Between Tradition and Customization. À la carte Engraved Title Pages in Louvain Student Notebooks (1630-1797)

Abstract

In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the practice of notetaking was in use at the faculty of Arts in Louvain. Students developed a habit of inserting factotum title pages published on loose leaves in their handwritten lecture notes. Some engraved title pages were created specifically for Louvain students, whereas some others were the result of a process of recycling and adaptation. Such parerga act as framing devices, allowing a play between inside and outside, between the space of academic knowledge and the space of the viewer/reader. Structured around a classification into four formal categories of printed title pages incorporated in student notes, this contribution presents the tradition within the context of the Louvain print market; focuses on the various framing devices that make up the title pages (cartouches but also medallions, banderoles, escutcheons) and those they establish as the entry to the book; considers the copying practice from one engraver or printer to another; and examines the recycling process at play in several manuscripts presenting cut and pasted engraved frames