Prof. Petrus van Limburg Brouwer (1795–1847)

Also professor of Greek, Roman antiquities, and general history. Van Limburg Brouwer started his job by executing an elaborate survey of the entire library collection, resulting in several supplements to the existing catalogues. He also managed to pay off the debts which his predecessor had run up and to replace missing books. However, there wasn’t much room for new acquisitions and quite a few books had to be rebound — a costly affair. In 1844, for the first time (!) an academic assistant was appointed to support the librarian in his duties. Van Limburg Brouwer was only 51 years old when he died, but he had managed to halt the deterioration which characterised Van Eerde’s time in office.