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Dutch Institutions abroad

WAGENINGEN

Bibliotheek Wageningen UR, Speciale Collecties

Wageningen University and Research Centre / Library, Special Collections

Visit also the virtual exhibition The world of Alida Withoos, botanical artist in the Golden Age (in Dutch)

Size The department of special collections owns 10,000 books, and 250 discontinued periodicals
Character and emphasis The Special Collections Department was set up in 1980 as a separate department of Wageningen Agricultural University Library, founded in 1876. It administers the collection of rare and old books (printed before 1850) as well as old and modern maps and atlases, botanical and zoological illustrations, manuscripts, plates and photographs. Covering all fields of the agricultural sciences and their history, it is particularly relevant for art historians because of its emphasis on the history, theory and practice of horticulture and garden and landscape design and architecture. In 1939 the well known Dutch garden architect L.A. Springer donated his archives to the University, and this collection now forms the basis of the Garden and Landscape Architecture Documentation Centre for the Netherlands (TUIN). Since 1980 this collection has been considerably extended by the deliberate acquisition of plans, designs and other documentation of gardens and parks in the Netherlands, chiefly dating from the early 19th century onward, including the archives of several Dutch garden designers. The library has many early editions on both the architectural and the horticultural aspects of gardening.

Special collections

• Botanical and zoological illustrations: 500 books and journals (1550-1950), prints and drawings, including a manuscript tulip book (1637)
• Eltville Collection: 300 German books (1750-1850) on agriculture, horticulture, forestry and general topics
• Krelage Collection: 1,200 books and journals (1650-1900) on horticulture and botany reflecting the specialty of the well known Krelage nursery of flowerbulbs and ornamental plants
• Springer Collection: 700 books (1630-1940) on garden architecture and garden history, ornamental planting and architecture
• TUIN (Garden and Landscape Documentation Centre for the Netherlands): collection of original garden plans and designs (from 1570 onward), including those of some 20 of the best known Dutch garden and landscape architects active in the late 19th and the 20th centuries.
• Historical photographs, botanical and zoological illustrations.
• Aerial photographs of the Netherlands (1,500 dating from an official survey in September 1939; and some 100,000 taken by the Royal Air Force during World War II)
• Nursery catalogues: ca. 30,000 catalogues of nurseries (1830-2000), specialised in ornamental plants, bulbs and trees.

Catalogues

• The online catalogue of Wageningen University, Agralin, gives access to CLC ( Dutch union catalogue of agricultural books and periodicals). Agralin can also be accessed through NCC and InterNet: http://www.agralin.nl/desktop/catalog/
• Card catalogues of the maps, the nursery catalogues, and the TUIN inventory
• Printed catalogue of books published before 1851
• Tuinpad: online bibliographic database on dutch history of gardens and landscape architecture

• L. Missel and C.S. Oldenburger-Ebbers. Catalogus speciale collecties. I: Tuinbouw tot en met 1850. 1: Tuinbouw algemeen en sierteelt. Wageningen 1993
• J.Kuylen, C.S. Oldenburger-Ebbers, D.O. Wijnands. Paradisus Batavus: Bibliografie van plantencatalogi van onderwijstuinen, particuliere tuinen en kwekerscollecties in de Noordelijke en Zuidelijke Nederlanden (1550-1839). Wageningen 1983
• C.S. Oldenburger-Ebbers. 'Documentatiecentrum Tuin- en Landschapsarchitectuur in Nederland (TUIN), Bibliotheek Landbouwuniversiteit Wageningen'. Cascade: Bulletin voor tuinhistorie 4 (1995) 57-63
• L. Missel. 'Over de geschiedenis van de Nederlandse tuin- en landschapsarchitectuur: overzichtsbibliografie van werken gepubliceerd in de jaren 1980-1994'. Tuinkunst: Nederlands jaarboek voor de geschiedenis van tuin- en landschapsarchitectuur. Amsterdam 1996, 121-156
• Since 1987 the documentation centre publishes an annual bibliography on the history of Dutch garden architecture in the journal Groen: vakblad voor groen in stad en landschap