The building is not all the visitors were impressed by. All of them spoke of the museum’s
collections in the highest terms - the instrument collection above all was singled out for
praise. The German explorer Johann Georg Forster - who travelled with his teacher Jeremías
David Reuss and his young and soon-to-be-famous friend Alexander von Humboldt - was led
around the museum by van Marum himself, and recorded how he and his companions had
seen “the library, a collection of prints, an incomparable assembly of physical instruments and
an already very substantial and beautiful natural history cabinet.”165 To quote just a few
others, Sierstorpff described how “[A]ll shelves are full of the best and most expensive
physical instruments”, and the books were “all arranged in the finest bindings”; Niemeyer
wrote of the “most exquisite minerals“ and “all kinds of the most valuable physical
instruments”.1 6
It is also interesting to see how the collections’ gradual expansion is reflected in these travel
reports. The anonymous Englishman who visited in 1786 for instance pointed out that “the
library indeed seems quite in its infancy”.167 The German author Sophie LaRoche, who
published a description of the Netherlands in 1788, summarised that Haarlem would “soon”
attract scholars and strangers thirsty for knowledge”, once what she wrongly thought was
Teyler’s last will and testament had been fully implemented.168 Two years later, while van
Marum was still in England buying as many instruments as he could, another German author,
Nina d’Aubigny von Engelbrunner, recorded in her travel diary that “[tjhis institute is far
from completed”.169
Almost ironically, many of the visitors were as critical of the museum’s and its collections’
splendour as they were impressed by it. Initially their surprise at the wealth they encountered
appears to have been expressed by repeating what they heard about Pieter Teyler being stingy
and greedy.170 As time progressed, however, the Foundation itself was increasingly chided for
its financial policies. Forster for instance wrote:
The executors of this estate could undoubtedly, if they were inspired by true zeal for science,
spend even larger amounts of money in the spirit of the founder without having to worry to
find themselves lacking in funds, or even exhausting the annual interest of the enormous
schön meublirt und reich verziert“; Bemerkungen a u f einer Reise nach Holland im Jahre 1790; Sierstorpff,
Bemerkungen a u f einer Reise durch die Niederlande nach Paris im eilften Jahre der großen Republik, 2:557.
“die Bibliothek, eine Kupferstichsammlung, einen unvergleichlichen Apparat von physikalischen
Instrumenten und ein bereits sehr ansehnliches und prächtiges Naturalienkabinet.” Georg Forster, Ansichten vom
Niederrhein, von Brabant, Flandern, Holland, England und Frankreich im April, Mai und Junius 1790, vol. 9,
Georg Forsters Werke (Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, 1958), 325.
“Alle Schränke stehen voll der besten und theuersten physikalischen Instrumente“; “alle in den prächtigsten
Einbänden aufgestellt“; “ausgesuchtesten Exemplare der Mineralien“; “kostbarsten physikalischen Instrumenten
aller Art“. Sierstorpff, Bemerkungen a u f einer Reise durch die Niederlande nach Paris im eilften Jahre der
großen Republik, 2:558 & 560; Niemeyer, Beobachtungen a u f Reisen in und außer Deutschland, 3:151.
An Entertaining Tour, Containing a Variety o f Incidents and Adventures, in a Journey through Part of
Flanders, Germany & Holland, 243.
168 “Gelehrte und wißbegierige Fremde”; Sophie La Roche, Tagebuch einer Reise durch Holland und England
(Offenbach: Ulrich Weiß & Carl Ludwig Brede, 1788), 108.
169 “Dit hele instituut is alles behalve a f ’; Nina d’Aubigny von Engelbrunner, “Niet zo erg Hollands": dagboek
van een reis naar Nederland (1790-1791) (Hilversum: Verloren, 2001), 72.
170 See chapter 2.
capital. But when there is such an amount of money, the temptation to multiply and
accumulate is difficult to resist”.1
He might have been repeating what he had heard from the museum’s director — although van
Marum would in actual fact have had little to complain about in this year — but thirteen years
later Sierstorpff did not get to meet van Marum, and still concluded that the Foundation was
not spending its money sensibly. As he put it:
“Incidentally this institute is a rare example that in some cases overly large expenditures can
become a disadvantage. The annual income of this museum is supposed to be so large, that,
although the trustees, stewards, [as well as] more mechanics and similar people receive very
generous salaries, one is often at a loss as to how to spend the money appropriately!!
The two exclamation marks emphasise his indignation, which he summed up in the following,
scathing way: “Thousands are wasted here on things, which would have been more useful and
practical if they had cost at most one tenth”.173 Sierstorpff s judgement is all the more striking
because he came to the museum full of enthusiasm. Perhaps he was put off by the way he had
been treated by van Marum. Yet his sentiments were echoed by the Dutch author Margaretha
Jacoba de Neufville, who visited Teylers Museum in July 1812. She was taken with what she
saw, but complained that she would have enjoyed it even more and even spent a few days at
the museum
“if for an ignorant visitor like myself, there would be more opportunity to receive some
instruction concerning the various objects that one sees, but this is lacking entirely.
She found it frustrating that
“even the books one can see externally and touch through a fairly dense lattice , but apart
from the title on the spine one cannot read anything, because the cupboards in which they
stand are closed, and the steward who accompanies you hasn’t got the key.”
171 “Die Administratoren dieses Vermächtnisses könnten ohne Zweifel, wenn wahrer Eifer um die Wissenschaft
sie beseelte, noch weit größere Ausgaben in dem Geiste des Stifters bestreiten, ohne Besorgniß, sich von Mittehi
entblößt zu sehen, oder auch nur die jährlichen Zinsen des ungeheuren Kapitals zu erschöpfen. Allein die
Versuchung bei einer solchen Geldmasse ist zu groß zum Vermehren und Anhäufen, als daß man ihr widerstehen
könnte“. Förster, Ansichten vom Niederrhein, von Brabant, Flandern, Holland, England und Frankreich im
April, Mai und Junius 7790,9:325-326.
“Uebrigens ist dieses Institut ein seltenes Beyspiel, dass auch gewissen Dingen eine zu grosse
Kostenverwendung nachtheilig werden kann. Es soll die jährliche Einnahme dieses Museums so beträchtlich
seyn, dass, obgleich die Directoren, Aufseher, mehr Mechaniker und dergleichen Leute sehr ansehnliche
Besoldungen davon gemessen, man oft verlegen ist, das Geld zweckmässig anzubringen!! Sierstorpff,
Bemerkungen a u f einer Reise durch die Niederlande nach Paris im eilften Jahre der großen Republik, 2:562.
173 “Tausende werden hier für Dinge verschwendet, welche nützlicher und brauchbarer seyn möchten, wenn sie
höchstens den zehnten Theil gekostet hätten“. Ibid., 2:558—559.
174 “indien er voor een onkundigen bezigtiger zoo als ik, beter gelegenheid wäre om eenig onderrigt aangaande
de verschillende voorwerpen welke men ziet, te bekomen, maar hier aan ontbreekt het geheel. Margaretha
Jacoba de Neufville, De kleine pligten: eene oorspronkelijke zedelijke voorstelling in brieven uit het begin der
negentiende eeuw, vol. 3 (Amsterdam: P. den Hengst en zoon, 1824), 175. I am gratefül to Geert-Jan Janse for
drawing my attention to this publication.