Schetsboek, aanvankelijk een album amicorum, met 39 bladen c. 1850 - 1858

This sketchbook, initially an album amicorum, was crafted by Willem Cornelis van Dijk, featuring thirty-nine leaves. Its materiality speaks of both personal connection and broader social practices. The album’s construction involved careful handcraft. The leaves were likely made from rag paper, produced in mills using a labor-intensive process. The binding, with its textured cover, suggests a skilled artisan, possibly working in a small workshop. Such albums were common among educated Europeans, used for collecting autographs, poems, and drawings from friends and acquaintances. In its time, this album represented a form of social networking, a physical manifestation of one's personal relationships. The labor and materials involved reflect a society where handmade objects still held significant value, even as industrialization began to transform production. Looking at this album, we see more than just a collection of pages; we see a network of human connections, meticulously assembled and bound, a reminder of the social and material worlds intertwined.