BOOK V. nistration of M. Moellmann, before whose death it is The Libraries of stated to have numbered 100,000 volumes. Chapter IX. Denmark. 1 Our countrymen, Dr. Kennicott and Sir William Jones appear to have formed distinguished exceptions to the ordinary want of literary hospitality which characterized-but only for a brief period—a Library, rich enough to render very important services to learning in more departments than one. They were more indebted, however, to the good offices of Count Bernstorff than to those of the Librarian. In 1778 the death of Moellmann led to the appointment of a successor whose greater energy and liberality of mind would have left more traces in the history of the institution, but for his early death, within a period of little more than two years. But brief as was that interval, it was marked by a tour through the most celebrated Libraries of Germany, with a view to the improved administration of his own. On his return, he obtained from the King the appointment of Count von Moltke, with the title of 'Director of the Library', as an official medium between the institution and the monarch, and proposed the severance from the general collection of the History and Literature of Denmark and Norway, in order to the creation of a special Library of a strictly national character. Schlegel was succeeded by Erichsen, eminent for his attainments in Northern Archaeology, and whose first efforts were directed to the enlargement both of the building and of the staff. He also obtained the increase of the annual income to 3000 crowns a De Suhm, Essai sur l'Etat des Sciences dans le Danemark, 11 (as quoted in Notice historique, etc.). BOOK V. Chapter IX. Denmark. year for ten years. In 1784, Count Reventlow replaced Count von Moltke in the honorary office of Director. The Libraries of Then came the most famous augmentation which marks the annals of the Royal Library, in the splendid collection formed by Count Thott. The eminent Danish Stateman, Count de Thott, died in September 1785, leaving a Library which contained 121,945 printed volumes, and 4154 Manuscripts. He seems at first to have contemplated the foundation of a new Public Library, but his views changed, and he ultimately bequeathed to the Royal Library his precious series of books, printed before the year 1531, which amounted to no less than 6039 volumes; and directed that the remainder (with some slight exceptions) should be sold. Eventually, the collection was purchased, almost in bulk, for the Royal Library. The Thott Collection. of the Royal Library. The great accessions which have thus been narrated, Present extent combined with minor but systematic acquisitions in later years, have built up a Library which can now boast some 410,000 volumes. The Royal collection suffered little from the perils, formidable as they were, to which it was exposed at the commencement of the present century. But even yet the feeling is scarcely extinct that occasionally prompted a late Librarian, when doing the honours of the Library to our countrymen, to produce a certain volume which had been mutilated by one of Nelson's bombs. in Copenhagen. Copenhagen has two other Libraries of some note. Other Libraries The one, belonging to the University, the original foundation of which dates from the sixteenth century; the other called Classen's Library, from the name of its BOOK V. Chapter IX. Sweden and Norway. founder. The former was destroyed by fire in 1730; and The Libraries of Soon afterwards restored. It now contains nearly 154,000 printed, and 4000 MS. volumes. Classen's Library contains about 30,000 printed volumes, but possesses no MSS. These Libraries, consisting, collectively, of upwards of 600,000 volumes, (printed and MS.) are accessible to all respectable householders, and likewise to strangers introduced by such; and the books are, besides, under certain restrictions, allowed to circulate. The King's Library is general, extending over all the branches of human knowledge. The University Library is also to a certain extent general, but the main body of the collection has been made chiefly with reference to academical education. Classen's Library consists principally of books of geography, travels, natural history, and agriculture.1 The administration of these Libraries seems to be both economical and efficient. Of their principal catalogues I give a list below.' § 2. THE LIBRARIES OF SWEDEN AND NORWAY. The chief Public Libraries of Sweden are, (1.) the at Stockholm. Royal Library, situate in the northern wing of the Royal Library 1 App. to the Report on the British Museum, 483; Foreign Office Returns, of 1850, 174-176. 2 Codices Orientales Bibliothecæ Regiæ Hauniæ, etc. Hafn., 1846, 4to.; Description des Manuscrits Français du moyen âge de la Bibl. Roy. de Copenhague, par Abrahams, Copenh., 1844, 8vo.; Catalogus Bibliothecæ Thottiana [by Ebert and Eccard], Hauniæ, 1789-95, 12 vols., 8vo. The lastnamed catalogue is so good, that Brunet has said of it, if it be not one of the choicest, it is certainly one of the most useful books, which a bibliographer could put into his working collection. Of the Oriental MSS. of the University Library, a portion is described in Westergaard's catalogue, entitled, Codices Indici Bibliothecæ Universitatis Hauniæ. BOOK V. Chapter IX. Sweden and Norway. King's palace at Stockholm; (2.) the Library called Benzielstjerna-Engeström, founded by private individ- The Libraries of uals, but to which admission is readily granted on recommendation. These are in the capital. The Royal Library, which was founded by Gustavus Vasa, about 1540, and enlarged by the liberality of succeeding vereigns, contains about 96,000 volumes of printed books, with nearly 4000 MSS.,1 besides 16,500 charters and deeds, and is open to the Public every day, excepting Saturdays, Sundays and holidays; books are lent out on respectable recommendation. The Library of Benzielstjerna - Engeström contains about 14,500 volumes of printed books and 1200 volumes of MSS., rich in materials for Swedish history. Besides these, there are Libraries attached to the different academies, which are also accessible. The number of provincial Libraries in Sweden, including those of the Universities of Upsal and Lund, is nineteen. That of Upsal, which was founded by Gustavus Adolphus, is the largest in Sweden, and contains more than 135,000 printed volumes, with nearly 7000 MSS.3 Whitelocke visited this Library during his famous embassy. One of the gentlemen of his family hazarded the remark (to some by-stander) that it did not look larger than the Ambassador's own collection at home. The comparison excited somewhat of resentment in the University, which the politic diplomatist handsomely removed by the gift of the works of Ussher, Selden, Spelman, and other great English au 1 Foreign Office Returns of 1851, 45. 2 Ibid., 47. 3 Ibid., 48. BOOK V. Chapter IX. Sweden and Norway. 1 thors. The Library of Lund was founded at the same The Libraries of time as that University (1671) by Charles X., and possesses upwards of 70,000 printed volumes, and 2000 MSS. These Libraries are supported and increased by an annual grant from the State, and by a fee paid by each student on entering the Universities. In those provincial towns where the public schools, called Gymnasia, are established, there are also small Libraries. These collections, which have been founded by private individuals, are kept up much in the same way as those belonging in the Universities." Library of Christiania. At Christiania, in Norway, the Library of the University contains about 115,000 printed volumes, and 600 MSS. It was founded, in 1811, upon a donation by the King of Denmark of many thousand volumes of duplicates selected from the Royal Library at Copenhagen, when the extensive and valuable collection of Count Suhm was acquired. There are six other Libraries of some importance in Norway, two of which are in the capital,-besides a very large number of school and village Libraries. Of the former the most extensive is that of Trondheim, counting 26,000 printed volumes and 800 MSS. The two smaller Christiania Libraries have each of them about 12,000 printed volumes. That called Deichman's Library, possesses also 320 MSS.1 1 Journal of the Embassy to Sweden (2nd Edit.), ii, 147, 148. 2 Foreign Office Returns of 1851, 47. 3 Notices sur les Bibliothèques Publiques en Suède, Appendix to Report, 497, et seqq. 4 Ibid., 44. 5 Ibid., 49. |