By Emma Laws, Cathedral Librarian
Frontispieces are visual introductions to books. This beautiful frontispiece engraving by the Dutch engraver, Pieter van den Berge, introduces the reader to the main themes of Ars Critica (1696), an important manual of textual criticism by the biblical scholar, Jean Le Clerc (1657-1736). The Cathedral Library has the 1697 edition, printed in Amsterdam.
The 17th century saw a rise in biblical scholarship but applying methods of textual criticism to a sacred text like the Bible was considered rather controversial – even heretical – and Le Clerc was seen as a bit of a radical in his day. It’s no coincidence that he published his book in Amsterdam: the city was a stronghold of free speech and tolerance and its unconstrained press played a major role in disseminating radical ideas.
If men were the principle textual detectives, why is it that women are often to be found in the frontispieces? Since classical antiquity, women have symbolised wisdom, knowledge, philosophy, history, truth and justice. In ancient Greek mythology, the nine muses of literature, science and the arts are goddesses; Athena is the goddess of wisdom while Themis is the goddess of justice. In the Book of Proverbs, wisdom is personified as a woman, called Lady Wisdom or the Woman of Valour. This visual language carried across into Renaissance and Enlightenment book culture.
Here, it is a woman who is the allegorical embodiment of critical scholarship: she is seated in a library, surrounded by books on shelves and several more on the table before her, and she is writing critical notes about the book she is reading. The engraver has included the paraphernalia of knowledge and intellectual pursuit: a bust, lamp, musical instrument, and an inkwell and quill. On the table is a caduceus – the winged, double-serpent-entwined symbol of Hermes, the Greek god of eloquence, communication and interpretation. (He is particularly important in the field of textual criticism as the interpreter and communicator of messages from the gods.) Finally, the woman is assisted by a figure wearing a winged hour-glass – a reminder to scholars of the urgency of the pursuit of knowledge and perhaps also of the possibility that while their lives may be finite, their scholarship will be both transcendent and transformative, influencing generations to come.
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Library & Archives In Focus: Women and the Book
Discover more stories of women and the book at our In Focus event on Thursday 18 September in the Cathedral Library Reading Room; drop in between 1-3pm. All welcome.