De Librije van de Walburgiskerk

The Librije is a chain library from 1561. The library is located in the Walburgiskerk at the 's-Gravenhof and was used for a long time as a public reading room for the faithful. The purpose of the library was to help people keep the "true faith" by getting them to read good books. It is one of the few chain libraries still in existence. The book collection in Zutphen consists of 750 old books. Several books are chained to the age-old lectrines. Some of the books in the collection date from the first period of printing. These are called incunables. These books are from the second half of the fifteenth century. Many books are the only surviving copy of an edition. For example, you will find the first edition of Nicolaas Copernicus's 'De revolutionibus orbium coelestium'. In 2008 a catalog was placed in the library, on which it took ten years. This has made it much easier to find a particular book.