Buying and Borrowing Books: Book Consumption In Late Nineteenth-Century Sweden

Who read what in the late nineteenth century Swedish society? What books were available in the bookshops and the libraries, and what books were the most popular? This study aims to offer preliminary answers to questions like these, based on sales’ and borrowers’ ledgers from three of the most common types of literary institutions of the time; a parish library, a bookshop, and a commercial lending library. By the end of the nineteenth century, a dynamic book market was developing in Sweden, where almost everyone could access books in one way or another. The reading public was largely divided into two groups: those who borrowed books and those who bought them. Different institutions catered to different sections of society and the dividing line between the urban and rural areas was significant. This study shows that different sub-groups of readers had different literary preferences. Contemporary writers were popular among the well-educated customers, while the labourers and farmers preferred the writings of an earlier generation of authors, such as Victor Hugo and Alexandre Dumas. Men and women also seemed to favour different genres with men preferring adventure stories, while women readers preferred “tendency novels” and books concerning women’s emancipation. This study of surviving ledgers and receipts from the parish library in Munka-Ljungby, Gumpert’s bookshop in Gothenburg, and Sjöblom’s commercial lending library in Lund reveals interesting patterns of book consumption in nineteenth-century Sweden, as well as how readers’ literary tastes changed over time