Books in Early Modern Norway Library of the Written Word
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Books in Early Modern Norway Library of the Written Word volume 17 The Handpress World Editor-in-Chief Andrew Pettegree University of St Andrews Editorial Board Ann Blair Harvard University Falk Eisermann Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin – Preuβischer Kulturbesitz Michael F. Suarez, S.J. University of Virginia VOlume 11 The titles published in this series are listed at brill.nl/lww Books in Early Modern Norway By Gina Dahl LEIDEN • BOSTON LEIDEN • BOSTON 2011 Cover illustration: Jesper Brochmand’s Huus-Postill (Postil), printed in Copenhagen in 1733. Provided by The Bergen University Library, The Department of Special Collections, The Rare Book Collection. Photo: Pedro Vásquez. This book is printed on acid-free paper. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Dahl, Gina. Books in early modern Norway / by Gina Dahl. p. cm. -- (Library of the written word, ISSN 1874-4834 ; v. 17. The handpress world ; v. 11) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-90-04-20720-2 (hardback : alk. paper) 1. Book industries and trade--Norway-- History. 2. Publishers and publishing--Norway--History. 3. Books and reading--Norway-- History. I. Title. Z394.D34 2011 070.509482--dc23 2011018901 ISSN 1874-4834 ISBN 978 90 04 20720 2 Copyright 2011 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Global Oriental, Hotei Publishing, IDC Publishers, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers and VSP. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill NV provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. Fees are subject to change. To Jonas CONTENTS Acknowledgements ................................................................................... ix List of Illustrations .................................................................................... xi Illustrations 1. Introduction ............................................................................................1 2. Books and Their Distribution ............................................................ 15 2.1 Historical background................................................................. 15 2.2 Book market regulations ............................................................. 23 2.3 Sales outlets .................................................................................. 31 3. Books of Ordinary People .................................................................. 41 3.1 Schooling and reading ................................................................ 41 3.2 Inventories in rural areas ............................................................ 47 3.3 Books in stock in urban areas .................................................... 54 3.4 Changes in book patterns in the late eighteenth century .......................................................................................... 58 4. Books of the Clergy ............................................................................. 65 4.1 Clerical education ........................................................................ 65 4.2 Books originating in Germany .................................................. 72 4.3 Books from the Netherlands and England ............................... 83 4.4 Changes towards the end of the eighteenth century .......................................................................................... 86 5. Books and the Liberal Arts ................................................................ 91 5.1 Theartes training ......................................................................... 91 5.2 Theartes reception ...................................................................... 98 5.3 The variety of the classical legacy ............................................ 108 6. Books on Medicine ........................................................................... 113 6.1 Physicians and their educational background ....................... 113 6.2 The books of university-trained physicians ........................... 119 6.3 Medical works among other sections of society .................... 129 viii contents 7. Books on Jurisprudence ................................................................. 137 7.1 Jurists and their educational background ............................ 137 7.2 Books on jurisprudence circulating among the various officials ........................................................................ 144 7.3 Books on jurisprudence owned by other sections of society ................................................................................... 153 8. Enlightenment and Expansion ...................................................... 161 8.1 Enlightenment and change ..................................................... 161 8.2 The Norwegian case: structural changes in the world of books ..................................................................................... 164 8.3 Literary genres and ‘other worlds’ ......................................... 171 9. Books for Entertainment ............................................................... 185 9.1 Tales, stories and novels .......................................................... 185 9.2 Travel literature ........................................................................ 197 9.3 Esoteric literature ..................................................................... 204 10. Conclusion ....................................................................................... 213 Appendix 1 .............................................................................................. 219 Bibliography ............................................................................................ 221 Index ........................................................................................................ 233 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS When writing a book, an author is always indebted to a number of people. First of all, therefore, I would like to thank The Research Council of Norway for supporting my most recent years of research financially. Although much of this book was completed by the time the Council granted me a research scholarship, this study has benefited from the further investigations which I undertook during my postdoc- toral project on early modern travel literature and religious tolerance. I would also like to thank the Fritt Ord institution for its financial support. In recent years, my workplace has been the Department of Archaeology, History, Cultural Studies and Religion, University of Bergen, and I would therefore like to thank my colleagues in the Department, and Mona Farstad, Lisbeth Mikaelsson, Ingvild Gilhus, Richard Natvig, Einar Thomassen, Håkan Rydving, Michael Stausberg and Dag Endsjø in particular, for their enthusiastic support for my book historical enquiries. I am also especially indebted to Rona Johnston Gordon, Ursula Phillips, Charlotte Appel and Jørn Øyrehagen Sunde for the various types of assistance they have given me during the completion of this project. As a concluding remark, however, I would like to express my gratitude to Lis Byberg, Assistant Professor at Oslo University College, without whose acquaintance this book would never have been written. List Of ILLustrations 1. Frontispiece of Jesper Brochmand’s Huus-Postill (Postil), printed in Copenhagen in 1733 2. Frontispiece of Johann Gerhard’s Loci theologici, printed in Hamburg & Frankfurt in 1657 3. Frontispiece of Vergil’s Opera, printed in Paris in 1722 4. Frontispiece of Caspar Bartholin the Elder’s Institutiones anatomi- cae, printed in Goslar in 1632 5. Frontispiece of Hugo Grotius’s De jure belli ac pacis, printed in Utrecht in 1773 6. Frontispiece of Johann Hübner’s Vollständige Geographie, part III, printed in Hamburg in 1748 7. Frontispiece of Christian Furchtegott Gellert’s Fabeln und Erzählungen, printed in Frankfurt & Leipzig in 1766 All illustrations are provided by The Bergen University Library, The Department of Special Collections, The Rare Book Collection. Photo: Pedro Vásquez. ILLUSTRATIONS 1. Frontispiece of Jesper Brochmand’s Huus-Postill (Postil), printed in Copenhagen in 1733 2. Frontispiece of Johann Gerhard’s Loci theologici, printed in Hamburg & Frankfurt in 1657 3. Frontispiece of Vergil’s Opera, printed in Paris in 1722 4. Frontispiece of Caspar Bartholin the Elder’s Institutiones anatomi- cae, printed in Goslar in 1632 5. Frontispiece of Hugo Grotius’s De jure belli ac pacis, printed in Utrecht in 1773 6. Frontispiece of Johann Hübner’s Vollständige Geographie, part III, printed in Hamburg in 1748 7. Frontispiece of Christian Furchtegott Gellert’s Fabeln und Erzählungen, printed in Frankfurt & Leipzig in 1766 CHAPTER ONE Introduction The last comprehensive survey of Norwegian book history was pub- lished by Harald Tveterås some sixty years ago.1 Since then, much has happened within the international arena of book research as various aspects of the “communication circuit”, to use Robert Darnton’s famous designation, have been examined.2 Given the attention that l’histoire du livre has attracted on the part of researchers internationally, it seems strange that a new survey of book occurrences in early modern Norway should