Looted Libraries, Looted Books

The Swedish Case
Erscheinungsjahr 2024
ISBN: 978-90-04-71566-0
Verlag: Brill

Buch, Englisch, 104 Seiten, Format (B × H): 151 mm x 232 mm, Gewicht: 174 g

Reihe: Brill Research Perspectives in Humanities and Social Sciences / Brill Research Perspectives in Early Modern Cultures of the Younger Europe

Supported by the legal ideas of Hugo Grotius, the Swedish armies exploited opportunities to seize books as spoils of war from conquered enemies to an unparalleled degree in the seventeenth century. They took books from countries such as today’s Latvia, Poland, Germany, the Czech Republic and Denmark, distributing the goods to recently founded institutions and private manors in their native country. In Looted Libraries, Looted Books – The Swedish Case, Peter Sjökvist gives a summarizing overview of these plunders: from which regions and owners full libraries or selected books were taken during the conflicts, where they subsequently tended to end up when arriving in Sweden, and how they have been received and curated over the years. It is argued that it can be questioned whether large portions of the spoils have served any proper user needs in their new contexts.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Sjökvist, Peter

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtswissenschaft Allgemein

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Contents

Acknowledgements

Introduction

1 A History of Swedish Book Spoliation

2 Reception and Curation

3 Grotius, Peace Treaties, and Claims for Restitution

4 Destruction and Dispersal of Looted Books

5 Literary Spoils of War in Sweden

Conclusion

Bibliography

Über Autor(innen)

Peter Sjökvist, Ph.D. (1974, Uppsala University) is Rare Books Librarian and Associate Professor of Latin at Uppsala University. His publications include several articles on books looted by Sweden in the early modern period.