Looking back

The history of the Library of Commerce

The Library of Commerce was established in 1735 by the Commercial Deputation, which later became the Chamber of Commerce, with the aim of collecting the necessary literature to train and foster the learning of businessmen and to make these works available to the public.

The goal at the time was to increase the knowledge of merchants and traders and to promote business activity. What developed as a result over the centuries is one of the most valuable collections of books in Hamburg – a resource that has always been of great interest not only to businessmen, but also to students, researchers and scholars.

Despite considerable losses in the Second World War (from a total of around 200,000 volumes, only 14,000 survived), the Library of Commerce now holds roughly the same number of items as before the 1940s, and it has become a highly popular economics and law library.

More information about the Library of Commerce can be found in the books 250 Jahre Commerzbibliothek der Handelskammer Hamburg and 275 Jahre Commerzbibliothek.