Cervantes

History of the collection: The collection grew out of a bequest from the Werumeus Buning estate, received in 1960.
Size:The collection comprises approximately seven hundred titles.
Accessibility: The books are listed in the KB online public catalogue; a portion are listed in the KB card catalogues. Some of the books are for library use only. They can be requested at the Special Collections department.
More information:  Steven Claeyssens 070-3140312

The collection

A large part of the KB's collection of works by and about Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (1547-1616) came from the estate of the poet Johan Willem Frederik Werumeus Buning (1891-1958). As such the collection is therefore relatively recent. The KB had already been involved with Spanish literature, of course, and with the creator of Don Quixote, undoubtedly its most prominent figure. The library's oldest floor plan devotes a specific area to Iberian letters, and as early as 1808 a considerable sum was spent at auction in acquiring chiefly Spanish works from the collection of La Serna Santander. But after receipt of the Werumeus Buning legacy, the idea arose to build up a special collection as far as available funds would allow.

Buning loved Spain and the Spanish culture, as revealed in his best-known work, Maria Lécina. His Cervantes collection concentrates on the work whose first part appeared in 1605 under the title El ingenioso hidalgo D Quixote de la Mancha and which would prove to be a singular event in world literature. Buning showed his interest in the wandering knight and his squire Sancho Panza in yet another way. In 1941-1943 the translation De geestrijke ridder Don Quichot van de Mancha appeared, the fruit of happy collaboration between the man of letters Werumeus Buning and the hispanicist Prof. CFA van Dam (1899-1972). In this way, Buning was following in the footsteps of more or less illustrious predecessors such as Lambert van den Bosch (1610-1698) and CL Schuller tot Peursum (1813-1860), whose translations appeared in 1652 and 1854 respectively. Other translations, or rather adaptations, were mainly intended for children. In this connection mention can be made of the indefatigable JJA Goeverneur.

The present size of the collection can be estimated at seven hundred titles, of which the texts constitute a third. This last part is strikingly strong in terms of translations, including those in less widely-spoken languages. This may have something to do with the collector's work as a translator; examples by earlier colleagues, even from other language areas, can be inspiring. The extension of the collection contains not only the customary purchases in the field of Spanish language and literature, but also the incidental acquisition of special editions, mostly earlier text editions, that are relevant for the history of Quixote

Literature

'J.W.F. Werumeus Buning, letterkundige, vertaler, (culinair) journalist 1891-1958'. In: Collectors and collections. Koninklijke Bibliotheek, 1789-1998. Zwolle : Waanders, 1998, p. 140-144.