Leiden University Libraries Digital Collections

The Bibliotheca Thysiana was founded by testament in 1653 by the young Dutch legal expert Johannes Thysius (1622-1653). He left his private book collection and a legacy of 20,000 guilders for the building of a public library "tot publycque dienst der studie" (for the public benefit of study). It is the only Dutch library from the seventeenth century still housed in its original purpose-built building on Leiden’s Rapenburg canal.

The Bibliotheca Thysiana collection contains some 2,500 books, several thousand pamphlets on a great variety of subjects and almost 1,000 old prints. Materials can be requested via the Leiden University Libraries catalogue, to be consulted in the Special Collections Reading Room.

This collection is described in the following collection guides:

• Collection guide Archive of the Bibliotheca Thysiana and Thysius family Archive
• Collection guide Rare Books from the Bibliotheca Thysiana
• Collection guide Bibliotheca Thysiana Pamphlets Collection
• Collection guide Bibliotheca Thysiana Prints Collection
• Collection guide Emblem Books Collection