ABSTRACT
Ferdinand van der Haeghen (Ghent 1830-1913) was chief librarian of Ghent University from 1869 to 1911. He is almost forgotten nowadays, but he was a highly respected scholar and bibliographer in his own lifetime. As the son of a publisher, he was acquainted with books and their world and had the special talent of patience and preciseness only cataloguers have. On 5 December 1893 Ferdinand van der Haeghen presented his idea for the creation of a Catalogue des catalogues to the Classe des Lettres of the Royal Academy in a meeting in Brussels. His idea was that all European libraries holding major collections should publish their catalogues. For Ferdinand van der Haeghen and Paul Otlet the years between 1893 and 1896 were a crucial period. The first saw his brilliant but realistic ideas rejected; the second succeeded in creating his project on an international scale but on unstable foundations.
