Persson and Nilsson: Two reading neighbours in southern Sweden in the late nineteenth century

Abstract

<p>During the late nineteenth century two neighbouring peasants, Anders Nilsson and Johannes Persson, lived in the small village of Kroppåkra in southern Sweden. They were both landowning peasants, both were married men and had several children. What is more, they were both members of the local parochial library. The library was established in 1859 on a local initiative, and was jointly owned by the members. The library consisted of a few hundred volumes, mainly pedagogic and religious writings, but also fiction and travelogues. One of the library members, a farmhand, was appointed librarian.</p>

<p>In Sweden, over one thousand parochial libraries were established in the course of the second half of the nineteenth century. They were intended to offer members of the general public access to appropriate literature and to supplement the elementary public schools. The great majority of the Swedish population lived in the countryside, and since the book trade was concentrated to the cities, the parochial libraries constituted more or less the only means for them to access books. What makes the parochial library in Munka-Ljungby remarkable is the fact that the library’s archive has been preserved, which provides an unique opportunity to study reading habits. We can trace the history of the library through the minutes of proceedings, and the preserved borrowers’ catalogues, covering the years 1870–88 and listing over 20,000 loans, allow us to trace literary preferences on the level of an individual reader.</p>

<p>Persson and Nilsson were two of the library’s most active and long-standing members. In the course of the 1870s and 1880s they borrowed over 300 books each, and they preferred books of entirely different character. This paper explores the reading habits of the two neighbours and furthermore provides an insight into the literary culture of a small rural community and discusses issues such as literacy, education, and democratisation.</p>