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Seen from abroad, Sweden is a land of contrasts. Although it was one of the great powers of Europe during the stormaktstid("Age of Greatness"), which lasted from 1611–1721, Sweden has not taken part in a war since it fought against Napoleonic France in 1814. And while today Sweden has one of the most robust welfare systems in the world, this social safety net is financed from the taxes generated by an entrepreneurial, capitalist economy that can boast some of the most recognizable names in home furnishings, automobiles, pharmaceuticals, and telecommunications.
Geographically, Sweden is expansive: 173,860 square miles, somewhat larger than the state of California. In terms of its population, Sweden has over 10 million inhabitants, making it by far the most populous country in the Nordic region but less than half the size of the New York metropolitan area. Demographically, Sweden's population is the most diverse in the region, with longstanding communities of Finns and Saami, in addition to more recent arrivals from the Balkans and Middle East.
The Library of Congress has held books by Swedish authors since at least 1815, when President Thomas Jefferson sold to the Library his personal collection of 6,487 volumes. These include Du commerce de l'âme et du corps and A Treatise on the Nature of Influx, or, Of the Intercourse between the Soul and Body, French and English translations of the renowned Swedish mystic Emmanuel Swedenborg's Latin treatise De commercio animae et corporis; and A Dissertation on the Sexes of Plants and Reflections on the Study of Nature, translations, respectively, of Disquisitio de sexu plantarum and of the preface to Museum . . . Adolphi Friderici, Regis Suecorum, both by the great Swedish botanist Carl von Linné, better known as Linneaus.
The Library's collections of monographs, bound periodicals, and annuals include over 120,000 titles from or about Sweden. The total number of volumes is estimated at between 165,000 and 175,000, as many of the individual titles are multi-volume. These materials cover all disciplines of the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences, with particular strengths in history, language, and literature. More than 75 percent of these materials are in Swedish. Fifteen percent are in English, 2 percent in German, 1 percent in other Nordic languages, and nearly 1 percent in French. In addition, works in Dutch, Latin, Italian, Russian, and Polish account for at least 100 titles each, with smaller numbers in more than twenty other languages. During the late 1990s, the Library averaged annual receipts of approximately 1,250 monographic titles: 1,000 titles from Sweden, 50 Sweden-related titles published in the United States, and 200 Sweden-related titles published outside Sweden or the United States. From the year 2000 to the present day, the Library has received an annual average of almost 800 titles from Sweden, around 15 titles about Sweden published in the U.S., and roughly 25 titles about Sweden published outside of Sweden or the U.S. This means that the Library has received a yearly average approaching 850 titles from or about Sweden in the 2000s.
The example of the Library's items related to Queen Christina, ruler of Sweden from 1632 to 1654, serve to illustrate the variety and richness of the Library's Swedish collections. The Library has approximately 150 works in nine languages relating to her life, including monographs, plays, children's books, historical novels, and special material items. Among these works are:
