Deventer book city

The last week of 2012 I visited Deventer. Roos-Marie and me walked along the IJssel river from Deventer to Olst. The river had burst its banks. In some places it was wider than half a mile. Formations of geese were flying by constantly. Their honking (gakgakgak) guided our footsteps. A rain-free morning, the weather forecast had predicted.They had it right, this time. We had a fantastic walk. Around half past four we arrived in Olst and it started raining. We took the train back to Deventer and walked into town, looking for our hotel (www.hoteldeleeuw.nl).

The next day I visited several antiquarian bookshops and regular ones (Deventer has a lot of them, far more than Nijmegen and wé do have a university and twice as many inhabitants as Deventer!!!). I bought a lot in different shops. I am particularly happy with a first edition of Mystiek Lichaam (Mystical Body) by Frans Kellendonk and with Fabula Rasa of Gaston Burssens, illustrated by J. Cantré and printed in 200 copies. 

I also paid a visit to the famous Athenaeum Library where I bought a small book about Geert Groote and his Modern Devotion movement. I came to know that in the fifteenth century, there were special houses for women. These houses were no monasteries, but the women who lived there devoted their lives to God. Rector Egbert ter Beke wanted two adjacent womenhouses to merge. He broke off the compound wall between the two houses without consulting the women. In this way,Ter Beke stated, women would be better supported in their desire to lead a pious life. Maybe I'm suspicious, but when I read this I couldn’t help thinking that Ter Beke might had other interests.