Emil Hasselblatt

Born in Oulu on December 3, 1874, and later active in Helsinki, Emil Alarik Hasselblatt built a long career around books and literary culture. Swedish-language reference sources describe him as a Finland-Swedish literary critic and translator, and note that he studied at the University of Helsinki before serving for decades at the university library.

Around the turn of the 20th century, he contributed theater and literary criticism to cultural journals, while also taking on major bibliographic and library work. Reference entries and archival sources note that he eventually became senior sub-librarian at the Helsinki University Library and remained closely tied to the institution for most of his working life.

Hasselblatt also wrote and translated literature, and he is associated with early detective fiction in Swedish in Finland, including work connected with Herr Corpwieth, gentleman-detektiv. He died in Helsinki on October 24, 1954.