Abstract
The late Bjarne Kroepelien was a great collector of books and other printed material from the Polynesia, and specifically Tahiti. Kroepelien stayed at Tahiti for about one year in 1918 and 1919. His collection, called "The Kroepelien collection" or Bibliotheca Polynesiana is a very valuable collection of literature from and about the Pacific and related areas. The collection consists of about 4500 numbered objects; most of these are printed material. Many objects in the collection are extremely rare; they are either old, or printed in very limited copies, where the objects in this collection are the only known surviving copies. The collection contains some of the first printed material issued in the Pacific. By far, the most rare and valuable object in the collection is the journal Le Sourire by Paul Gauguin.
The collection was acquired by the Oslo University Library in 1973. The most important parts, around one third, of the collection were thoroughly catalogued and commented by Rolf du Rietz in 1969. The remaining part of the collection is not available in any of the catalogues of the Oslo University Library, and the catalogue of the Kon-Tiki Museums library is only available locally. For a long time it has, therefore, been a need for a catalogue of this unique collection.
The hope is that this complete catalogue might be useful for everyone interested in literature about Polynesia from the early ages until the 1960s when this collection ends.
- Download the pdf of Catalogue of the "Kroepelien collection" or "Bibliotheca Polynesiana" (pdf)