With a conference by Marie-Luce Demonet: “How to trace missing slips: paper and glue in the Bordeaux copy of Montaigne’s Essais (1588-1592)“
What makes a book sharp and witty? How did early modern print culture shape the way we read, think, and communicate today? The Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania and the National Museum of Lithuania invite scholars to unravel these questions at the international conference “Acutus et Argutus: Early Modern Print Culture in Motion.” The event celebrates the legacy of Matthias Casimirus Sarbievius (1595–1640), a master of Baroque poetry and literary theory, whose work “De acuto et arguto” delves into the aesthetics of wit and piercing style in literature. This concept of sharpness and agility in expression mirrors the dynamic transformations that swept through book culture during the early modern period.
The conference will bring together scholars from diverse fields – including book history, print culture, Baroque studies, and documentary heritage – to explore the evolution of books, printing, and readership from the fifteenth to eighteenth centuries. Through interdisciplinary dialogue and innovative research approaches, we aim to reveal new insights into early printed books and their vibrant journey across time and space.
Program
With a conference by Marie-Luce Demonet (CESR, UMR 7323 – Université de Tours): “How to trace missing slips: paper and glue in the Bordeaux copy of Montaigne’s Essais (1588-1592)“
The « Virtual Humanist Libraries » program (Center for Advanced Renaissance Studies, University of Tours, French National Centre for Scientific Research), aims at solving an enigma that concerns the specialists and readers of Montaigne’s Essais, as well as book historians : how can we know if some slips or small interleaved sheets were pasted in old books of the pre-modern era? The idea is to subject traces to forensic protocols (proteins and sugars), and cultural heritage preservation methods, in order to determine their organic composition. The research is being carried out on that remarkable copy of Montaigne’s Essais (1588-1592), preserved in the Bordeaux City Library, a National Treasure nominated as a « Memory of the World » (UNESCO, 2023). It contains hundreds of authentic additions and thousands of handwritten amendments, intended for a future edition the author did not see before he died (1592). The posthumous edition (1595) displays many differences whose authenticity is controversial, because its editor, Marie de Gournay, took up the huge task, perhaps with too much zeal, of improving its readability. On eleven leaves where the main missing additions should appear, some show stains that could be traces of starch glue. The missing notes, due to repeated handling over the centuries, might be important. The forensic analysis should provide new hypotheses to resolve authorship issues. The Proteome team (University of Bordeaux), specializing in the study of organic components of heritage artefacts, accepted this challenge, with funding from the Loire Valley Social Sciences and Humanities Institute1.
All informations about the program will be on the conference website: https://konferencijos.lnb.lt/acutus-et-argutus
Organizing committee
Renāte Berga (University of Latvia)
Dr. Agnieszka Franczyk-Cegła (Ossoliński National Institute, Consortium of European Research Libraries (CERL) Provenance Working Group)
Dr. Milda Kvizikevičiūtė (Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania, National Museum of Lithuania)
Dr. Jolita Liškevičienė (Vilnius Academy of Arts)
Dr. Zanna van Loon (Museum Plantin-Moretus)
Gintarė Petuchovaitė (Vilnius University)
Dr. Viktorija Vaitkevičiūtė (Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania)
Other information
Venue: Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania, Vilnius, Gediminas Ave. 51 and National Museum of Lithuania, Vilnius, Kosciuškos St. 3
Conference language: English
Contacts: acutus.argutus@lnb.lt
Source : https://konferencijos.lnb.lt/acutus-et-argutus/ [Consulté le 05/09/2025]