Recent Acquisitions

The acquisition of old books is no longer a top priority for the Ruusbroec Institute Library. Due to limited funding our acquisition policy has become more pragmatic. Since we are not able to buy all books that would fit in our collection profile, we focus on books that facilitate ongoing research, and whenever the chance arises to buy a book with relevance for this research we shall try to find the means to acquire it.

Hemels Palm-hof - Wilhelm Nakatenus (1683)

The rare first edition of the Dutch translation of Wilhelm Nakatenus's German Das himmlisch Palm-Gärtlein (1660) and its Latin translation Coeleste palmetum (1667) was bought by the Ruusbroec Institute Library at the The Romantic Agony (Brussels) November auction in 2014. Only five other copies of this first edition are known. This Dutch translation, het Hemels palm-hof beplant met Godtvruchtige oeffeningen, van kerckelijcke getijden, litanien, gebeden, ende meditatien, &c. Meestendeel getrocken uyt de H. Schriftuer en HH. Oudtvaders, was a popular prayer book, and was reissued many times in the eighteenth and nineteenth century.

The copy at the Ruusbroec Institute Library is bound in an early eighteenth century tortoise binding with silver clasps.

Call number: RG 3046 B 9

This book is available on the digital platform of the University of Antwerp.

Jhesus Collacien (ca. 1625)

This seventeenth century Dutch manuscript remained unknown until 2006 when it surfaced during the compilation of the Repertroium of Middle Dutch sermons. Until 2013 it was held in private hands in England.

The manuscript contains the so-called Jhesus collacien sermon cycle, which was very popular in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. This is a remarkably late text witness of this group of sermons.

Apart from the Jhesus collacien the codex contains some prayers, meditations, religious acts and a sermon by the Franciscan friar Judocus a Castro (+ 1634), which place the book Mechelen area in the early seventeenth century.

Call number: RG Hs Neerl. 37

To this book is available on the digital platform of the University of Antwerp.

This manuscript has been acquired with financial support from the University Library and was donated to the Ruusbroec Institute Library as a permanent loan.