – time to start your #mämmi / #memma. Here’s an early modern recipe, scribbled in a 1686 book held by @raa-se.bsky.social: “Take good malted rye, grind and sift it fine. Cook to a thick consistency, pour into birch-bark boxes, and bake in the oven."

Stunning engraving of Christina of Sweden’s 1655 triumphal entry into Rome (printed in Rome the same year). After abdicating her throne and converting to Catholicism, her arrival became one of the defining spectacles of the Counter-Reformation, quickly transformed into religious propaganda.

Registration for the SHARPIES—our totally online Book History Festival—is now open and free for SHARP members! 📚😀 If you're not a member, it's easy to join (membership is between $55 and $100). The festival will take place July 7th-9th with events across time zones. events.zoom.us/ev/Ap9iEZwmC...

Seeing this wonderful copy of Łaski's Statutes (1506) was one of the highlights of my visit to the Warsaw University Library - a beautiful library with great collections.

Delightful title page by the German engraver Dirk Diricks (1613–1653). This Garden of Eden scene offers a splendid menagerie of animals. I’m particularly fond of the whale (a favourite motif among contemporary cartographers) and the frog, prominently placed close to Adam and Eve. #bookhistory #frog

Blind tooled pigskin binding from 16C, reused for a Swedish 1646 Bible (Swedish National Heritage Board). With image of Lady Justice with the Latin motto "Iustitie quisquis picturam | lumine cernis dic deus est [iustus iustaque facta probat]" (text within brackets only implied).

On Wednesday 28 January I’m giving a talk in Stockholm about Swedish war booty - welcome! www.raa.se/evenemang-oc...

During a recent trip to Tromsø, I had a chance to take a quick look at some recent acquisitions at @ubuit.bsky.social. Amazing stuff!

Does anyone know who Nicolinus Beninus is?

When you've played Für Elise one time too many

My latest article is a review of Charlotte Appel and Nina Christensen's excellent "På sporet af børn og bøger" (Gads Forlag 2023). doi.org/10.14811/clr...

A very short story in two very crude woodcuts (from Tagliente's "Libro di abacho", Venice 1570)

The Louvre heist reminds me of other times when cultural treasures disappeared. One story that stays with me is the loss of the Golden Horns of Gallehus, Denmark, stolen in 1802 by a goldsmith who melted them down. Engraving in Jacobæus' "Museum regium" [1696], The Swedish National Heritage Board.

It's finally happed. The telephone directory has become a collector's item. auctionet.com/sv/4585726-d...

Välkommen till årets Rettigsymposium! Det äger rum den 26 november kl 13:15. Programmet bjuder på föredrag och samtal om aktuella forskningsprojekt knutna till Riksantikvarieämbetets arkiv och bibliotek. Evenemanget är kostnadsfritt och öppet för allmänheten – men föranmälan krävs: lnkd.in/dg_yv_Tv

Last week marked the inaugural meeting of the research network Objects of Knowledge, hosted at University of Copenhagen. It was a pleasure meeting everyone. I talked briefly about a fascinating item from our collections: one of Johannes Bureus’ copper plates. comm.ku.dk/research/inf...

Why is it assumed that the 'lectrice' would skip the preface, unlike the 'lecteur'? Women’s reading has long been a concern. This 1833 example suggests that the way a woman read was as much a subject of critique as the content she read. Preface in Fournier & Arnould’s "Struensée" [Paris 1833].

Three weeks to go!

Took a short break from the #SHARP2025 conference to visit the George Eastman Museum and was pleased to find a pretty library and cool book photos

Printers’ devices on the doors of Rush Rhees Library ✨ #SHARP2025

Beautiful conclusion from @henninghansen.bsky.social! By turning to these bibles, we can "restore voices that were never meant to disappear" #SHARP2025

The first book containing Sámi literature was published as far back as 1673. @amybrigataswanson.bsky.social used the image from @wikipedia.org. @henninghansen.bsky.social sitting next to me tells me he recognizes it: it's from the University of Tromsø, where he worked 😛 #SHARP2025

At the #SHARP25 conference in Rochester and enjoying Marie’s paper - both creative and intriguing!

My latest article explores the Oxenstierna family Bible: an annotated 1646 Swedish Bible once owned by the diplomat and statesman Count Bengt Oxenstierna (1623–1702). Read it here (in Swedish!): urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=... #bookhistory #swedishhistory

Feel free to sign up for one of our online introductions to the collections, followed by Q&A, held on 17 June at 16:15 (Swedish) and 18 June at 16:15 (English). www.raa.se/rettig

Call for applications: The Royal Swedish Academy of History, Letters and Antiquities is offering fellowships to young scholars and civil servants for projects dealing with the special collections at the Swedish National Heritage Board. Apply by 30 August 2025. www.raa.se/rettig

Thrilled to share that the anthology "Från handskrift till digitalt kulturarv: Perspektiv på specialsamlingar", that I’ve co-edited with @sjokvist.bsky.social has been published. It's available both in #openaccess and in print: www.diva-portal.org/smash/record.... #bookhistory #specialcollections

Huge book with the supralibros of Pope Pius VI (1717–1799) and the bookplate of Carl Fredrik Fredenheim (1748–1803). Fredenheim met the pope in Rome, while researching Swedish diploma and scouting art for the Swedish king. He was given papal permission to carry out excavations of Forum Romanum.

Conference ongoing on Dispersed Libraries and the fates of book collections after times of war at the beautiful Ossolineum in Wrocław

EX FUMO IN LUCEM, from the dark to the light. This #earlymodern printing press is waiting for action. The motto was a marketing thing, as many publishers thought of themselves as bringers of light. To be more precise: they thought of themselves as sellers of enlightened paper goods. #bookhistory

Important stuff

It's like a 19C version of a 16C title page

The Swedish Research Council is offering 2 million SEK grants directed at scholars from outside Europe who want to relocate to Sweden and work at Swedish research institutions. The call opens 15 April. www.vr.se/english/just...

The book history hive mind solved this in no time. The stamp is from the library of the Benediktinerstift Lambach / Lambach Abbey, in Lambach in Upper Austria. Thank you, @schrift-sprache.bsky.social!

Does anyone recognize this library stamp? It's clearly been tampered with. It's in a copy of Olaus Magnus' ‘Historia de gentibus sepentrionalibus’ (Rome 1555) with the supralibros of the Benedictine abbot Placidus Hieber von Greifenfels (1615–1678) of Lambach, Austria.

Title page from the print workshop of Lyon-based Guillaume Rouillé (c. 1504–1589). Rouillé is considered one of the finest humanist printers of his time, and is credited with the invention of the sextodecimo book format. [The Library of the Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities]

Annotated Neungeomgyeong Sutra with Hangeul translation. Printed with movable (!) type in 1461, in both Hangeul and Eulhaeja type [National Museum of Korea, Seoul].

As Swedish so-called ‘fästmansband’ (literally ‘fiancé binding’) from 1797, which was a common gift to the bride-to-be.

Engraving of the grand Peace Banquet of 1649 in Nuremberg along with seating chart for all guests. The dog has not been allocated a seat but still manages to steal the show.

The bookbinding students in Leksand showed me some of the projects they're working on, and this notebook was one of my favorites. The runic inscription translates 'My adventures'.

In my mind I was standing completely still

Today I’m at the Leksand Folk High School to deliver a paper on medieval book culture. As I bonus, I get to pay a visit to the bookbinders and their splendid workshop!

Det här var en grej som jag häpnade över när jag jobbade på museum. Det ska bedrivas forskning på museer, men anställda på museer har inte tillgång till bibliotek. Vitterhetsakademien gör en jätteinsats som bidrar med detta.