Picturing Animals in Early Modern Europe: Art and Soul
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Book Series
Studies in Baroque Art
The Burgeoning European Print Trade
The Distribution of Prints via the Plantin-Moretus Press of Antwerp
Karen L. Bowen, Dirk Imhof
- Pages: approx. 384 p.
- Size:220 x 280 mm
- Illustrations:170 col., 8 tables b/w.
- Language(s):English
- Publication Year:2025
- € 150,00 EXCL. VAT RETAIL PRICE
- ISBN: 978-1-915487-07-0
- Hardback
- Forthcoming (Aug/25)
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This is an essential, novel study of the distribution networks, pricing standards, and astounding volume of sales that characterized a vital component of the European print trade in the Early Modern Period, as revealed by the exceptional records of the Plantin-Moretus Press of Antwerp.
Subject(s)
BIO
Dr. Karen L. Bowen is an art historian specialized in the study of prints, print making and book illustration in the Early Modern Period.
Dr. Dirk Imhof works at the Plantin-Moretus Museum in Antwerp as keeper of the rare books and archives. His research focusses on book history in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Both have published extensively in their fields, exploring, in particular, the publications and management of the Plantin-Moretus Press.
Summary
The European print trade is an evocative topic. Not only art historians, but social, cultural, and economic historians all agree that it was of vital importance in the Early Modern Period, but that regrettably it is often discussed solely on the basis of tantalizing, isolated case studies. Bowen and Imhof’s ground-breaking publication will address this significant lacuna by revealing in unprecedented detail how booksellers were routinely engaged in the extensive international distribution and sale of hundreds of thousands of prints annually between the mid-sixteenth and mid-seventeenth centuries. Based upon the exceptionally well-preserved archives of the renowned Plantin-Moretus Press of Antwerp, this book presents the often-overlooked interwoven worlds of booksellers and print sellers. Together with a remarkable array of clients, ranging from the cultivated and influential elite to ordinary craftsmen, these figures provide palpable examples of suppliers, buyers, and middle men, revealing how such individuals interacted with one another. Simultaneously, this work illuminates numerous critical related topics, ranging from how prints were priced and the relative quantities in which they were sold, to the importance of national and professional networks in these transactions. The result is an essential, novel study that clarifies how the print trade worked in practice during a burgeoning period in its evolution.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter 1. Introduction
Chapter 2. Prices and Presentation: A Consideration of Coloring, Supports, and Sales of Prints in Bulk
Chapter 3. Christopher Plantin: From Print Dealer to Middleman and Courier Service
Chapter 4. The Moretuses and the Print Trade
Chapter 5. Family Ties and the Print Trade: The Extended Galle Family
Chapter 6. A Spectrum of Print Dealers in Antwerp
Chapter 7. The Demand for Prints from Antwerp, Far and Near
Chapter 8. The Prospering Print Trade in Cologne
Chapter 9. The Importance of the Frankfurt Fairs for the Print Trade in Seventeenth-Century Europe
Chapter 10. Epilogue: Onwards into the Second Half of the Seventeenth Century
Appendix 1. Print Publishers and the Prints They Sold via the Officina Plantiniana
Appendix 2. Individuals Who Purchased Prints via the Officina Plantiniana
Tables of Print Prices
Bibliography
Index
