Recently, the bibliographic details of the last volume from the rich collection of Thomas Philippe d’Alsace (1679-1759), archbishop of Mechelen (Malines) were entered into the electronic catalogue of the University Library. This means that the ‘Leuven’ part of this extraordinary book collection, preserved in the Maurits Sabbe Library, can be consulted more easily to its full extent.
The history of the so-called ‘Library of Cardinal d’Alsace’ dates back to the early 18th century. When he was appointed archbishop, Thomas Philippe d’Alsace decided to house his private book collection in his palace in Mechelen and to make it disponible for the seminarists. The library of D’Alsace, a remarkable reference collection, contained both earlier and contemporary works from different domains divided into various sections: Bibles and Exegetical works, publications on Patristics, Theology and Canon Law as well as Civil Law, History, Philology, Philosophy and Exact Sciences were avidly collected. A Catalogus haereticorum with “heretical” texts concluded the collection. In 1738 Alsace donated his library to the St Rombouts Chapter and so the library attained, quite exceptionally for its time, a semi-public character.
The bibliophile Cardinal also took care of his books: most were bound in calf leather with a typical decoration in gold stamping. Many bindings bear the coat of arms of the golden stamp of d’Alsace on the boards. The collection with its walls of glittering golden backs is a real eye catcher in the Archive of Precious and Rare Books of the Maurits Sabbe Library.
The French Revolution dispersed the exceptional collection, which originally numbered nearly 9,400 titles. 22 cases were disposed of by the French revolutionary regime and ended up in libraries in Paris but also in the Royal Library in Brussels and a few other libraries. About five hundred volumes, especially legal titles, ended up in the library of the Town of Mechelen and are now kept in the Town Archives of Mechelen. The rest was added to the library of the Grand Seminary of Mechelen.
Thanks to the efforts of, among others, emeritus professor Luc Dequeker, the collection of early printed books of the Grand Seminary (including an important part of the Library of Cardinal d’Alsace), was deposited in 1969 at the library of the Faculty of Theology of the KU Leuven. Making accessible this very extensive collection is a long process that will continue in the coming years. The processing of the nearly three thousand titles from the Collection d’Alsace in the Maurits Sabbe Library is a first important step.
Geplaatst door gjuhasz 
GBIB Nieuws 