Dutch Queen Sophie's books
In some of the copies of George Sand's writings, owned by Queen Sophie, we found traces of her reading: not only her own name written down, but also pencil lines traced along certain passages. The director of the Dutch Royal Archives assures that these lines are by the Queen herself, nobody having had access to her books since she died. Knowing about her unhappy marriage it is heart-breaking to see which fragments of novels by George Sand had touched her.
A biography of the Queen as a reader will be important for a complete understanding of her personality. Haasse and Jackman apparently have not used the books of her private library, which should be studied in relation to egodocuments: comments in her (huge, but incomplete because partially burned) correspondence, and to fragments she copied in her copy-books. She seems to have copied in particular passages where her own difficulties are reflected.
Bibliography:
- Hella S. Haase and S.W. Jackman, Een vreemdelinge in Den Haag. Uit de brieven van Koningin Sophie der Nederlanden aan Lady Mallet. Amsterdam, 1984.
SvD, September 2007
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- Sources > Dutch sources > Egodocuments > Books owned by the Dutch Queen Sophie