Titelpagina voor: Adriaan Loosjes Pz. 'Frank van Borselen en Jacoba van Beijeren', 1790 1790

This is the title page for Adriaan Loosjes’s book "Frank van Borselen en Jacoba van Beijeren," made in 1790 by Reinier Vinkeles. It's an engraving, meaning that Vinkeles would have used a sharp tool called a burin to cut lines into a metal plate, likely copper. The plate is then inked, and the surface wiped clean, leaving ink only in the incised lines. High pressure would have been applied to transfer the image onto paper. Look closely, and you can see the crisp fineness of the lines, which create a sense of depth and texture, particularly in the decorative vignette. The technique allowed for the relatively easy reproduction of images. This was crucial for disseminating information and literature in a rapidly expanding print culture, and that in turn fueled literacy. Engravings like this connected skilled artisans like Vinkeles to the broader networks of publishing, commerce, and intellectual life that characterized the 18th century. It shows the ways in which craft skills were essential to the circulation of knowledge and the development of public discourse.