Collection Van de Weyer Albums - Van de Weyer Albums

The Van de Weyer albums of portraits, autographs and correspondence were given to the Old Library of Magdalene College by Mrs. Mary Van de Weyer in 1976. The albums were originally her husband’s, Sylvain Victor Bates Van de Weyer (1917-1976), Magdalene Alumnus and grandson of Lt.-Col Victor William Bates Van de Weyer (1839-1915), whose name appears on the armorial bookplates of four of the seven albums. The collection was accrued mostly by Victor William’s father, Jean Sylvain Van de Weyer (1802-1874), a known bibliophile of the Victorian era and Belgian lawyer and politician. To a lesser extent, Elizabeth Van de Weyer accrued some of the material for the collection. Many autograph letters were obtained due to Sylvain Van de Weyer’s responsibility for procuring passage to Belgium for UK citizens. However, Sylvain van de Weyer was a notable bibliophile in his day and therefore it is likely that other items in the collection were purchased by him, or given to him as gifts. Some of the autograph letters are addressed to Elizabeth Van de Weyer, and evidently she collected prints in her own right (see letter from Jared Sparks, album 7/f.31r).
None of items in the collection post-date Van de Weyer's death, however the later albums are bound in a smaller format and some items within the albums are loose, so it is unclear whether these were arranged by Sylvain Van de Weyer himself, by Elizabeth van de Weyer (d.1878) or by one of their descendants before being donated to Magdalene College.
Some of the autographs of the most prominent figures listed in the albums have been removed prior to the collection's transfer to Magdalene College.