‘Dis Köstliche Büchli’: the books of the Dünz, Wyss, and d’Hervart families at Nostell Priory

The arrival of books by dowry or inheritance into family libraries frequently introduces unexpected evidence of book ownership. Often fragmentary and out of context, these collections are routinely overlooked. This paper examines one such collection, a group of c. 140 books which arrived at Nostell Priory in 1781, part of the inheritance of Louise Sabine d'Hervart (1734–1798), shipped from her childhood home in Vevey, Switzerland. Primarily Germanic, printed between 1550 and 1700, these books chart the reading, interests, and circles of acquaintance of three generations of the Dünz family, an important Brugg dynasty of artists, glass painters, and architects active in the cultural and political life of Bern and its locality. The paper opens with a discussion of some of the methodological challenges facing those working with women's books in private libraries. It then examines the Swiss German books at Nostell, showing how they inform us of the cultural, intellectual, and social lives of members of the Dünz and related families, both male and female. Specifically, these books reveal a culture of book giving and the recording of the exchange of books, but also of close and long-standing relationships between their owners and significant members of the Swiss book trade.