From a book collection to a library
The library of the Royal Norwegian Society of Sciences and Letters is Norway’s oldest scholarly library. It formed the basis of the Gunnerus Library, which is now part of the NTNU University Library.
It all began with a requirement that newly elected members of the Society donate two books or ten rix-dollars towards the purchase of books for the collection. Many members donated additional books. The Society’s founder, Johan Ernst Gunnerus, also exchanged books with his international contacts, particularly in Germany and England. Over time, several private book collections were donated to the Society. These had often been passed down within families or from one holder of an official post to the next.
Special Collections (historical source material) at the Gunnerus Library
Text: Unn Kristin Daling Translated by: Lisbeth Regine Mangen
Book and manuscript collections
In 1768, the Society published its first catalogue, which remained the only one for the next two years: Catalogus Bibliothecae Societatis scientiarum Norvegicae, inceptus a. 1768. The catalogue contains 322 titles. The next catalogue appeared in 1770, listing 601 titles. By 1779, the book collection had grown to 2,062 volumes, and the collections continued to expand rapidly.
The first catalogue of the manuscript collection was published in 1784.
It was not until 1808 that a more extensive catalogue, R. Nyerup’s Catalog over Det Norske Videnskabers-selskabs Samlinger, was printed in Copenhagen. It is arranged systematically. Unfortunately, it contains no information about provenance (origin), but the manuscript collection is known to have been established through a donation from Gerhard Schøning. Schøning had inherited the collection of books and manuscripts from his predecessor as headmaster of Trondheim Cathedral School, Benjamin Dass, and had added new books to it.
As its finances permitted, the Society purchased entire book collections or parts of them, including at estate auctions following the deaths of private book collectors in Trondheim, such as Thomas Angell, Johan Ernst Gunnerus and others.
The library holds a number of these auction catalogues, which include information about the buyers.
- Nyerup’s catalogue of the DKNVS collections (PDF)
Private Archives (Special Collections, Gunnerus Library)
https://www.ntnu.no/documents/10599/1264749671/nyerup.pdf/601274bd-1d95-4ac8-b789-92ceeebb2cde
Text: Monica Aase Translation to English: Lisbeth Regine Mangen
The text and photographs/illustrations are taken from the DKNVS anniversary website from 2010, marking the Society’s 250th anniversary.
From the Special Collections. Photo: Elin Sandbakk and Unn Kristin Daling.
Illustration in Sigrid Undset’s medieval prayer book.
Members elected to the learned society were required to donate two books, or ten rigsdaler, towards the purchase of books for the library.