Dear reader,
please forward this request for the petition Express your protest
against the dissolution of the Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica
(Ritman Library) http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/ritmanlibrary/
http://www.ritmanlibrary.nl/ IS A UNIQUE LIBRARY IN THE WORLD !!!
Express your protest against the dissolution of the Bibliotheca
Philosophica Hermetica (Ritman Library)
It is widely known that the Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica in
Amsterdam, founded by J.R. Ritman, was in great danger in the 1990s,
when the ING bank took possession of the collection and threatened
to sell it. Fortunately, the Dutch government intervened: the BPH
was put on the list of protected Dutch heritage, and the State
eventually acquired over 40% of it. The books remained at the same
physical location, integrated with the rest of the collection, and
the government would eventually acquire all of it. As part of this
process, there were great plans for further expansion. Largely due
to the financial crisis and a change of government this was taking
somewhat longer than originally anticipated, but nobody doubted that
the library was safe.
Last week this turned out to be incorrect. An extremely valuable
medieval manuscript owned by the BPH (The Grail of Rochefoucauld)
was put on sale at Sotheby’s, and this triggered a reaction from the
Friesland Bank, which took possession of the library, that had appa
rently been brought in as collateral, in order to get back a 15 mill
ion euro loan from mr Ritman. At present the BPH is closed, and inte
nse negotiations are going on behind closed doors. It is impossible
at this moment to predict the outcome, but there is no doubt that th
e situation is extremely serious. There is a very real possibility t
hat the Friesland bank will try to sell at least the ca. 60% of the
library that is still owned by mr Ritman, and nobody knows what impl
ications this will have for the rest of the collection and the BPH a
s a whole, including its staff. The brand-new government of the Neth
erlands has announced a program of radical financial cuts in the cul
ture section and elsewhere, which makes a renewed intervention from
that side highly unlikely.
If the Ritman library would go down, this would mean an enormous
blow to international scholarship in hermetic studies. The damage
would be irreversible. By signing this petition you express your
concern, and ask the Dutch government and the Friesland bank to do
their utmost to ensure that the collection will be saved and will
remain available for the international scholarly community.
Additionally, you can express your concern by means of a signed
letter. The initiative for this petition comes from the Center for
History of Hermetic Philosophy and related currents at the
University of Amsterdam (organizationally independent of the BPH,
and not in any danger itself), so please send your letter to its
director: Prof. Wouter J. Hanegraaff, Oude Turfmarkt 141-147, 1012
GC Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
_______________________________________________
nettime-ann mailing list
[email protected]
http://www.nettime.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/nettime-ann
_______________________________________________
NetBehaviour mailing list
[email protected]
http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour
