Research internship Printed in Maastricht

The University Library, the Centre Céramique and the Regional Historical Centre offer an internship of two or three months in the summer or fall (12 or 18 ECTS). The student will do research on the history of printing in Maastricht; the results will be published. The student has to be able to read Dutch, French or Latin – one of these will do. The exact time period is negotiable. For more information please contact Pieter Caljé (after 5 July).

Maastricht has an interesting history of book printing. Already around 1550 a book printer – Jacob Bathen – was active within the city walls. From the 1630s onwards book printers have always been active in Maastricht. Well known names are the French Enlightenment thinker Jean-Edmé Dufour and – in the 20th century – the Dutch printers Boosten, Stols, Veltman and Nypels.

The University Library of Maastricht, Centre Céramique and the Regional Historical Center Limburg together possess thousands of books, which at a certain point in time were printed in Maastricht. To give the printing history of Maastricht in general and these books specifically more attention they recently started the project ‘Printed in Maastricht’. The project will communicate the history of book printing in Maastricht to a broad audience, amongst other things through a website, workshops, an exhibition and a publication.

In the past various people have carried out research into the history of book printing. A lot is known already, but there are also quite some questions, which need answering. For instance:

  • How do the book funds of a specific book printer fit into a specific time and cultural period?
  • We know of several ‘cityprinters’ (‘stadsdrukkers’). What exactly was their function?
  • In which languages are books printed and how does this shift through time?
  • How does the book printing industry in Maastricht relate to that in other cities (Antwerp, Amsterdam, Leiden, …)?
  • Was there censorship in Maastricht?
  • We know of several female printers in Maastricht. More research into their printing offices is needed.
  • And so on…

The product of the research is an essay, which will be part of the forthcoming publication.

NB: The books are printed mainly in Latin, French and Dutch. Knowledge of one of these languages is a prerequisite.

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