CODART, Dutch and Flemish art in museums worldwide

The bookshop of the world

Symposium: 15 September - 17 September 1999

From the website of the organizers, 7 February 2009

The first international conference held under the auspices of the ALCS was The Bookshop of the World, which was held at the British Library and the Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine in London, 15-17 September 1999. Proceedings of this conference were published in Lotte Hellinga et al. (eds.) The Bookshop of the World. The role of the Low Countries in the book-trade 1473-1941, ‘t Goy-Houten: HES & De Graaff Publishers, 2001.

Two earlier international conferences were organised by the Dutch Department at University College London in 1989 and 1994. Proceedings of these conferences were published in the series Crossways and the journal Dutch Crossing.

Recently our biennial conferences have become more and more international. The last biennial conference took place at University College London, 5-7 January 2006, with the theme Trading Cultures.

Publication

The bookshop of the world: the role of the Low Countries in the booktrade 1473-1941
Lotte Hellinga, Alistair Duke, Jaap Harsmap and Theo Hermans
Proceedings of a conference held in 1999 in London (British Library and the Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine)
350 pp., hardbound
‘t Goy-Houten (HES & De Graaf) 2001
ISBN-13: 9789061940395

From the publisher’s website, 7 February 2009

Proceedings of a Conference held in London, 15-17 September 1999, organized by The Association for Low Countries Studies, University College London, Centre for Dutch and Flemish Culture, The British Library, Dutch and Flemish section, Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine. Twenty-five papers by experts in their particular period or area were selected for publication. Covering almost five centuries, they represent a wholly modern approach to the history of the book and publishing in a European context, highlighting for the first time the crucial role of the Low Countries in transmitting the intellectual heritage of an area well beyond their own – changing – borders. “With their choice of the papers delivered at the conference, the editors of the ‘The Bookshop of the World’ have managed to create a very diverse and interesting book” (Edwin van Meerkerk, in: Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America, 96:3 (2002), pp.450-1). “The organisers of the conference that gave rise to this book chose its title as a metaphor for the wide range of subjects that book producers (printers and publishers) have offered their clients (the readers) over the past five centuries. … congratulations both for the conference and for this publication” (Elly Cock-Indestege, in The Low Countries, 10 (2002), pp.267-268).”… the 25 papers submitted to form a very high standard reference work, combining solid scholarship with attractive and well-chosen illustrations of famous editions, title pages, letters, maps and sale catalogues…” (Reinier Salverda, in ALCS Newsletter, 5 (2001), nr.2). “Two articles examine the history of the printing of Dutch medical texts. Both Nutton and Munt show in their articles how the Netherlands created an extensive medical community for the Bookshop of the World”. (in: Canadian Journal of the Netherlandic Studies, 22,1 (2001). “…This collection undoubtedly deserves attention for it contains numerous excellent pieces…” (John L. Flood, in The Library, March 2003, pp.71-73).