H. D. L. Vervliet
{{Short description|Belgian librarian and historian (1923–2020)}}
File:RemarqueVervlietFontaineVerwey (cropped).jpg
Hendrik Désiré Louis 'Dis' Vervliet (Antwerp, 31 December 1923 – August 2020) was a Belgian librarian and historian of books and printing.{{cite journal |last1=Rouzet |first1=Anne |title=Vervliet (Hendrik D. L.). Cyrillic and Oriental Typography in Rome at the End of the Sixteenth Century. An Inquiry into the Later Work of Robert Granjon (1578-90) |journal=Revue belge de philologie et d'histoire |date=1986 |volume=64 |issue=2 |pages=420–421 |url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/rbph_0035-0818_1986_num_64_2_5599_t1_0420_0000_2 |access-date=2 July 2020}}{{cite web |title=Hendrik Désiré Louis Vervliet |url=https://data.bnf.fr/fr/12431213/hendrik_desire_louis_vervliet/ |publisher=Bibliothèque nationale de France |access-date=2 July 2020}}{{cite book|author=Hendrik D. Vervliet|title=Post-Incunabula en Hun Uitgevers in de Lage Landen/Post-Incunabula and Their Publishers in the Low Countries|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oEH3BwAAQBAJ&pg=PR11|date=6 December 2012|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media|isbn=978-94-009-8828-6|page=11}}{{cite web |last1=Simons |first1=Ludo |title=Hendrik D.L. Vervliet (1923–2020) |url=http://www.plantininstituut.be/en/h-d-l-vervliet-herdenking/ |publisher=Plantin Institute of Typography |access-date=6 September 2020}}{{cite tweet |user=ExquisiteFonts|last=Blokland|first=Frank E.|author-link=Frank E. Blokland|number=1291624230816296960 |date=7 August 2020 |title=Typographic scholar Prof.dr. Hendrik Désiré Louis Vervliet passed away yesterday at the age of 96. The importance of his research and numerous monumental publications cannot be overemphasized. Without his kind help 25 years ago, DTL VandenKeere would have never been accomplished. }}{{cite journal |last1=Johnston |first1=Alastair |title=Hendrik Désiré Louis Vervliet: An Appreciation |journal=The Book Collector |date=2020 |pages=682–685}}{{cite journal |last1=Lane |first1=John A. |author-link=John A. Lane|title=Hendrik D. L. Vervliet and the context of his work on the history of printing types |journal=Journal of the Printing Historical Society |date=2021 |pages=7–22}}{{cite journal |last1=Kemp |first1=William |title=In memoriam Hendrik Vervliet (1923-2020) |journal=Réforme, Humanisme, Renaissance |date=19 May 2021 |volume=92 |issue=1 |pages=17–27 |doi=10.3917/rhren.092.0017|s2cid=236356951 }}
Life
Vervliet was born into a working-class family and received a doctorate in classical philology in 1955.{{cite web |title=Members |url=https://www.kvab.be/en/members |publisher=Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Science and the Arts |access-date=10 August 2020}} In his career, Vervliet worked as deputy director of the Museum Plantin-Moretus, professor and librarian of the University of Antwerp{{cite journal |last1=Vervliet |first1=H.D.L. |title=Libraries and Librarianship in Belgium |journal=IFLA Journal |date=1977 |volume=3 |issue=1 |pages=9–11 |doi=10.1177/034003527700300104|s2cid=108692977 }}{{cite journal |last1=Corthouts |first1=Jan |title=Julien Van Borm, a librarian for all seasons |journal=Bibliotheek- & Archiefgids |date=2007 |pages=19–21 |url=https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/assets.vvbad.be/www.vvbad.be/production/meta-magazine-article-pdf-200706_Van%20Borm.pdf |access-date=2020-09-06 |archive-date=2020-07-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200720100636/https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/assets.vvbad.be/www.vvbad.be/production/meta-magazine-article-pdf-200706_Van%20Borm.pdf |url-status=dead }} and as professor of book and library history of the University of Amsterdam.{{cite book |last1=Uchelen |first1=Ton Croiset van |title=Dutch Typography in the Sixteenth Century: The Collected Works of Paul Valkema Blouw |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cWVo7MZJ1fIC&pg=PR16|date=7 June 2013|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-90-04-25655-2|page=16|chapter=Preface}}{{cite journal |last1=Vervliet |first1=H. D. L. |title=Review: Koninklijk Bibliotheek en Nederlands Bibliotheekbeleid: Verspreide Geschriften, 1983–1990 |journal=Alexandria: The Journal of National and International Library and Information Issues |date=April 1992 |volume=4 |issue=1 |pages=79–80 |doi=10.1177/095574909200400106|s2cid=183942950 }}{{cite journal |last1=Vervliet |first1=H.D.L. |title=Gutenberg or Diderot? |journal=Quaerendo |date=1978 |volume=8 |issue=1 |pages=3–28 |doi=10.1163/157006978X00025}} In 1968 he became a member of the Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Science and the Arts in the humanities class. His wife was Irma Regemortels (1928-2006), also a librarian.{{cite journal |last1=Van Borm |first1=Julien |title=Frida Martens |journal=Bibliotheek- & Archiefgids |date=2007 |pages=23–4 |url=https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/assets.vvbad.be/www.vvbad.be/production/meta-magazine-article-pdf-200706_Van%20Borm.pdf |access-date=2020-09-06 |archive-date=2020-07-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200720100636/https://s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/assets.vvbad.be/www.vvbad.be/production/meta-magazine-article-pdf-200706_Van%20Borm.pdf |url-status=dead }}
Work
In his writing on the history of books, Vervliet was particularly known for his work on printing in the sixteenth century in France, Belgium and the Netherlands,{{cite journal|last1=Mosley|first1=James|author-link=James Mosley|title=Garamond, Griffo and Others: The Price of Celebrity|journal=Bibliologia|date=2006|url=http://www.libraweb.net/articoli.php?chiave=200608401&rivista=84|volume=1|issue=1|pages=17–41|access-date=3 December 2015|doi=10.1400/53248}}{{cite journal |last1=Mosley |first1=J. |author-link1=James Mosley |title=The Palaeotypography of the French Renaissance: Selected Papers on Sixteenth-Century Typefaces. By HENDRIK D. L. VERVLIET. (Library of the Written Word, 6; The Handpress World, 4.) * French Renaissance Printing Types: A Conspectus. By HENDRIK D. L. VERVLIET. |journal=The Library |date=23 June 2011 |volume=12 |issue=2 |pages=175–178 |doi=10.1093/library/12.2.175}}{{cite journal |last=Lane |first=John A. |author-link=John A. Lane|title=The Printing Office of Gerrit Harmansz van Riemsdijck, Israël Abrahamsz de Paull, Abraham Olofsz, Andries Pietersz, Jan Claesz Groenewoudt & Elizabeth Abrahams Wiaer c.1660-1709 |journal=Quaerendo |date=27 June 2013 |volume=43 |issue=4 |pages=311–439 |doi=10.1163/15700690-12341283}} and the work of Robert Granjon.{{cite journal |last1=Shaw |first1=David |title=Granjon's Flowers: An Enquiry into Granjon's, Giolito's, and de Tournes' Ornaments, 1542–1586. By Hendrik D. L. Vervliet |journal=The Library |date=June 2018 |volume=19 |issue=2 |pages=238–239 |doi=10.1093/library/19.2.238}}{{cite book |last1=Vervliet |first1=Hendrik D. L. |title=Robert Granjon, letter-cutter (1513-1590): an oeuvre-catalogue |date=2018 |publisher=Oak Knoll Press |location=New Castle |isbn=9781584563761 |edition= First |url=https://www.oakknoll.com/pages/books/131957/hendrik-d-l-vervliet/robert-granjon-letter-cutter-1513-1590-an-oeuvre-catalogue |access-date=2 July 2020}}{{cite book |last1=Vervliet |first1=Hendrik D. L. |title=Granjon's flowers: an enquiry into Granjon's, Giolito's, and De Tournes' ornaments, 1542-86 |date=2016 |publisher=Oak Knoll Press |location=New Castle |isbn=9781584563556 |edition= First |url=https://www.oakknoll.com/pages/books/127576/hendrik-d-l-vervliet/granjons-flowers-an-enquiry-into-granjons-giolitos-and-de-tournes-ornaments-1542-1586 |access-date=2 July 2020}}{{cite web |last1=Boardley |first1=John |title=Death of a Typeface |url=https://ilovetypography.com/2020/06/06/robert-granjon-civilite-death-of-a-typeface/ |website=i love typography |date=6 June 2020 |access-date=4 July 2020}}{{cite journal |last1=Janssen |first1=Frans A. |title=Robert Granjon, Letter-cutter; 1513-1590: an oeuvre-catalogue, written by Hendrik D. L. Vervliet |journal=Quaerendo |date=8 November 2019 |volume=49 |issue=3 |pages=275–276 |doi=10.1163/15700690-12341446|s2cid=211647799 }} In 2013, Ton Croiset van Uchelen wrote that he "is now generally recognised as the authority on the sixteenth-century typefaces of Western Europe."
After retiring, Vervliet published extensively, in his eighties completing publishing two large volumes on printing in the French renaissance. In his nineties he additionally completed a book on Granjon's floral ornaments, and then a book covering Granjon's entire career published at the age of 94. Returning to the topic of civilité types, which he had published on at the start of his career, at the time of his death he had recently published a paper extending his earlier research on the types of Philippe Danfrie and was working on another paper on Granjon's civilité types.{{cite journal |last1=Vervliet |first1=Hendrik |title=The combinable type ornaments of Robert Granjon, 1564-1578 |journal=Journal of the Printing Historical Society |date=2015 |pages=25–61}}{{cite journal |last1=Vervliet |first1=Hendrik D L |title=Danfrie Reconsidered. Philippe Danfrié's (d. 1606) Civilite Types |journal=The Library |date=March 2020 |volume=21 |issue=1 |pages=3–45 |doi=10.1093/library/21.1.3}}{{cite tweet |last=van Impe|first=Steven|user=RareBookLibAntw |number=1291261181404098562 |date=6 August 2020 |title=Hendrik D.L. Vervliet has passed away, aged 96. A monument in #bookhistory, it would be impossible to say what was his most important publication. He wasn't able to finish his final article, on Granjon's civilité type.}}
A festschrift was published for Vervliet in 1988.{{cite book |last1=van Borm |first1=J |last2=Simons |first2=L |title=Het oude en het nieuwe boek : de oude en de nieuwe bibliotheek |date=1988 |publisher=DNB/Uitgeverij Pelckmans |isbn=9789028914025|quote=Hendrik Désiré Louis Vervliet werd op 31 december 1923 geboren te Antwerpen in een eenvoudige arbeidersfamilie.}}
References
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Category:Academic staff of the University of Amsterdam
Category:Academic staff of the University of Antwerp
Category:20th-century Belgian historians
Category:Historians of printing
Category:Members of the Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Science and the Arts