c/o Collegium Augustinianum Gaesdonck
Gaesdoncker Straße 220
47574 Goch

Phone: +49 2823 961-0
Fax: +49 2823 961-100

E-Mail: poststelle@gaesdonck.de
Internet: https://www.gaesdonck.de/

Library abbreviation: Gk1 = Y9072

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On the Gaesdonck, a former Augustinian choir monastery founded around 1400 right on the Dutch border, the largest part of the important library remained in place even after the abolition of the monastery in 1802, because the canons had succeeded in privately acquiring the church and monastery building including inventory. Some of the books, however, were lost between their abolition and repurchase; others, which were intended for the Cologne Central School, are still mostly on the spot. A number of manuscripts came to the Königliche Bibliothek in Berlin, today's State Library. However, the collection also grew by at least 500 volumes, which came from other Lower Rhine monasteries to Gaesdonck, and by old book collections, which acquired the "Hülfspriesterseminar" of the diocese of Münster, established in 1828, as well as the Gymnasium following it in 1849. The approximately 6,000 volumes available today include 21 medieval manuscripts and about 150 incunabula. However, the focus of the collection is clearly on the 16th and 17th centuries. Certainly, it is influenced by theology, which is well represented across all disciplines and contains not only Latin but also French and also some Dutch titles; the inconspicuous but in Germany rare French and Dutch edification literature of the 17th and 18th centuries deserves special attention. Especially remarkable are the music prints. There is no agreement about their relation to the Augustinerchorherrenkloster, but there is even more about their rarity: 51 of 134 voice books are considered unique copies and another 23 are unique copies of this edition.
From: Beßelmann, Karl-Ferdinand: Alte Bücher - neu geschätzt. Köln 1998

From 2009 to 2011, the Diocesan Library of Münster catalogued and re-signed the library of Gaesdonck once again. This second catalogue is accessible via the pages of the Diocesan Library of Münster.

Literature (in German):

Hermes, Franz ; Beßelmann, Karl-Ferdinand: Bibliotheca domus presbyterorum Gaesdonck. In: Handbuch der historischen Buchbestände in Deutschland. Bd. 3, S. 335-339