Thorvald Boeck

Thorvald Olaf Boeck (August 15, 1835 – April 21, 1901) was a Norwegian jurist, civil servant, and book collector. He is known for assembling what was the largest private library of its time in Norway.

Book collection Boeck acquired his first book at the age of nine. He received his examen artium in 1854 from Heltberg High School and his candidate of law degree in 1860 from Royal Frederick University. At that time, he had collected 2,000 books and had worked for a few years as a stipendiary magistrate in Namdalen before returning to his native Kristiania and a new job as a copying clerk at the Ministry of Church and Education in 1863. In 1864 he won the H.R.H. Crown Prince Gold Medal for a thesis on prices of wood and fish. In 1874 Boeck was promoted to royal envoy. He headed the Oslo Workers' Society from 1877 to 1879, and he chaired the "flag meeting" on March 13, 1879, where the participants considered a new tricolor flag as proposed by Hagbard Emanuel Berner.

After marrying in 1866, Boeck relocated to a larger detached residence at Professor Dahls gate (Professor Dahl Street) no. 29, where he had room for his large book collection. However, space was limited, and he sold 754 volumes to the National Library of Iceland. The sculptor and painter Dagfin Werenskiold (1892–1977) married Boeck's granddaughter Elisabeth Mathilde Schram (1897–1989).

Legacy In the National Gallery there is a painting by Harriet Backer portraying Boeck's private library in 1902.