Alba Amicorum, Inscriptions, and the Social Order of Early Modern Collecting

• In Event: Cabinetization and Compartmentalization in Early Modern Art and Science III

Abstract

In early modern Europe, Stammbücher or alba amicorum (friendship albums) were actively assembled by men and, later and in lesser numbers, women. In addition to signatures, alba amicorum regularly contain inscriptions, poems, mottoes, drawings, engravings, and coats of arms. This new apparatus captured and likewise fostered connections among the movers and shakers of early modern Europe. By dint of the inscriptions and other materials collected in alba amicorum, these volumes may be considered maps of early modern knowledge networks and social systems at work. This paper considers alba amicorum as micro-collections. Albums assembled by renowned collectors Bernardus Paludanus, Ernst Brinck, and Philipp Hainhofer will be analyzed in relationship to the practices of Kunst- and Wunderkammer collecting and as records of the social and affective practices such collections required and inspired.

Author

• Claudia Swan, Northwestern University