As we approach the New Year, we are featuring some old-but-new books in the RSSC Center’s collection. They are “old” because they have been here in the library for many years, and more obviously, because they were published in the mid-1800s. Yet they are “new” to us because during our recent move, we discovered them amongst materials belonging to our longtime partners, the Scott County Iowa Genealogical Society (SCIGS), and also because they give us fresh information about the reading lives of 19th-century Davenporters.
The titles of our three “new” books are: Bilder aus dem Soldatenleben im Kriege by F. W. Hackländer (Stuttgart: Krabbe, 1860), Der Schwarze Zwerg by Sir Walter Scott (Stuttgart: Hoffmann, 185?), and Die Courtisane by Alexandre Dumas fils, (Grimma, Leipzig: Verlags-Comptoirs, 1851). All are in German, though students of literature will recognize a Scottish and a French author’s works in translation.
German author F. W. Hackländer’s work (translating to “Scenes from the Life of Soldiers During War”) bears one label for “Berwald’s Leihbibliothek,” (Berwald’s Lending Library) on the inside front cover and another for “Berwald’s Deutsche Leihbibliothek” (Berwald’s German Lending Library) on the series title page.
The 1861 Davenport city directory tells us that an Edward Berwald was the proprietor of a German Circlulating Library (and grocery) on 2nd Street:
This advertisement for the library appeared in a September 1862 edition of Davenport’s German-language newspaper Die Wochentliche Demokrat (The Weekly Democrat).
The image below belonged to Edward Berwald’s son, John George, who took over the business when his father passed away in 1874. In the July 17, 1924 edition of the Davenport Democrat and Leader, he shared this photograph of the Leihbibliothek in 1870, when it was located at 409 West 2nd Street. He and his father are shown in the doorway of the building, though the quality of the reproduction makes it difficult to tell!
The image caption says the Berwalds’ library had 4,000 volumes, including “the classics of German literature.” For a prepaid 25 cents a month, “a subscriber could read all the books he wished.” A book had to be returned and exchanged for another within 8 days, books were expected to be handled carefully, damaged or lost books had to be replaced, and a security deposit of $1.00 was required.
Because of their similar bindings, labeling, numbering, and size, we believe the other two volumes in the SCIGS collection, Sir Walter Scott’s The Black Dwarf and Alexandre Dumas fils’ The Courtesan (aka La Dame aux Camélias/The Lady of the Camellias) were also part of this German-language library.
Here’s to reading more of the “old” in the New Year! Happy 2026 from Special Collections!
(posted by Katie)
