History of the Austrian Nationalbibliothek

Abstract

P3--9HE Austrian Nationalbibliothek boasts of a history of more than a four centuries, but only during the last two has it existed as an institution which might be called a library in the modern sense. Lack of space and a rather haphazard acquisition policy discouraged any large-scale development. Use of the imperial library was restricted to a selected few, and it was only in the eighteenth, or rather at the beginning of the nineteenth, century that a thoroughgoing change took place. The founding of the Hofbibliothek (called the Palatina as the symbol of the Holy Roman Empire of the German nation) goes back to the time of Emperor Maximilian I (1493-I5I9) or perhaps Emperor Ferdinand I (first archduke of Austria, then emperor from I 556 to I564), rulers whose viewpoints permit them to be ranked as enthusiastic patrons of learning and the arts. After the death of Ferdinand I a large proportion of the library was divided among his sons, Maximilian, Ferdinand von Tirol, and Karl von Steiermark, and removed to the provincial capitals. The holdings of the libraries of Castle Ambras near Innsbruck and of the Graz castle were augmented considerably by the books from Vienna. The first building of the Vienna Hofbibliothek of which we have any record is the Minorite monastery near the Hofburg. Here we have for the first time a clearly defined personality as the director of the library-the scholar Hugo Blotius (1575-I608). Born in Delft, he became a professor of law in Strassburg and was later called to Vienna by the emperor as his librarian. The library had been seriously neglected, but he was able to put it in good shape and make it available for public use with imperial consent. In 1597 Blotius compiled statistics on the holdings of the library: there were about nine thousand volumes, of which sixteen hundred were manuscripts. We are also fairly well informed about the acquisition of books at this time. Blotius purchased abroad, and an appropriation of 200 Gulden seemed to him to be sufficient for this purpose. In addition, the Hofbibliothek acquired material from monasteries (Admont, St. Florian Gottweig, Heiligenkreuz, Herzogenburg, Klosterneuburg, Mauerbach, Melk, etc.), supposedly through the offices of the Viennese scholars Johannes Cuspinian and Wolfgang Lazius. Private libraries as well, such as those of the bishops Johann Faber and Johannes Dernschwam, and finally that of Blotius himself, augmented the imperial collection. The library was also provided with books placed on legal deposit, by which means the publishers sought to protect themselves against piracy. However, it was only in the course of the seventeenth century (a patent of Ferdinand II dated I624) that the library acquired definite rights. Blotius attempted to relax the strict provisions for the use of the library. In I580 we have the first regulation concerning the use of the library approved by Rudolf II. It was drawn up to make the library available to a wider circle of readers. Sebastian Tengnagel, a colleague of I English version by Lawrence S. Thompson.