The Bibliotheca Wittockiana in Brussels: collecting and exhibiting bindings

Extract

The Bibliotheca Wittockiana in Brussels houses an impressive array of bindings that shows the glories of this very special decorative art. The collection does not aim to be an exhaustive historical survey, but reflects the taste of one man, Michel Wittock, beginning with his early interest in 16th-century Italian bindings and later those of 19th-century France, and culminating in many beautiful examples of abstraction in French and Belgian bindings of the 20th century. These works are housed in a purpose-built 1980s building designed by Emmanuel de Callatay and extended 15 years later by Wittock’s architect son Charly, and are shared with an appreciative public in the museum’s reading room and through regular displays in the three large exhibition spaces.