UCL SSEES Library

The Library has collected books about Finland on a small scale since before the Second World War, but the planned and vigorous development of the collection on Finland and the historic Finnish area dates from the early 1970s when the teaching of Finnish became established in the School. In addition to sustaining undergraduate teaching, the collection, comprising some 7,500 books and pamphlets, is sufficiently strong to support research in Finnish history, language, literature and oral tradition. Books in this section have the classmark F.

Especially noteworthy are the sets of Suomen kansan vanhat runot, 33 vols., Helsinki, 1908-50, and supplement, the standard collection of Finnish folk poetry, and the history of Finnish literature, Suomen kirjallisuus, 8 vols., Helsinki, 1963-70, with its companion anthology, Suomen kirjallisuuden antologia, 8 vols., Helsinki, 1963-75. The oldest Finnish book in the Library is a copy of the first Finnish grammar, Linguae finnicae brevis institutio by Eskil Petraeus, Åbo, 1649; this belongs to the Marsden Collection. Among serial publications are almost complete runs of Historiallinen aikakauskirja, Helsinki, 1903-, Historisk tidskrift för Finland, Helsinki, 1916-, Skrifter utgivna av Svenska litteratursällskapet i Finland, Helsingfors, 1886- , many volumes of Virittäjä, Helsinki, 1883, 1886, 1897-, and Tulenkantajat, Helsinki, 1928-30.

Books on Finland are shelved on the Lower Ground Floor of the Library, as are periodicals, although some older volumes are in store.

Library staff also maintain a page of Internet resources on Finland.

This page last modified Monday 3 December 2007.