Rare Reads

April 29, 2010

A display case holds a treasure in the rare books collection.  - Antwerp, Belgium - Daily Travel Photos
(Antwerp, Belgium)
f/2 ▪ 1/160s ▪ @50mm ▪ ISO400 ▪ Canon 5D ▪ Canon 50mm f/1.4
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A display case holds a treasure in the rare books collection.

I'm unsure which book this was but if memory serves me correctly, many of the rare and old books on display dated from the 16th and 17th centuries. There were quite a few of them so it's difficult to recall exactly when this book was published. On a different note, it's a bit awe-inspiring to be among objects that are older than the founding of my country of residence, the United States. If these books endure another few hundred years, it's interesting to note they may outlive the relevance of the US as well.

Ed. Note: I'm experiencing technical problems at the moment. As I type this, my laptop runs on battery power due to the, now, 2-hour long blackout in my building. I have no internet access and I'm afraid I may miss the 10pm Eastern time (GMT -5) deadline to publish this photo. Bear with me. I'll be back up as soon as possible.

Update: It's the equivalent of 1am Eastern time. Power is finally back after about 14 hours. Sorry for the late post! Now, time to check if my refrigerated goods spoiled!

Update: I spoke to the building manager about the blackout. Turns out, I was the goof responsible for knocking the power out of the entire building. Apparently you can't clean an electric stove with copious amounts of water because it may short the wiring. Whoopsy. My humblest apologies to my neighbors... and to my audience for an unnecessarily late post for today. And for added closure, no, none of my food spoiled.

rare book
A tourist among the rare and old books collection. - Antwerp, Belgium - Daily Travel Photos
(Antwerp, Belgium)
f/1.8 ▪ 1/80s ▪ @50mm ▪ ISO400 ▪ Canon 5D ▪ Canon 50mm f/1.4
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A tourist gazes at the paintings among the rare and old books collection.

Among the paintings on the walls of this museum are family portraits done on commission by famed artist, P.P. Rubens, himself!

Plantin-Moretus library
A 36-line Gutenberg bible.  - Antwerp, Belgium - Daily Travel Photos
(Antwerp, Belgium)
f/1.8 ▪ 1/80s ▪ @50mm ▪ ISO200 ▪ Canon 5D ▪ Canon 50mm f/1.4
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A 36-line Gutenberg bible.

Only 14 of these rare bibles are known to exist in the wild. Two of them are in the possession of the Plantin-Moretus library. Like I said yesterday, if you have a chance, make your way to this incredible museum and UNESCO world heritage site.

Gutenberg bible

2 Comments - Rare Reads

1) Jeff Lovinger -

Pius, always good to see through your eyes. I love your choice of dof, especially the extreme shallow dof.
I haven't been back to Belgium in many years, since I lived in Amsterdam in the 70's.
I just caught up on your wonderful blog. This brings back great memories.
I was out for a while, and in Boston, getting medically attended to. Now I just have to rest up for a while, and all will be well.
Keep up the good work. Enjoy !!!!

April 30, 2010
2) TravelGuy -

Thanks Jeff. I hope it wasn't anything serious. Feel better soon!

May 4, 2010