Charles Van Hulthem

Charles Joseph Emmanuel van Hulthem (17 April 1764 – 16 December 1832) was a bibliophile from the Low Countries whose collection of books provided the first kernel of the Royal Library of Belgium.

Life Charles was born in Ghent in the County of Flanders (Austrian Netherlands) on 17 April 1764, the youngest of the nine children of Joseph-François van Hulthem and Isabelle vander Beke. He lost his father when still small, and was educated in the Augustinian College and the Collège Royal in Ghent. After finishing his secondary education he was sent to Lille to be trained in commerce, but after 15 months he begged his uncles to send him to university, and was allowed to matriculate at Leuven University. He graduated Bachelor of Law in 1788. As a student he had spent the vacations travelling to libraries, and had got to know Jean-Noël Paquot, whose manuscripts he would acquire in 1812. He was also president of the Royal Agricultural and Botanical Society of Ghent.

During the Belgian Revolution of 1830, his house in Brussels was on the front lines and his considerable collection of books, medals and antiquities was severely damaged. He died in Ghent on 16 December 1832. Bibliotheca Hulthemiana ou Catalogue méthodique de la riche et précieuse collection de livres et des manuscrits délaissés par Ch. Van Hulthem, vol. 2: Sciences et arts (suite). Belles-lettres (Ghent, J. Poelman, 1836). Bibliotheca Hulthemiana ou Catalogue méthodique de la riche et précieuse collection de livres et des manuscrits délaissés par Ch. Van Hulthem, vol. 3: Histoire (Ghent, J. Poelman, 1836). Bibliotheca Hulthemiana ou Catalogue méthodique de la riche et précieuse collection de livres et des manuscrits délaissés par Ch. Van Hulthem, vol. 4: Histoire, sciences, arts et littérature des Pays-Bas (Ghent, J. Poelman, 1836). Bibliotheca Hulthemiana ou Catalogue méthodique de la riche et précieuse collection de livres et des manuscrits délaissés par Ch. Van Hulthem, vol. 5: Supplément (Ghent, J. Poelman, 1837).