Amsterdam
Apeldoorn
Arnhem
Delft
Den Bosch
Den Haag
Eindhoven
Enschede
Groningen
Leeuwarden
Leiden
Maastricht
Nijmegen
Otterlo
Rotterdam
Schoonhoven
Tilburg
Utrecht
Wageningen
Wijk bij Duurstede
Zeist

Dutch Institutions abroad

AMSTERDAM

Rijksmuseum / Bibliotheek

Rijksmuseum / Library

Size 200,000 books, 50,000 auction catalogues, 730 current and 3,000 discontinued periodicals
Character and emphasis The library of the Rijksmuseum grew out of the reference library of the print room. The scope of the library expanded when the museum moved into its present building, inaugurated in 1885. Initially it was exclusively devoted to documenting the museum's collections of paintings, prints and drawings; now it covers all branches of the visual arts, reflecting the wide range of the museum's holdings. The library specializes in: iconography, Christian art, the history of art from the Middle Ages up to and including the 19th century, painting, drawing, the graphic arts, sculpture, the applied arts, photography of the 19th century, and museology. It also has extensive holdings of art theory, archaeology of ancient Asia, Chinese painting, Japanese prints, architecture, calligraphy, typography, photography, preservation of historic monuments, and the application of scientific technologies to the arthistorical discipline.
Special collections

• Auction catalogues (especially 1722-1932 from the Waller Fund)
• Architecture (A.N. Godefroy Collection, 1897)

• Automated catalogue
• Alphabetical card catalogue for all books acquired before 1989
• Systematic catalogue in four parts: printed catalogue of all acquisitions before 1934, card catalogues for acquisitions from 1934 up to 1960, 1960 up to 1988, and from 1988 onwards
• Separate topographical card catalogue
• Separate card catalogues for periodicals and for catalogues of collections, exhibitions and auctions
• The library's periodical holdings are included in NCC Publications
• Catalogus der kunsthistorische bibliotheek in het Rijksmuseum te Amsterdam. 4 vols. Amsterdam 1934-1936. This catalogue serves as a subject bibliography of the history of art and provides a comprehensive listing of the sources for the history of Dutch art. Vol. 4 contains separate indexes by subject, author, artist, illustrator, place, collector and dealer, and anonymous works.
• Acquisitions list (three times a year)