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Bookplate Index by Library or Collector
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Västerås City Library Västerås
City Library derives its origin from the medieval cathedral library, of
which we hear for the first time in 1317. (However; the earliest
information about a collection of books in Västerås
goes back to the
middle of the thirteenth century and the then newly founded Dominican
friary.) Not very much is known about the libraries of the Middle Ages and
of the sixteenth century, but the library still has books from that time
(e.g., the letters if the church father Chrysostom, in a beautiful edition
from the end the fifteenth century). After the disturbances of
the Reformation, there followed a time of prosperity for the library in
the seventeenth century, when Johannes Rudbeckius, one of Sweden's most
famous ecclesiastical figures throughout the ages, was bishop in Västerås.
He was an innovator within many fields of activity of the church, but he
is most remembered as the founder of the first Swedish
"gymnasium"—in Västerås in 1623. For the library his term of
office meant an immense recovery. Through both his own gifts and those of
other persons, the collections of books and manuscripts increased
considerably. Even though some books were purchased, the donations and
bequests continued. These gifts included contemporary as well as older
books, some of which were booty from Sweden's wars on the continent. Toward
the end of the eighteenth century the library received its largest and
until now, most famous donation from the Västerås merchant and iron works
proprietor Abraham Abrahamsson Hülphers. This donation consisted of
Swedish prints from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and of
manuscripts of great value for research in the fields of Swedish local
history, genealogy, and the history of music. Because of its collections
of manuscripts, books, sheets of music, and engravings, the diocesan
library in Västerås became one of the largest in Sweden. The public
library tradition also has a long history in the Västerås area Parish
libraries were founded after the middle of the nineteenth century and were
later followed by the popular movement libraries, which are typical of
Sweden (e.g., those of the temperance and labor movements). The largest of
them was the Västerås Workers' Institute Library, which in reality served
as the city library. In the beginning of the 1950s the different libraries in
Västerås were
united into the Diocesan and State County Library—one of four in Sweden.
In 1975, it was entirely municipalized, and its name was changed to the Västerås
City Library. Today it is one of the largest public libraries in Sweden.
The rare book and manuscript collections are in the charge of the Research
Department, which also is responsible for the collections on local
history and genealogy. The stock of books in the department amounts to
125,000 volumes (including 138 incunabula) and 60 shelf-meters of
manuscripts. In 1621 Bishop
Rudbeckius founded the first printing office in Västerås. From Stockholm
he summoned the printer Olof Olofsson Hellsing, with whom he had
cooperated on the edition of the Gustavus Adolphus Bible in 1618. The
earliest Västerås print—a speech by Bishop Rudbeckius-was published in
December 1621 and featured a reproduced printer's mark with a seeing sky,
a listening tree, and the two sentences “God, the judge, sees
everything" and “Nowhere alone." Other early prints from Västerås
are the first printed world map in Sweden, “Orbis terrarum . . . rudi
penicillo adumbratus a Joh. Rudb. Nericio" from 1626, and two
scientific works on anatomy, “De circulation sanguinis" (1652) and
“Nova exercitatio anatomica" (1653), by the famous scientist Olof
Rudbeck the Elder. The present bookplate of
Västerås City Library, on the cover of this
issue, can be derived from one of the earliest printer's marks used in the
city. The mark with its three flowers, which also can be seen on Bishop
Rudbeckius's seal, and the Latin name for Västerås (AROSIA) are very
frequently seen on the works of the first two Västerås printers. As a
bookplate, measures 6.5 high by 5 cm wide, and has been in use since 1975. The
bookplate of the former Diocesan and School Library' was used during the
first half of this century. It derives its origin from the seal of the
“gymnasium" from 1681, and features the inscription
“SIGILLUM GYMNASII AROSIENSIS" and a picture of the Virgin
with the infant Christ
on her left knee. On both sides of the figures are the silver scepters of the
“gymnasium" from the seventeenth century, the right one placed
across a book. Since the virgin was considered the patron saint of the
school and the cathedral, as well as the City of Västerås, her picture
can be even on the medieval seals of the school and the bishops. Jan
Larsson Research Department, Västerås City Library
[Originally published in Journal of Library History, vol. 26, no. 4 (Spring 1991): 608-610.]
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| Last updated June 30, 2001 |
