An acquisition for the John Emmerson Collection, State Library Victoria

An acquisition for the John Emmerson Collection, State Library Victoria

by Dr Anna Welch, Senior Librarian History of the Book and Arts, State Library Victoria

‘Transforming the Early Modern Archive‘ is an ARC funded linkage project, bringing researchers together from State Library Victoria, ANU, La Trobe University, University of Newcastle and Victoria University of Wellington. The project is investigating the John Emmerson Collection which comprises more than 5000 titles, in 3500 early modern printed volumes. The bequest includes a significant financial endowment to ensure that the collection would continue to grow and thrive. In 2019, an exceptional acquisition was made for the Emmerson Collection: a 1634 Bible and Book of Common Prayer published by Robert Barker in London, which features an exquisite embroidered silk binding (RAREEMM 2019/11). The binding, which is contemporaneous with the publication date, features raised silver wire-work oval cartouche, with a lion mask at the top and bottom and pink and blue silk flowers in the corners. The allegorical female figures of Plenty and Peace are included on the upper and lower boards, respectively. Plenty is accompanied by a cornucopia of silver wire-work, while Peace holds a green silk palm-frond.   

Embroidered bindings were an important aspect of the culture of luxury goods associated with the Stuart court, and several surviving examples are associated with Charles’ queen Henrietta Maria.  Most unusually, this particular binding can be linked to a small group of bindings identified as the work of one individual or workshop:  

It is a measure of the significance of John’s collection and his generous dedication to its ongoing study that two of this very important group of eight bindings are now in Melbourne. The study of this group, and of the other embroidered bindings in the John Emmerson Collection, is a focus for our research project, and will hopefully lead to new knowledge about the individual or workshop that produced these examples, as well as about the creation and reception of embroidered bindings in Stuart culture more broadly. As key features of our digital exhibition (launching 2022), they will also spur us on to develop more enriching methods for digital engagement with the materiality of the book.  

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Historian of cartography Chet Van Duzer will host this CEMS workshop on studying early modern maps slowly.

When: Tuesday 14 October, 2025

Where: ANU Campus (location TBA)

Regstration: Registrations open soon

Abstract

Maps are incredibly rich documents that only reveal some of their secrets after slow and deliberate study, and it is precisely this aspect of maps that we will explore in this two-hour workshop. Chet Van Duzer will analyze several early modern maps and provide examples of important characteristics of them that can only be appreciated and understood through slow looking. He will also supply advice on how to study maps slowly, and workshop participants will consult historic maps to begin to practice looking slowly at them, with plenty of time for examining the maps together and asking questions. The goal of the workshop is that participants will gain experience and tools for engaging more fully with maps in the future.

About the Speaker

Chet Van Duzer is a historian of cartography and a board member of the Lazarus Project at the University of Rochester, which brings multispectral imaging (a technology for recovering information from damaged manuscripts) to cultural institutions around the world. He has published extensively on medieval and Renaissance maps; his recent books include Henricus Martellus’s World Map at Yale (c. 1491): Multispectral Imaging, Sources, and Influence, published by Springer in 2019, and Martin Waldseemüller’s Carta marina of 1516: Study and Transcription of the Long Legends, published by Springer in 2020. His book Frames that Speak: Cartouches on Early Modern Maps was published by Brill in Open Access in 2023. His current projects are books about self-portraits by cartographers that appear on maps and the historical cartography of the Indian Ocean.