Zoom Lecture: The Grotius Collection – A Secret Gilded Age Library Rooted in 17th Century New York
May 8th, 2025
The Holland Society’s Executive Director, Sarah Bogart Cooney, presented a Zoom lecture on the Society’s collection of rare books, on permanent loan to Columbia University.
The tomes were purchased in 1890 by Robert Barnwell Roosevelt, a Holland Society member and ex-Minister to The Hague, from Bom and Bom Book Dealers in Amsterdam. The collection is rich in first editions, including 17th-century publications by the eminent Elzevir dynasty of printers.
Since 1901, the books have been on deposit in Columbia’s Rare Book and Manuscript Library: a ghost collection with no presence in Columbia’s library catalogue. Recent efforts by the Holland Society and Columbia librarians have brought new exposure to this collection, and collaboration has begun to rescue them from “the oblivion of their present situation.”
This lecture was originally presented at the Grolier Club on March 11, 2025, and this recording was made in the Holland Society’s Upper West Side library on Thursday, May 8, 2025.
Click here to view the recording of the Zoom lecture on demand.