From Zanzibar to Leiden

This is the story of the huge eye-catcher glass-fronted walnut bookcase in the library of the Netherlands Institute for the Near East (NINO) and its contents. In this picture the bookcase still shines in all its glory with its fill of wonderful books, documents, astonishing clippings and notes and other unexpected miscellanea. Just like many booklovers before me, I admire its robustness and the wisdom locked up within its wood and glass. Where did this story start? Was it with the birth of the name-giver of the bookcase, the Omani-Zanzibar princess Seyyidah Salme (1844-1924) in Zanzibar? Or did it start with the birth of the collector of its contents, her son Rudolph Said-Ruete (1869-1946)? And what treasures are hidden within?