Leiden University Library

Leiden University Library (Leiden, The Netherlands) is more than 400 years old. Its significance for European culture can hardly be overestimated: it is a part of a small number of cultural centres that gave direction to the development and spread of knowledge during the Enlightenment. The importance of these centres lies in the simultaneous presence of a unique collection of exceptional sources and scholars. Leiden University has both at its disposal.

Holdings include approximately 3,500,000 volumes, 10,000 current serials, 60,000 Oriental and Western manuscripts, 450,000 letters, 70,000 maps, 100,000 prints, 12,000 drawings and 120,000 photographs.

"Est hic magna commoditas bibliothecae ut studiosi possint studere"

Josephus Justus Scaliger

The greatest advantage of the library is that those who want to study, can study

History

The 16th-century Dutch Revolt against the Habsburgs created a new country with a new religion. Soon, the need for a seat of higher learning was felt and in 1575 Leiden University was founded with the spoils from a confiscated Catholic monastery nearby.

At the time the university was founded, it was immediately determined that a library in the vicinity of lecture halls was an absolute necessity. The library's first book was the Polyglot Bible, printed by Christoffel Plantijn, a gift of William of Orange to the library in 1575. The presentation of this book is regarded as the base on which the library is built (fundamentum locans futurae aliquando bibliothecae). The library became operational in the vault of the current Academy building at Rapenburg on October 31 1587.

In 1595 the Nomenclator appeared, the first catalogue of Leiden University Library as well as the first printed catalogue of an institutional library in Europe. The publication of the catalogue coincided with the opening of the new library on the upper floor of the Faliede Bagijnkerk (now Rapenburg 70) next to the Theatrum Anatomicum.

In 1864 the copy for the complete alphabetical catalogue of the library in Leiden from 1575 to 1860 was finished; it was never to appear in print. Readers were able to consult alphabetical and systematic registers of the Leiden library in the form of bound catalogue cards, known as Leidse boekjes. This remained the cataloguing system for the library until 1963.

The 22nd Librarian of Leiden University, Johan Remmes de Groot took the initiative for the Dutch library automation endeavor PICA (Project Integrated Catalogue Automation). Pica was started up in 1969 and was bought by OCLC in 2000. The first automation project in Leiden started in 1976, produced 400,000 titles via the Dutch PICA-GGC and resulted within a few years in a catalog on microfiche, which partly replaced the famous Leiden booklets catalogue.

In 1983 the library moved to its present location on Witte Singel in a new building by architect Bart van Kasteel. The first online catalogue became available in 1988.

According to Nicholas A. Basbanes, Leiden University Library represents "an essential benchmark ^* not only for the teeming collection of extraordinary materials it has scrupulously gathered and maintained over a sustained period of time, but most of all for being the world's first scholarly library in a truly modern sense. The litany of 'firsts' recorded at Leiden is dazzling - the first printed catalogue to be prepared by an institution of its holdings, the first attempt to identify and maintain what today are known as 'special collections,' the first systematic attempt to develop a corps of influential friends, patrons, and benefactors throughout the world, the first 'universal' library, the list goes on and on - and underpinning it all is a humanistic approach to education and discovery that has figured prominently throughout its history, along with an unbending belief in the limitless potential of human inquiry."

Special Collections

Western Manuscripts

The collection Western Manuscripts contains all western manuscripts (including 2,500 medieval manuscripts and fragments and 25,000 modern manuscripts), 300,000 letters, archives and 3,000 annotated prints of the University Library, including the archives of the University.

Western Printed Works

The collection Western Printed Works contains materials printed before 1801 (including 700 incunabula) and rare and precious works from after 1801. In the course of four centuries the collection has been expanded through bequests, gifts and acquisitions of collections from scholars. Furthermore, the University Library obtained the deposit right for a copy of each book for which the States of Holland had given the privilege to print. The collection also includes more than 100,000 printed works from the Library of the Maatschappij der Nederlandse Letterkunde which has been deposited on permanent loan since 1876.

Bodel Nijenhuis Collection

The Bodel Nijenhuis Collection contains mainly old maps, atlasses, topographical prints and drawings. Most of the collection was obtained as a bequest from J.T. Bodel Nijenhuis. The lawyer Johannes Tiberius Bodel Nijenhuis (1797-1872), director of the publishing house Luchtmans, for 25 years a member of the Maatschappij der Nederlandse Letterkunde, was a passionate collector of cartographical and topographical material.

The collection contains 60,000 maps (of which 3,000 drawings), 1,500 atlasses, 24.000 topographical prints, 1,600 drawings and the archive of Youssouf Kamal's Monumenta Cartographica Africae et Aegypti.

Oriental Collections

From its very onset the study of the Orient was of vital importance to the new university. Theologians studied the Semitic languages to perceive the meaning of the Bible. Political and commercial interests prompted the new-born Dutch Republic to establish relations with its enemies' enemies, among whom the Ottoman Empire, then at the zenith of its power. In the course of its expansionist policy the Dutch Republic secured possession of the Indonesian archipelago and other territories in South East Asia. In Japan, Dutch merchants maintained a trading post to the exclusion of all other European powers.

In the course of four centuries countless manuscripts, printed books and photographs on the Orient and Oriental Studies have found their way to the library of Leiden University. Oriental Studies are still flourishing at Leiden University, and the Oriental Collections are still growing to serve the needs of the national and international scholarly community.

The Oriental Collections of Leiden University Library are known as the Legatum Warnerianum (Warner's Legacy), referring to Levinus Warner (1619-1665), envoy to the Sublime Porte at Constantinople, whose collection of 1,000 Middle Eastern manuscripts forms the core of the present-day Oriental Collections.

The Oriental Collections nowadays contain 30,000 manuscripts and 200,000 printed books on subjects ranging from Archaeology to Zoroastrianism and in languages from Arabic to Zulu.

Bibliotheca Thysiana

The Bibliotheca Thysiana was erected in 1655 to house the book collection of the lawyer Joannes Thysius (1622-1653). Upon his early death, he left a legacy of 20,000 guilders for the building of a public library (‘tot publycque dienst der studie’) with a custodian’s dwelling. Designed by the architect Arent van ‘s-Gravensande, the building follows the Dutch Classical style and is regarded as one of the jewels of Dutch 17th century architecture. It is distinguished by its balanced proportions and the purity of its Ionic order on top of a high basement.

The Bibliotheca Thysiana is the only surviving 17th century example in the Netherlands of a building that was designed as a library. It is quite extraordinary that a complete private 17th century library has been preserved and thus offers a good impression of the book collection of a young, learned bibliophile from the period of late Humanism. The collection contains about 2,500 books and thousands of pamphlets in all scientific fields.

Print Room

Founded in 1822, the Print Room possesses art works from the sixteenth century until the present day. Whether you are interested in mythological scenes from the Italian Renaissance, daguerreotypes, the largest collection of portraits in the Netherlands, stereophotography or Dutch landscapes by Rembrandt and his pupils, the Print Room has them. The holdings presently amount to some 12,000 drawings, around 100,000 prints and some 80,000 photographs, with an emphasis on Dutch art. Amongst the drawings and prints you will find works by famous Dutch artists like Goltzius, Visscher, Rembrandt, Troost, Maris, Toorop, and Veldhoen, but prominent artists from other European Schools, like Hogarth, Callot, Canaletto, and Dürer are also present with specimens up to 1900. The photography collection spreads from its earliest history to the present day and boasts examples of virtually every Dutch photographer, from anonymous nineteeth-century pioneers through Piet Zwart and Paul Citroen to Ed van der Elsken and Johan van der Keuken.

Scaliger Institute

The Scaliger Institute, founded in 2000, aims to stimulate and facilitate the use of the special collections in both teaching and research. For this purpose, the Institute offers favourable working conditions and expertise, organizes lectures, symposia, master classes, and special courses, and provides scholarships to junior and senior scholars from the Netherlands and elsewhere who wish to work in Leiden for a longer period. The institute was named after Josephus Justus Scaliger (1540-1609), Leiden's most renowned scholar during the early years of her existence and a great benefactor of the University Library through the donation, at his death, of his exceptional collection of manuscripts and all his oriental books.

Specific information

Areas of concentration: archaeology, anthropology, art, astronomy, cartography, classics, education, history, law, literature, medicine, Orientalism, papyrology, philosophy, politics, publishing, religion, science.
Some individual collections: D. Bierens de Haan, T. Bodel Nijenhuis, G.J.P.J Bolland, J. Golius, A.P.H. Hotz, J. Huizinga, Constantijn and Christiaen Huygens, Justus Lipsius, P. Marchand, E.M. Meijers, K.H. Miskotte, J. Oort, V. Perelešin, M. Rijke, J.J. Scaliger, C. Snouck Hourgronje, C.P. Tiele, H.N. van der Tuuk, I. Vossius, L. Warner, N. van Wijk.
Some institutional collections: Maatschappij der Nederlandse Letterkunde, Bohn Publishers, Sijthoff Publishers, Bibliothèque Wallonne, NHK (Dutch Reformed Church), Seminarium Remonstrantum, photographs Indonesia, ISIM (Islam), Zaken Overzee (Netherlands Ministry of Overseas Affairs).

Librarians of Leiden University

Since the founding of the university in 1575 there have been 25 Librarians of Leiden University:

Janus Dousa (1585–1593)
Janus Dousa Jr (1593–1596)
Paullus Merula (1597–1607)
Daniel Heinsius (1607–1655)
Anthony Thysius (1655–1665)
Johannes Fredericus Gronovius (1665–1671)
Fredericus Spanheim (1672–1701)
Wolfendus Senguerdus (1701–1724)
Petrus Burmannus (1724–1741)
David van Royen (1741)
Abraham Gronovius (1741–1775)
David Ruhnkenius (1775–1798)
Daniel Wyttenbach (1798–1820)

Johannes van Voorst (1820–1833)
Jacob Geel (1833–1858)
Willem George Pluygers (1859–1879)
Willem Nicolaas du Rieu (1880–1897)
Scato Gocko de Vries (1897–1924)
Frederik Casparus Wieder (1924–1938)
Tietse Pieter Sevensma (1938–1947)
Antoine Hubert Marie Cornelis Kessen (1947–1961)
Johan Remmet de Groot (1961–1983)
Jacques van Gent (1983–1993)
Paul Gerretsen (1994–2004)
Kurt de Belder (2005–present)

Locations of Leiden University Library

1587-1595: Academiegebouw, Rapenburg 73, Leiden.

1595-1983: Faliede Bagijnkerk, Old University Library, now: University Board, Rapenburg 70, Leiden.

1983-present: Leiden University Library, Witte Singel 27, Leiden. Architect: Bart van Kasteel.

Map of Leiden