Acquiring Dutch books

Search for books that are public domain in the USA. For "foreign" (non-American) books, these will be books that were published before 1923. Exceptions may be books in Dutch that were published in the USA (yes, those exist!).

Determining Dates

Unlike American books, many Dutch language books carefully avoid putting a publication date anywhere in the book. Publishers don't like to have a date on a book, as buyers do not like to buy outdated books. Unlike in the US, copyright legislation did not force Dutch publishers to print dates in books. This gives considerable head-aches when acquiring books for PG.

Dates can often be obtained from library cataloges, such as Picarta or the website of the KB (Koninklijke Bibliotheek) in The Hague. These dates are, however, not always fully reliable. If a book includes advertisements, these often provide useful clues to further establish the date. Another very useful resource to establish the date of a book is Brinkman's alphabetische lijst van boeken, landkaarten en verder in den boekhandel voorkomende artikelen, a yearly catalog of Dutch books in print. Only problem here is that you'll have to start with a reasonable guestimate, and then get the volume for that year. Most larger Dutch libraries have those volumes, and some are also available on the Internet Archive (search link). Jeroen Hellingman will turn this catalog into projects on DP in the future.

When buying on-line, you can do this research before purchasing the book. In physical shops, it may either require a return trip home, or a guess based on the physical appearance of the book. In a few cases, hand-written dedications may be helpful here to establish a date. (Note that for PG clearance we do not need an exact date, just proof that the book was published before 1923.)

Locations

Stores

• second hand book stores / "antiquariaten"
• second hand goods stores / "kringloopwinkels"

In general my experience is that book stores have a narrow view of what sells and what not. You may be able to get the "what not"s cheaply if they have them at all. Some second hand book stores are specialized in a certain subject, which means that they charge a premium for these books, but may sell books outside their focus area a little cheaper.

Second hand goods stores or "recycle centers" are a great place to find books for a bargain. They often sell books in bad-but-good-enough-to-scan condition (which regular second hand book stores dispose of), and sometimes sell nice things at a much lower price. If you are a regular, tell them what you are looking for and what you do with the books. Professional traders scavenge these shops regularly.

Recycle shops often get a lot more than they will put up in the shop. Often old books are scrapped without them even trying to sell them. If you become a regular, you can try to get in touch with the person responsible for the selection, and explain your needs. This way I have sometimes obtained rare pre-1923 materials that would have ended in the dumpster for free.

Library Sales

Sometimes, libraries offer old books for sale. For most public libraries in the Netherlands, however, these books will be printed after 1922, and thus not eligble for Project Gutenberg.

Flea Markets

Typically advertised in the local and regional newspapers. Keep an eye on the Boekenpost. For example, there's an annual (or perhaps semi-annual) Vlooienmarkt at the Veemarkthallen, Utrecht.

Libraries

• public libraries
• private libraries
• university libraries
• archive libraries (see: archives)
• museum libraries (see: museums)
• Netherlands: Koninklijke Bibliotheek (KB)

The Dutch national library has an online catalog, which to my knowledge cannot be searched for a certain date or date range. However, search results can be listed by date. If you are a paying member of the KB, you also have access to the PICA database.

 site:kb.nl "Aanvraaginfo: uitleenbaar" "Jaar: 1861"

is a Google query that may lead to a list of books that can be checked out from the KB.

Most Dutch university libraries do not lend books published before 1900 (The exception is the University of Leiden). This leaves us with a rather small window of books that can be obtained through this channel. Some libraries allow you to copy older works, or bring in a scanner connected to your lap-top.

If you are a university graduate, you can often get a card for your university library a relatively low amount. Then ask for access to Picarta (which requires a 11 euro deposit for the ILL system), so you can search all Dutch university libraries at once.

At Your Grandparents

Most books printed before 1923 are either family heirlooms or bought second hand, but there may be real treasures in attics of older relatives. Just raise the subject at a family reunion.

Queen's Birthday

(Good Lord, how will you explain this?)

The Queen's Birthday (actually the now deceased Queen-Mother's birthday) is a collective garage sale, called the free market, where literally hundred thousands of people clear out their attics and offer whatever's in them for sale. It takes places on 30 April each year, except when that happens to be a Sunday: Then it is moved to 29 April. Streets will be extremely crowded.

Go to the free market twice: very early, just after opening, to get the good deals before professional traders buy them, and just before closing, when people often leave their stuff for the municipal waste department, and can be picked up for free.

On-line Markets

Such as Ebay and other online auctions or classified advertisments.

A lot of works are offered for sale for relatively low prices on such sites.

• http://www.marktplaats.nl/ Currently the biggest offering of books, prices vary a lot, so it makes sense to compare prices. You can use its non-binding bidding system, but keep in mind it is fairly simple to rig. A lot of second hand book dealers use this as well.
• http://www.speurders.nl/
• http://www.2dehands.nl/

Auctions

• Lost & Found (for instance, Schiphol clears out its Lost & Found now and again)
• bankruptcies
• estates (this year, Boudewijn Buch's estate was sold)

Strategies

My experience, as might be expected, is that the sellers that take books less seriously are often cheaper. It does pay however, to also check out the antiquariaten. As a rule they may find that everything older than 1920 is an "antique", and therefor priceless, they do often have a list of books that no-one will buy anyway and that they therefor will sell cheaply.

Pricing

Whatever you are willing to pay for a book is what counts in the end. There are volunteers who are willing to pay hundreds of euros for a set in mint condition, and there are those who will never pay more than 50 cents for any given item.

Keep in mind that "gratis" is also an option. (Under Locations you will find several places where you can access books for free.)