Uppsala University Library - Some Significant Manuscripts and Collections

Some Significant Manuscripts and Collections

The university library of Uppsala was mainly created through the large donations in the early 17th century of confiscated libraries from monasteries, especially that in Vadstena, and the important collection of Baron Hogenskild Bielke who had been executed in 1605 and whose library was confiscated by the crown and donated by Gustav Adolph in 1621.

The many wars in which Sweden took a part in the 17th century brought many important manuscripts and collections to Sweden as spoils of war, some of which eventually ended up in Uppsala. The most famous example is the Codex Argenteus, most of what remains of Bishop Ulfilas's translation of the New Testament into Gothic, which was taken from Prague. Another example is the Copernicana, the main part of the library of astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus, taken by the Swedish Army in Kraków.

Later donations and purchases include many archives and collections of various Swedish families and individuals, such as the personal papers of King Gustav III, which were left to the library, to be opened only 50 years after the King's death.

More recently acquired collections include the Bibliotheca Walleriana and the Waller manuscript collection, collected by Dr Erik Waller, and partly donated, partly purchased by the library. One of the largest libraries of books concerned with the history of science and medicine and a manuscript collection mostly of letters from notable scientists. The manuscript collection is in the process of being scanned and published on the web: http://waller.ub.uu.se/

The Bodoni collection is the largest collection of prints of Giambattista Bodoni (1740–1813) outside his native Parma. Donated by the industrialist Erik Kempe 1959 and later extended with funds donated at the same time.

The music collections includes the Düben collection which was accumulated from 1640 until 1718 by the Düben family, a German family of musicians which included a number of members serving as Hofkapellmeister of the royal court orchestra. It contains a large selection of 17th century music, notably important works by Buxtehude not elsewhere preserved. The Düben collection has been catalogued and is in the process of being scanned and published on the web: http://www.musik.uu.se/duben/Duben.php

Other music collections are those from the manors of Leufsta and Gimo, the collection of Hugo Alfvén, that of the Joseph Martin Kraus, and the various collections that have been taken as spoils of war, such as the Cancionero de Uppsala, a 16th century collection of Spanish music printed in Venice 1556 and not preserved in any other copy.