How to find letters

We have letters to and from significant cultural figures in Denmark and in some cases also from abroad. We have digitised some, others you must view in our reading room.

A selection of letters which Regine Olsen wrote to her sister from Sct. Croix in the years 1855-1860

Photo: Det Kgl. Bibliotek

Search for digitised letters

You can find letters digitally in several places.

You will find printed letter publications in our text portal under Danmarks Breve. The portal is in Danish, so search for "Titel & forfatter" ("Title & author") if you know the sender of the letter you are looking for, or search for "Anden person" ("Other person") if you know the recipient.

You can also search for letters in digital collections. Search for "brev" ("letter") and sender or recipient.

Search for letters in our physical collections

Letters can be found in many parts of our collections. Start your search in our library system. A good tip is to use advanced search. Here you can select "Recipient" as search filter. If you are looking for a letter writer, use the "Authors/Creators" search filter.

Trouble finding what you were looking for?

You are welcome to contact us if you have difficulty finding letters, so we can help you.

We are currently converting our letter database based on the manuscript collection's catalogue of letter writers and letter recipients. The letter base has for many years been the best way to search for letters. Therefore, you may find that it is currently more difficult than before to search for letters. At the same time, we are expanding the number of entries in the letter base by approximately 25% by including the contents of a number of indexes.