Services of Special Collections Department

Individual Special Collections

The Special Collections Department of the Koninklijke Bibliotheek maintains a number of individual special collections which may be found at Special collections.

Description of the materials

The manuscripts, incunabula, post-incunabula, early printed books and rare and precious works from the 19th up till and including the 21th century may be found through the  KB catalogue books and periodicals.

Printed works up till and including 1800 may be found in the  Short-Title Catalogue Netherlands (STCN).

The additional materials are described in separate catalogues. Some of these catalogues may only be viewed in card catalogue in the Special Collections Department, but generally they may be found through computerised files. The titles of printed works till 1800 and of rare and precious works from the 19th up till and including the 21th century may also be consulted by means of the so-called typographical card catalogue (printers' index). The manuscript collection of the KB is included in the KB catalogue of books and periodicals. More information may be found on the opening screens of the collections.

Reference

Annual library pass holders may consult material from the Special Collections unless restrictions apply due to the condition or exceptional value of an object. The material must be consulted in the Special Collections Reading Room. Microfilms and fiches are an exception; these may be consulted in the Microreader Room on the first floor. The use of pens is prohibited in the Reading Room. Requests for material may be made on the spot, by telephone (070-3140322) of through Ask a librarian. Requested works are generally supplied within half an hour. The waiting time for newspapers is approximately an hour..

Requesting more than 10 items:   Would you kindly make your request at least 1 day in advance by telephone (070-3140322) through the Special Collections Desk or by email through  Ask a librarian?

Reference library

The Special Collections Department has an extensive reference library at its disposal (approx. 23.000 volumes). You may there consult reference works related to the various collections, such as:

• Catalogues of the library’s own resources;
• Catalogues of special collections of other Dutch and foreign libraries;
• Studies on manuscripts (book illumination, codicology, palaeography);
• Book history (analytical bibliography); 
• Studies on bookbinding, paper history and conservation;
• Handbooks on printing techniques;
• Children’s books.

The most important periodicals in these fields are also available here, single issues of current volumes as well as bound complete volumes.

Equipment

A watermark lamp and a UV-lamp are available in the reading room, as well as a tripod for a camera. You may take photographs as long as you do not use a flash.

Reproductions

Photocopies, reader prints, microfilms, high-resolution prints and scans of the special materials can be ordered. For photographic reproductions only written orders can be processed. A delivery time of 1 week applies for photocopies; for other types of reproductions the delivery time is approximately 6 weeks. Small photocopy orders can generally be dealt with on the day of application by our desk staff.

Documentation about the collections of the KB 

For the manuscript collection, information about the provenance of the manuscripts, literature about the manuscripts and photo documentation (films, slides, photographs) are available on request. For the collection of book bindings a documentation system containing literature about the bindings and an extensive slide collection are available. 

The documentation on the collection on paper history is one of the most inclusive collections in the world. For more detailed information, see the pages of the different collections and  catalogues van de KB.

Documentation about special materials in other libraries

One of the national library tasks of the KB is to collect information about:

• Dutch medieval manuscripts
• Alba amicorum
• Incunabula
• Early printed books
• Book bindings
• The history of paper in other collections

Efforts are made to collect microfilms, photographs, rubbings of binding stamps and information about, for example, watermarks of rare items held elsewhere.

History of the Book

The KB maintains a resource entitled Verzameling Catalogi (Collection of Catalogues), which contains the stock of auction catalogues and antiquarian booksellers’ catalogues. In addition, microfiches are available of the catalogues from the project Book Sales Catalogues of the Dutch Republic by IDC, in which Dutch auctioneer and booksellers’ catalogues from the period 1599-1800 are described. An online Guide Book to these microfiches is available in the KB.

Up till and including 2008 the Special Collections Department was responsible for editing Book History Online (BHO), the electronic successor of the international Annual Bibliography of the History of the Printed Book and Libraries (ABHB). Although Book History Online is no longer updated, the titles remain available through http://www.kb.nl/bho. Publications on the history of the printed book in The Netherlands may be consulted through the portal in Bibliopolis.

Information and opening hours

For information about the Special Collections you may ring us (070 – 3140322), send a message by means of our email form (re. ‘Bijzondere Collecties’) or drop by the Reading Room.
The Special Collections Reading Room is open: Monday through Friday 10 a.m. – 6 p.m.