Index on Censorship reminds me that it’s Banned Books Week. That is nothing to celebrate, nor brush off as someone else’s problem across the ocean: it is very much here too.

Nevertheless, to help (?) Index kick off the week, I wanted to share some wonders I spotted this summer on an academic retreat: the original Christo-authoritarian government censorship which resulted in banned books, the jawboning of the means of production, and the persecution of those seeking to share those ideas, all the way back in the 16th century.

How very 2025.

What you will see here is a reminder that there is nothing new under the sun. We just keep fighting the same fights, century after century.

NB fellow fans of Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall trilogy may wish to commence swooning.

Here be DANGEROUS BOOKS. Click on the images for full size.

And here we have the original banned books list:

You will find these wonders and many more at the Plantin-Moretus Museum in Antwerp, a UNESCO world heritage site which is more than worth the trip.