Beāte Orlova (National Library of Latvia)
The aim of the paper is to reassess the cultural and trade ties between the Flemish book production industry and the nascent book trade of 16th-century Livonia by examining the work of the first Riga city printer, Antwerp-born Niclaes Mollijns (c. 1550-1625) and his associate Peter van Meeren (?-1625).
Mollijns’s work has mainly been researched separately, with Western scholars focusing on his time in Antwerp, and Latvian scholars paying attention to his work in Riga. This paper argues that Mollijns’ work experience at the Officina Plantiniana and running his own print shop in Antwerp greatly shaped his later work in Riga. Based on research conducted at the archives of the Museum Plantin-Moretus and a comparison of printed books, the paper demonstrates the strong cultural and trade connections between the Low Countries, particularly the prominent printing office established by Christophe Plantin, and the Riga city printer’s office headed by Mollijns from 1588 to 1625. The import of both specific woodcuts, type and printed books, and more general ideas of aesthetic preferences from Western Europe to Livonia is identified. The presentation reveals that the ties between a region central to the early modern book trade (the Low Countries) and a periphery (Livonia) were much closer than it had been understood in previous historiography.