The antiquarian book trade in the Netherlands during the Second World War

Abstract

On the eve of the Second World War the antiquarian book trade in the Netherlands was in deep crisis brought about by the worldwide economic malaise following I929. One consequence of this was a catastrophic decline in the status of the antiquarian bookseller almost to that of rag-and-bone man. In I935 the energetic Menno Hertzberger founded 'his' Nederlandsche Vereeniging van Antiquaren to improve the situation, but this failed to make over-full storerooms any emptier. With the outbreak of war much was to change, not all of it for the bad. For the many Jewish dealers - some of whom had already fled here from Nazi Germany - work was made impossible. They lost their livelihood and sometimes also their lives. But trade in 'old & rare' books flourished as never before. Never was more read or were old books more avidly sought after than in the dark days of I940-5. And when the war was over and the period of reconstruction had begun, it became apparent that in many respects the character of Holland's antiquarian book trade had changed: it was now more businesslike and looked more strongly towards the English-speaking world, including its approach to bibliography. The new-style antiquarian was, or at least wished henceforth to be, a specialist scholar, the equal of the academic librarian.