Selamat membaca*

Enjoy reading/ Veel leesplezier!

Books 'Misleiden' by Fresco Sam-Sin (2022), 'Studies in Textiel, Leidse Weefsels' 

with article by Jantiene van Elk (2022), 

'De Voormoeders' by Suze Zijlstra (2021) and 'Engel en Kinnari' by Dido Michielsen (2022)

People often ask me: When are you publishing a book? Yes! There are some plans in the making for a publication, but I also learned this last year, you don’t have to write a book to be in one. 

My research made it into several publications, not only with articles by myself, but in other peoples research, in the footnotes and even inspired the title of a novel. 

As a booklover I welcome every excuse to add more books to my collection. Finding my name in a thank you by the author (thank you Suze Zijlstra & Dido Michielsen!) and sources list is just amazing. 

As a creator it is great to find out that what you put out there continues, grows further and can inspire more people to wonder, ask questions and dive into it further! 

In this blogpost some recent publications which includes research by yours truly. Selamat membaca!

In October 2022 the new book 'Engel en Kinnari' by Dido Michielsen was published. When her first novel 'Lichter dan ik' came out, I contacted her to talk about the role Batik played in her book for the online webseries Batik Consultation. We stayed in touch, hoping we could work together on a project on the Batiks she owns. Her book 'Lichter dan ik' got made into a theaterplay in which the actors wore custom made outfits by Guave from Batik Lasem bought by me. The book got translated in Bahasa Indonesia with the title 'Lebih putih dariku'. 

When Dido started writing her latest book, the follow-up on 'Lichter dan ik', I shared some of my research with her on the batik industry in Pekalongan and imitation batik around 1900. In my article on the collection of Dr. Elie van Rijckevorsel kept at the Wereldmuseum in Rotterdam, I share about a batik that has angels (engel) on it, but that very well can be kinnari's, a half bird half human Hindu god. When Dido shared with me her suggested cover, I couldn't believe my eyes. In big letters it said 'Engel en Kinnari' on top of a photo of her mother and grandmother. I never thought my research would ever inspire parts in a book, let alone the actual title, amazing!

Page on Fake batik from the book 'Misleiden'

In April 2022 the book 'Misleiden' was published as a catalog of the exhibition with the same title (Misleading) that was held at De Lakenhal in Leiden. Things That Talk Fresco Sam-Sin curated the exhibition and wrote most of the book, apart from some short articles by researcher. In the book all the misleading objects from different collection in Leiden come together to share the story on deceiving, misguiding and deluding. My research on imitation batiks, or as I prefer fake batik fit right in there.  

In the book you can read about the fake batiks made by, in this case, De Leidsche Katoenmaatschappij (LKM). On Things That Talk you can read more about this also in my zone 'Fabric(s) of Leiden' in both Dutch and English. Cees de Jonge made great photos of my selected objects, two samplebooks and letters, that illustrate the book and the website of Thing Thats Talk very nicely!

Photographer Cees de Jonge making a picture of the 'Fabricage' book of L.A. Driessen 

in the library of the Textielmuseum in Tilburg

Jantiene van Elk of the library of the Textielmuseum in Tilburg reached out to me about the talk she would give about the Leidsche Katoenmaatschappij during the yearly Spring symposium of the Textielcommissie in April 2022. Unfortunately the timetable didn't allow us to do a duo talk and I eventually couldn't go to the day also. 

For the publication of the Textielcommissie 'Studies in Textiel' Jantiene made an article based on her talk 'De familie Driessen en de Leidsche Katoenmaatschappij, Reizen in de negentiende eeuw' and in it she refers to my research for Things That Talk (see also the previous book). So lovely! 

We are continuing with this interesting history of LKM and the Driessen family. For upcoming Thing That Talk stories me and Cees de Jonge went last week to the library to make photos of some related objects, so soon more online about that! And hopefully more, to be continued!

Article by Maarten Fornerod on 'the man in the batik pants'

in the January issue of Moesson 

Hot of the press, not a book, but never the less fitting in this blog. In this months Moesson the theme is Boekoe (Buku = books) and unrelated to the theme a part of my research made it into this number. During the Tong Tong Fair I reached out to Pasar Malam college Maarten Fornerod. Maarten is our Dutch expert for Indo-European and Dutch East Indies genealogy. Since I was wondering about a certain someone I found in photos in my research, I asked him to take a look. I found this man, always with moustache and in the exhibition in batikpants, in three photoalbums kept at the Tropenmuseum, but wasn't able to find his name. Already the same day, I believe, Maarten had found him. This story and discovery is shared in a nice article by Maarten himself, Jing Jing Detektif, in this month Moesson. 

The best wishes for 2023! Have a good year of the Rabbit!