It is paper time, again.

The painting is from A. M. Wirth made in the late nineteenth century, and is on offer at the moment: auktionshaus-stahl.de/de/artikel/999…

What do we see, and what is worth focusing on? A short thread for #bookhistory and #paperhistory alike.

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To start with, what is imagined in the painting is a streetselling scene in a nineteenth century urban context. The painting is called "Beim Antiquar", and so we are looking at a second hand trade of an antiquarian. The nineteenth century saw the rise of this trade.

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But first focus on the far right of the painting, almost hidden at the walls: this is glued paper. Likely announcements, advertisements, single-sheet prints, broadsheets and broadsides. Paper being present in urban settings.

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But what exactly are old books, second hand books, or used books? This is a tricky question. What antiquarians sold was a variety of paper products.

Eyecatchers were helpful to attract a buying audience: copperplate prints and maps - sometimes cut out of older books.

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This is a traditional insight into such a trade: leather and paper bound books, non-sellers or slow-sellers of other "regular" book shops near and far, waiting to be bought. Big ones, small ones. Waiting material. Old papers.

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Also on offer were loose sheets, maybe old letters of contemporary authors, sometimes a printed image of a book that was lost, even new papers for letter writing. A paper business, sheet for sheet.

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And here it becomes interesting. More paper, unbound small books, cheap prints, chap books, littérature populaire, we have many names for these publications.

And there is a portfolio for drawings or loose papers (big and expensive printed images).

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And this paper arrangement needs special attention. What is waiting here at the street for potential buyers? And here I need you help and suggestions, #bookhistory experts.

Are these old archival documents (in typical blue dust sheets of nineteenth century)? Or ...

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... do we see unbound books, never been assembled by a book binder, and hold together by a protecting blue carton? It could be both, maybe is both, but who can help solving this? Thank you for your support.

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More from @dbellingradt

Sep 14, 2022
How to hold a paper letter in early modern Europe? A thread.
How to hold a paper letter in early modern Europe? Like a ruler (here Philip IV of Spain in 1643), being informed and part of every communication network there is. Signal: I am easygoing and powerful.
How to hold a paper letter in early modern Europe? After work (here: Agostino Pallavicini in 1621), still dressed in business clothes, but after having finished the usual multitasking and decision making. Signal: I am overworked but happy.
Read 10 tweets
Sep 7, 2022
Fancy a word of academic German today? #Schreibschulden - the texts you promised to send to someone but missed the deadlines, and apparently your growing overload of to do reviews, chapters and articles become part and argument of every academic conversation you have.
"Wie geht es Ihnen und den #Schreibschulden heute?" (Gehört auf einem deutschen Universitätsflur in einem Historischen Seminar).
"Ich kann leider keine Rezensionen mehr annehmen, meine #Schreibschulden verbieten es mir" (Höfliche und häufige Floskel in Emails).
Read 11 tweets
Sep 3, 2022
That's an early modern street seller, selling broadsides and printed paper crowns for christmas.
Step 1 of #PaperCrownsForChristmas
The street seller is a detail of a painting from Joos de Momper the Younger, a Flemish painter active in Antwerp between the late 16th century and the early 17th century. So the paper crowns were likely sold in Antwerp or nearby.
Step 2 of #PaperCrownsForChristmas
Mobile sellers of paper products, like newspapers, broadsides, pamphlets etc., were a thing in early modern Europe. In fact, they were almost everywhere. And paper crowns were seasonal extras.
Step 3 of #PaperCrownsForChristmas

Read 5 tweets
Jun 10, 2022
You've got mail. In Paris. In 1670.
More information on the small print (an etching!) with the letter receiving or sending young woman can be found here:
bavarikon.de/object/bav:UBE….
The purpose of paper letters being sent within the Early Modern European territories from A to B seems to be clear - it was about communication. However, we shall not forget that especially private letters were among the most read, and re-read, texts.
Read 8 tweets
Jan 4, 2022
Among the many reusages of paper in early modern Europe was certainly rereading letters. A short thread - using a 1780s painting from Marguerite Gérard - for those interested in #paperhistory and #bookhistory:

Step 1.
Let's start the look at rereading (and paper storing) practices of rich Europeans with details on the painting used. You see Marguerite Gérard's painting from c. 1785, nowadays in the Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen - Neue Pinakothek München, sammlung.pinakothek.de/de/artwork/ApL…

Step 2.
Important paper letters were stored in tiny boxes - for rereading aloud and silently, alone and in company.

Step 3.
Read 8 tweets
Nov 23, 2021
One way to sell news in early modern Europe: combine extraordinary topics that were published elsewhere before, and then republish them in a new pamphlet.

Severe weather, a ghost story, a wonder flour!

Meet the pamphlet of 1684 here: t1p.de/kvn2a #bookhistory
The selection and combination of three extraordinary topics was an easy task for an experienced publisher. To start with, you needed to buy and read other pamphlets or news prints of the time. Media echoes of interesting stoiries were omnipresent and easy to spot. Have a look:
The severe weather, with thunder, heavy rainings and lightning, was all over the German news in 1684. Even if you missed the news reports in newspapers, there were also extra pamphlets devoted to the topic available. Like this one:
Read 7 tweets

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