The value of books: Johann Philipp Breyne (1680–1764), Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778), and natural history libraries

Eighteenth-century private libraries played a fundamental role in shaping scientific inquiry and intellectual exchange, particularly in the field of natural history. This paper examines Johann Philipp Breyne’s Bibliotheca Breyniana in Gdańsk (Germ. Danzig) as a case study of how scholarly book collections functioned as both scientific resources and embodiment of various capitals. As an extensive library of lavish natural history volumes, the Bibliotheca Breyniana served not only as a repository of knowledge but also as an economic asset, embodying the period’s tension between knowledge as a common good among scholars and as a luxury commodity. Through an analysis of Breyne’s correspondence with Carl Linnaeus, the study also explores the circulation of books and ideas across the Baltic Sea, stressing the influence of Linnaean publications on Breyne’s bibliographic practices. Additionally, by assessing the auction records of the Bibliotheca Breyniana, the article investigates the economic and cultural value of scientific books, demonstrating their role in both advancing botanical scholarship and reflecting the status of their owners.