Datum: 2011, 26 August

End of 2011, the Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica (BPH) was closed due to a serious conflict between the founder, mr J.R. Ritman, and the Friesland Bank.
After months of negotations, the situation now seems to be the following:

• The part of the collection that had earlier been bought by the State of the Netherlands was moved to the Royal Library in the Hague, where it is accessible for scholars but obviously no longer integrated within the BPH. 
• The highly valuable collection of ca. 300 incunables will be sold at auction by Sotheby's. 
• The large part of the collection that had been held in custody by the Friesland Bank (ca. 4000 old printed books before 1900, 400 manuscripts after 1550, 18.000 printed works after 1900) has been bought back by Mr. Ritman.

At present, it is not yet known what the next step(s) will be towards a hoped-for restoration of library and its public service for scholars and the larger public.

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