The Ricklefs collection at Leiden University Libraries. Some material features.

Manuscripts are not only about content. The leather bindings, the kinds of paper, and the ink used may tell us stories without words – material talks. Dr. Dick van der Meij will introduce us to some Javanese manuscripts

Guest author • May 13, 2019

A fifteenth-century manuscript from The Hague

“Dit boeck hoert toe den susteren van sinte agnieten binnen scrave[n] haghe van sinte augustijns oerde” (This book belongs to the sisters of St. Agnes of the Augustinian order in The Hague)

Guest author • April 29, 2019

The Imperially Inscribed Illustrations of Cotton

Cotton production and Chinese imperial poems in blue ink: a new set of stone rubbings in the Leiden collection

Guest author • March 29, 2019

Dutch nationalism and the story of the Portengen manuscript

The 19th-century Portengen manuscript, recently donated to Leiden University Libraries, is a prime example of a text that shows how nationalism stimulated the self-consciousness of middle-class families.

Guest author • January 29, 2019

The first Japanese love letter by Sonogi to Von Siebold now discovered

"Reading your letters, I recall your face and long for the days gone by."

Guest author • December 04, 2018

The elusive Panji pops up in Leiden

Who is Panji, and what exactly is a Panji tale?

Guest author • November 19, 2018

To steal a book

A unique collection of Chinese underground poetry attracts all kind of visitors...

Guest author • October 04, 2018

A professional Dutch wide-angle stereo camera (1902), designed by Major General Van Albada

The first Dutch stereographic camera was designed and manufactured by a Major General of the Dutch army, L.E.W. (Lieuwe) van Albada (1868-1955). It appeared on the professional market in 1902.

Maartje van den Heuvel and Guest author • July 10, 2018

Reading a Korean edition of the Diamond Sutra

On view in the National Museum of Ethnology a very special 1578 copy of the Diamond Sutra.

Guest author • May 31, 2018

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