Linckesche Leihbibliothek (Lincke) Collection

The Linckesche Leihbibliothek was a rental library founded in 1791 in Leipzig by the bookdealer and publisher W. Lincke. In 1930, the University of Chicago acquired (from the Leipzig bookseller Otto Harrassowitz) a collection of 8,500 titles in 15,000 volumes that had been part of the Linckesche Leihbibliothek und Buchhandlung. The collection provides an extraordinary record of popular literature published in German between 1775 and 1875 (principally 1820 to 1850). Of the German works, only a small percentage are by noted literary figures, the remainder being by authors of popular literature of the day. Approximately 30% of the volumes are translations into German, largely from English (including Walter Scott) and French (including Balzac); also included are works translated from Swedish, Danish, Dutch, and eight other European languages.

The Lincke collection is maintained in boxes (call no. PT1105.L565folio) and arranged in three sections: German authors; anonymous and pseudonymous works; and translations. A handwritten card file prepared in the early 1940s provides access to individual titles. Each section is subarranged by author or title, and the volumes are individually numbered. Several theses by University of Chicago students provide partial listings of the collection. These include: Helen Griffith Snider, A Bio-bibliographical List of the Lincke Collection of the University of Chicago, A-H, Exclusive of Translations (1942); John M. Lewin, A Bio-bibliographical List of the Lincke Collection of the University of Chicago, N-Q, Exclusive of Translations (1951); William Francis Roertgen, Translations From the French in the Lincke Rental Library of Leipzig (1936); and Lidia Z. Bilas, Literature in the Lincke Collection Translated from the Spanish, French, and English into German (1994).

For further information on the Lincke Collection, please contact:

Special Collections Research Center
University of Chicago Library
1100 E. 57th Street
Chicago, Illinois 60637
SpecialCollections@lib.uchicago.edu.