The project
Das Projekt
הפרוייקט
The project
From its inception in 2004 the project 'Exlibris van Joden in Nederland' (Ex Libris of Jews in the Netherlands ) has had a dual aim:
- To collect original Jewish Ex libris - either original or, if not possible, copied - and to establish a full documentation on these bookplates, including those that belonged to German or other refugees living for some time in the Netherlands
- To prepare a publication dealing with these ex libris, accompanied by articles on the culture and the history of the ex libris.
The project has been initiated and is being realized by an interdisciplinary team of three independent researchers, with the considerable help of collectors and other interested people in the Netherlands and Israel (see the sections: Wie zijn wij? Wie werken mee? )
Results
Many contacts during a couple of years, our own collecting activities and research in more than twenty extensive public and private collections and libraries have resulted in:
- A collection of about 1600 ex libris (most of them original). Under construction:
- A database for these ex libris
- A digital file with short biographies of ex libris owners and other relevant information
- A file about some 80 Jewish artists involved
- An international bibliography of Jewish ex libris.
The members of the team have presented the Project on several occasions. They also organized four exhibitions in the Netherlands and published the first results of their research. See the sections: Tentoonstellingen and Publicaties. We are aiming to finish the project in the course of 2013. A date of publication is to be announced. To meet these deadlines, we hope that visitors of this website will look at the section Onze vraagtekens (Our question marks) and send us suggestions. Reactions to other sections will also be welcomed.(Section: Contact) This website can also be reached on www.jewishbookplates.nl
Drie exlibris met teksten in het Engels: F.M. Cohen (1892-1944) gemaakt door J. van Hell (1889-1952), 1924 met wind en golven en een citaat uit de Rubayat van Omar Khayyám; het tweede voor E. Haak-Emrik (* 1901) van J. van Koolwijk in 1943 toont de Big Ben, een boom en wandelbenodigdheden. De tekst verwijst naar beroep van lerares Engels; voor T. & S. Hartz in 1943 door S. Hartz (1912-1995) voor haar (* 1910) en zichzelf gemaakt: een paar in middeleeuwse kleding en een voor 1943 veelzeggende Engelse tekst ('Who is so safe as wee / where none can doo / treason to us / except one of us two')