The museum is based in an 18th- century townhouse (Dutch: Herenhuis) that maintains many of its period furnishings and collectibles.

[1] The museum is located in the former house of the book collector Willem Hendrik Jacob (Willem) baron van Westreenen van Tiellandt [nl] (1783–1848), who himself was a great admirer of his cousin Johan Meerman [nl] (1751–1815), a book collector, traveller, and diarist.

The museum is partly a personal memorial to Meerman, and focuses today on the written and printed books in all forms.

The development of writing is shown through a bird's eye view of the layout and decoration of these manuscripts.

Rotating exhibitions show various parts of the overall collection, while the interior of the house also contained paintings by famous Dutch masters.