Bladtekening

Bladtekening is a Dutch term used in bibliographic and art-historical contexts to refer to an illustration or drawing that appears on a leaf (blad) of a book or manuscript. The word combines blad (leaf, page) with tekening (drawing), and it is often used to indicate that the image is a visual element on a separate page or sheet rather than embedded within the main text.

In practice, a bladtekening can be created as an engraved, etched, lithographed, or drawn plate that is printed or mounted on a leaf. Historically, bladtekeningen were common in early modern and modern printed works, particularly in natural history, botany, architecture, and topography, where precise illustrations were essential. The plates may be full-page or interleaved with the text, and they can be monochrome or hand-colored in some cases.

The term is typically employed by librarians, catalogers, and art historians to distinguish plate illustrations on individual leaves from in-text drawings or other types of plate content. It is related to, but distinct from, platen or plaat (plate), which often refers more generally to illustrated plates that may be separate from or bound into a volume. In bibliographic descriptions, the presence of bladtekeningen helps characterize the production and binding of a work, as well as its visual and scholarly value.

Nowadays, bladtekeningen are of interest for the study of printmaking techniques, book history, and the transmission of illustrated information in early printed sources.