Swedish Literary Spoils of War from the Czech Lands

The Leiden University Library currently records approximately 178 manuscripts and printed books originating from the Czech literary spoils of war. A substantial portion of the books from the Czech lands reached Leiden at the end of the seventeenth century through the personal library of Isaac Vossius (1618–1689), who served as librarian to Queen Christina of Sweden between 1648 and 1654. During his tenure at the Stockholm court, Vossius acquired a considerable number of books, some of which also originated from the Czech literary spoils of war. After his death, a large part of his library was purchased by Leiden University Library, specifically approximately 4,000 printed books and 729 manuscripts.

From a provenance perspective, it is possible to comprehensively document only the group of Bohemical manuscripts, which have already been catalogued in detail (P. C. Boeren; Karel Adriaan de Meyier). Printed books of Bohemical provenance can so far be identified only partially, primarily based on earlier—both published and unpublished—findings by the Swedish historian Otto Walde and the Dutch historian Astrid C. Balsem, who has long been engaged in research on the library of Isaac Vossius.