Dutch Institutional Reading Culture in’the Early Nineteenth Century: An’Exploration and a Comparison

Authors

  • Rick Honings
  • Arnold Lubbers

Keywords:

Book History, Nineteenth Century, Institutional Reading Culture, Literary Societies, Book Clubs, Subscription Libraries, Circulating Libraries, Booksellers, United Kingdom of the Netherlands, Leiden

Abstract

In recent decades there has been an increase of literary-historical research into Dutch (institutional) reading culture. In this article the focus lies on institutional reading culture in the Netherlands during the years 1815-30. Although a great deal of research has been conducted into regional Dutch reading culture, a broader comparison with national and international developments does not exist as yet. We will argue that some manifestations of Dutch institutional reading culture were unique in an international context. The institutional reading culture of early-nineteenth-century Netherlands will be set against foreign research in order to explore what different institutions of reading in Leiden can teach us about Dutch institutional reading culture in general.

Author Biographies

Rick Honings

Rick Honings (1984) is a postdoctoral researcher at the Freie Universität Berlin and a lecturer at the University of Leiden. He recently published his PhD-thesis Geleerdheids zetel, Hollands roem! Het literaire leven in Leiden 1760-1860 (Leiden, 2011). He is currently working on a biography of the poet Willem Bilderdijk. He has published several articles on literary life in the Netherlands during the nineteenth century.

Arnold Lubbers

Arnold Lubbers (1981) is working on his PhD-thesis on Dutch book clubs in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands and is a lecturer in the Department of Book & Manuscript Studies at the University of Amsterdam. He has published several articles on literary life in the Netherlands during the nineteenth century.

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Published

2012-08-01

How to Cite

Honings, R., & Lubbers, A. (2012). Dutch Institutional Reading Culture in’the Early Nineteenth Century: An’Exploration and a Comparison. Journal of Dutch Literature, 3(1). Retrieved from https://www.journalofdutchliterature.org/index.php/jdl/article/view/25

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Articles