439 Swedenborgiana and Gifts from Heaven

Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote that “every library should try to be complete on something, if it were only on the history of pin-heads.” From the beginning, the Academy of the New Church Library (now the Swedenborg Library) has made the effort to be as complete as possible in the area of Swedenborgiana. Rev. W. Cairns Henderson once defined Swedenborgiana as “the Writings, in print and in reproduction of the mss.; Swedenborg’s own works in the same two forms; books used by him, documents concerning Swedenborg and literary material relating to him; New Church collateral literature, both books and pamphlets; and New Church periodicals” (New Church Life 1957, 20). Room 17 on the fourth floor of the old library (now the Fine Arts building) housed part of the Swedenborgiana Collection for many years.

Room 17 (see historic photo, left) contained books known to have been owned by Swedenborg and books quoted from or referred to by Swedenborg, as well as translations of these works. This collection also included contemporary books that mentioned Swedenborg or his work.

“It was in 1890 that particular attention began to be paid to the preservation of original editions of Swedenborg, to the photolithographing of the mss., and to the collecting of New Church collateral literature. Continue reading » » » »