Academy Library - Collection Guide
The Academy Library - formerly part of the now defunct Library KNAW - contains the library collections of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences that were collected during the nineteenth century.
History
The establishment of the Royal Institute of Sciences, Letters and Fine Arts by King Louis Napoleon in 1808, also brought about a library. Early on, this library possessed an important collection of books thanks to a gift from the king himself, who donated a collection of doubles from the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris.
Members of the Royal Institute also donated parts of their book collections. The library received further donations and bequests from outside the circle of royalty and Institute members. Since 1851, the library has been part of the KNAW, the successor of the Royal Institute.
Composition
The library covers all areas of science. The collections include the private library of Admiral Jan Hendrik van Kinsbergen (1735-1819), a collection of manuscripts by Constantijn Huygens (1596-1687) and Christiaan Huygens (1629-1695) as well as the almost complete works of Willem Bilderdijk (1756-1831) and Jacob van Lennep (1802-1868).
The Academy Library contains about seven hundred early printed works from 1480 to 1600, as well as numerous series of periodicals of scientific societies, travel and expedition reports, manuscripts and pamphlets. Some items have been given on permanent loan to other institutions. Most of the Academy Library, however, is now housed in the IISH building.
