Humanist Library of Sélestat

In 1441, the municipal authorities of Sélestat – then a free city of the Holy Roman Empire – appointed Ludwig Dringenberg, born in Westphalia, to be the leader of the local Latin school.

Beatus Rhenanus bequeathed his entire private library to his home city of Sélestat.

[3] This library contained about 670 bound leather volumes at the time of his death in 1547, which Rhenanus had collected during his studies and his work in Strasbourg, Basel, Paris and Sélestat.

Even at that time, the library was of inestimable value, since books were only published in small numbers of copies and they were extremely expensive.

Other large libraries, such as those of Erasmus von Rotterdam or Johannes Reuchlin, were scattered after the deaths of their owners.