De beeldminnende boekwetenschap, ofwel het nationaal striperfgoed in boekhistorisch perspectief

This article aims to give an up-to-date overview of research on Dutch comic history and tries to show why comics are an interesting topic from a book-historical perspective. Foremost an inventory of the ‘institutes’ in the Netherlands where comics are collected for research purposes is presented. The oldest collection examined in the article is from the University Library of Amsterdam, where in 1970 a comic documentation centre was set up in cooperation with Het Stripschap, an association of comic lovers and collectors. This centre was meant to be a central point in scientific comic research, as well as for other interested parties. The early 1970s seems to be a crucial era: the first comic antiquarians started their trade in this period, the first exhibitions on comics took place and the first specialized publishers started their activities. Following this, the importance of collectors and their search for canonization is stressed, and the importance of their work for institutionalized research. Their attempts to standardization turn out to be useful still. Genres in comics pass by as well as fashion in comics. Also the manifestation of comics, and exploration of the boundaries of copyright are presented. An inventory is made of the archives of comic publishers and specialized comic book shops. What are the available sources for research and where can they be found? Not much research has been done yet, and this article tries to show that there is a lot of work that can be done probably with a very interesting as well as surprising outcome. Still,comics are a niche in the Dutch book trade.