The philologist Willem de Mérode's library (pseudonym of Willem Eduard Keuning, 1887-1939) forms the base of this collection. The library contains over 3,000 works from the 17th to the 20th century, but his own publications are not part hereof. VU received the collection as a donation in 1939.
In addition to literary works, the collection mainly contains Dutch and German publications on visual arts, geography, and ethnology, especially remarkable is the extensive interest in the Far East. The travel books and ethnological studies replaced traveling itself for De Mérode and were an important source of inspiration for his poems.
The books of the collection De Mérode can be accessed through LibSearch.
Archive material from/relating to De Mérode is kept at the Center for Religious History at VU in the archives of J. Werkman, number 536.