Printing

Middle Eastern Special Collections

Printing for a Manuscript Culture: Early 20th-Century Books from Yemen’s State Press

Leiden University Libraries hold a rare collection of the earliest books produced with printing technology in Yemen during the first half of the twentieth century. Their material features reveal how these works were made—and how reading practices transitioned from manuscript to print culture.

Guest author • 17-08-2026

Early Printed and Rare Books

Bad blood at an 18th-century printing type auction

Printers kept a close eye on each other in the 18th-century Dutch book industry. A stinging comment from printer Lobbedanus regarding one of his colleagues gives an intriguing insight into the trade of printing types.

Erik-Jan Dros • 18-10-2022

Asian Special Collections

The 1973 Chinese edition of the Communist Manifesto

A perfect edition for a perfect text.

Marc Gilbert • 26-01-2021

Exhibitions · Asian Special Collections

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 • 31-05-2018

Early Printed and Rare Books

A closed book?

The physical features of a book offer insight into economic practices and the social or historical context of the object. What is the value of the materiality when a book has not been read?

Karin Scheper • 29-01-2018

Early Printed and Rare Books

Before and after Luther

31 October 1517 Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses on the door of the Castle Church in Wittenberg. It marks the symbolical beginning of the Protestant Reformation. His translation made the Bible available for the general public.

Mart van Duijn • 31-10-2017

Asian Special Collections

The oldest printed bookpage in Leiden

Printed before 1368.

Guest author • 07-03-2014

Early Printed and Rare Books

The ‘Divisiekroniek’: Leiden book production in the year 1517

The costs of the work must have been substantial: 880 pages and over 300 illustrations, printed from 110 separate woodblocks. No wonder that its publisher Jan Severszoon requested an imperial patent in Brussels.

André Bouwman • 18-03-2011

Blogs

Printing for a Manuscript Culture: Early 20th-Century Books from Yemen’s State Press

Bad blood at an 18th-century printing type auction

The 1973 Chinese edition of the Communist Manifesto

Reading a Korean edition of the Diamond Sutra

A closed book?

Before and after Luther

The oldest printed bookpage in Leiden

The ‘Divisiekroniek’: Leiden book production in the year 1517