Lecture 1: Official Print Production in the Duchy of Luxembourg and County of Chiny, 1598-1795
Image: Public Domain
Who: Dr Tom Zago, Bibliothèque nationale du Luxembourg
When: 29th January at 15:00 (CET)
Where: Online
We are very pleased to announce the first of our talks in the YRI Lecture Series will be a presentation by Dr Tom Zago examining the intricate history of official print production in the Duchy of Luxembourg and County of Chiny.
Presentation abstract:
The Bibliothèque nationale du Luxembourg preserves a coherent and historically rich corpus of early modern normative print from the Duchy of Luxembourg, comprising several thousand edicts, ordinances, placards, and related administrative publications issued between the late sixteenth century and 1795. While modest in scale when compared to the major centres of the Habsburg Monarchy, this corpus offers a particularly revealing perspective on how printed norms functioned in a multilingual, composite polity at the periphery of central power.
One aspect that makes the Luxembourgish material especially instructive is the systematic translation into German of many legal texts decreed in Brussels before their local publication and dissemination. These translations were a practical response to linguistic realities in the Duchy and formed an integral part of the communicative process through which law was rendered intelligible and effective. They invite closer attention to translation practices, mediation, and the circulation of authority within the Habsburg lands. At the same time, they provide a productive entry point into the history of printing in Luxembourg, where virtually all printers active in the city at some point produced official print for local authorities. Normative printing thus emerges not as a marginal activity, but as a structural component of the local book trade.
Approached as products of print culture rather than solely as legal sources, these texts illuminate the collaboration between authorities and printers, the material formats of official print, and the oral and performative practices that accompanied publication. The paper also presents the Bibliothèque nationale du Luxembourg’s ongoing efforts to communicate this corpus to researchers and users alike. Through cataloging strategies attentive to language, genre, and function, digital tools foregrounding material and contextual features, and interpretative frameworks reconnecting texts with their administrative environments, the BnL aims to situate the Luxembourgish corpus within the wider study of early modern Habsburg print cultures.
Guests are welcome! To receive the Zoom link, please register your email address with the YRI team until a day before the event: yriteam.pcpsce@gmail.com