Unrecorded library catalogue: a glimpse into 19th-century reading habits

As if living in Winterswijk in the 1870s weren’t bad enough, you’d probably also have struggled to find books to read. Enter bookseller J.M.C. Van der Zande. He established a library where readers could borrow books at a modest subscription fee. He took his job quite seriously: this catalogue of his library boasts an impressive 752 titles.

It opens with a calendar for 1875, followed by library rules. Open daily except Sundays and public holidays, the library offered subscriptions ranging from two to six books at a time (the latter for 10 guilders a year). Returns were due within 14 days.

Unsurprisingly, the catalogue features mostly (romantic) fiction, including works by Fredrika Bremer (the Swedish Jane Austen), Charles Dickens, Diderot, and Johanna Schopenhauer (yes, Arthur’s dear mother).

But readers could also enlighten themselves with Beecher Stowe’s De negerhut (“Uncle Tom's Cabin”), Multatuli’s Max Havelaar, and Rainsford’s St. Domingo of het land der zwarten. The most useful title, though, appears to have been Kunst om rijk te worden, een boek voor iedereen (“How to get rich, a book for everyone”).

A delightful and little-known insight into provincial reading culture in the Netherlands. No copies in WorldCat.