Text: Bea Ros. This article was first published on Radboud Erfgoed.
“Is this idea worth pursuing?” That was the question antiquarian Robert van der Graven posed to Johan Oosterman, professor of Medieval and Early Modern Dutch Literature and programme director of Radboud Heritage, in late 2019. “I’ve known him for more than ten years and he's asked for my opinion plenty of times in the past.”
The question now was about a Southern Netherlands prayer book from around 1500. One glimpse of the attached photos was enough to pique his interest. “I saw the beautiful, original binding, the stunning pictures and the interesting texts. Even someone with zero knowledge of manuscripts would agree this was a good buy. So, I said to him: ‘Interesting book, can I have a closer look?’”
Oosterman was then sent the 500-year-old manuscript by post. Once it became clear how unique and valuable the manuscript was, Oosterman had it moved to the University Library’s safe. At the end of 2020, the sale was concluded and Radboud University had officially acquired another special manuscript.
Acquisition-worthy
Unique and beautiful is not enough to shell out thousands of euros. In early 2020, the Radboud Heritage team asked itself why the manuscript was worth buying. Oosterman was hesitant at first, as he didn't want people to think he was merely pursuing his own personal interest in medieval manuscripts. Curator Eefje Roodenburg understands his concern. “When I browse through auction catalogues, I often find myself lingering on English titles. But I always stop and ask myself: ‘Did you pause because you liked it or because it would make a great addition to the collection?’”
A University Library is not a museum; the collection is at the service of research and education. The same is true of the Special Collection, which includes unique books, incunabula and manuscripts. “We assess each acquisition against two criteria,” explains Radboud Heritage policy officer Els Peters. “Does the object align with the pillars of our collection and does it contribute to research and education at our university?” The prayer book from the Maagdendries convent in Maastricht (1352-1795) is acquisition-worthy on both points. It is a wonderful addition to the collection of manuscripts from convents in the Southern Netherlands, one of the collection's research pillars (see text box). “This prayer book is slightly different from the Soeterbeeck manuscripts,’ explains Oosterman. “It contains a large number of complex literary texts, some of which bordering on the mystical.’ Curator Chris Dols adds: “This is our first acquisition from Maagdendries. It broadened our palette and allowed us to carry out comparative studies.”
What makes the manuscript particularly interesting, aside from its content, is its condition: with an original leather binding and Servaas seals, miniatures (added later), and notes scribbled by previous owners. This makes it a valuable research object for Nijmegen book historians and manuscript experts. “Nijmegen specialises in these kinds of manuscripts,” says Roodenburg. “A perfect book with no notes or signs of use is great for collectors, but our hearts skip a beat when we see inscriptions by previous owners, small mistakes and traces of past use. It tells us a lot about book production in the Middle Ages and about the devotion and use of books in convents.”
Living collection
The University Library has done very little acquisition in recent years, due in part to budget constraints and because it felt this wasn't part of its job. Thanks to the Radboud Heritage programme, there is more interest in and budget for a serious acquisition policy. “A collection should be dynamic,” explains Dols. “If the research changes, your acquisition policy should change along with it. This keeps the collection dynamic and interesting for researchers.”
The prayer book couldn't have come at a better time. “Often, Nijmegen wasn't even a consideration when an interesting new item hit the market,” says Dols. “With this acquisition, Radboud University is profiling itself as an active participant in the collection-building and acquisition game.” All university libraries in the Netherlands have their own specialities and spearheads. The curators keep each other informed when they come across something that may be of interest to another library. “For example, if I come across a book with a richly embroidered binding, I contact my colleagues at the University of Amsterdam,” says Roodenburg.
This particular prayer book from a Maastricht convent would have made the perfect addition to Maastricht’s University Library collection – and Dols knows his colleagues would have been happy to acquire it. But entirely by coincidence, Nijmegen was the first to see it. Coincidence or not, Dols prefers to attribute it to the rich network of Radboud Heritage. “It highlights the importance of networks. The fact that an antiques dealer went to Johan first is a testament to his connoisseurship.” Peters adds: “And the fact that the antiquarian was willing to send the manuscript to the University Library for closer inspection is a sign of confidence and trust.”
Publicly accessible
In late January 2020, Oosterman attended a symposium about a medieval manuscript in ‘s Heerenberg. During lunch, he showed photographs of the prayer book to a colleague from the National Library of the Netherlands. “He said, ‘Buy it if you can; it's a beautiful little book.’ Later he put a hand on my shoulder and said, ‘If you don’t buy it, we will.’”
This confirmed to Oosterman that he’d come across something very valuable and worth adding to the Nijmegen collection. His colleagues at Radboud Heritage agreed. Roodenburg said: “Let's get the acquisition process started and see if we can make this happen.” In addition to researching the history of the manuscript to determine whether it was indeed worth purchasing, the process also involved acquiring the necessary funding. Radboud Heritage asked the Radboud Fund to launch a fundraising campaign. An online information session about the prayer book was held in November 2020, which raised a few thousand euros in private donations. With contributions from the Radboud Heritage budget and various university donations, the sale was concluded in December 2020.
Now, after many centuries, this unique prayer book is publicly accessible. For the Radboud Heritage team, this is almost as significant as acquiring the manuscript in the first place. “We want objects like these to be part of public collections and remain available for research and education. The last thing we want is for it to disappear into a private collection that no one can access,” says Roodenburg. All university libraries are committed to keeping manuscripts like these off the private market by adhering to an unwritten rule: no bidding against each other at auctions. “If more than one library is interested, we determine the most suitable spot for it. I'd much rather see it go to another university library than to a private collector.” The prayer book has been digitised and published online for the public to enjoy. Museum Het Valkhof is developing a mini-exhibition so people can admire the manuscript in real life as well. Researchers from within and outside Radboud University are welcome to inspect more closely the manuscript at the University Library. The book will most certainly be discussed in lectures as well, promises Oosterman. “This book is perfect for teaching students about medieval manuscripts.”
Monastic libraries
Monastic collections form an important pillar of the Radboud University collection and were made possible by donations from former monasteries and by an active acquisition policy. An extensive collection was purchased from the Redemptorist monastery in Wittem in the 1970s and from the Dominican Albertinum monastery in the 1990s. In the late 1990s Radboud University acquired the Soeterbeeck convent collection when the monastery and all of its possessions was acquired for the symbolic amount of one guilder. This research focuses on book culture and devotion in convents. The Radboud Heritage collection boasts approximately 150 medieval manuscripts, seventy of which from convents like Soeterbeeck and Maagdendries.