Johannes Tiberius Bodel Nijenhuis was born in Amsterdam in 1797 but moved to Leiden after the death of his mother in 1799, where he was raised by his grandfather Johannes Luchtmans, owner of the renowned publishing house Luchtmans. Bodel Nijenhuis studied law at Leiden University and published his thesis in 1819 on the history of law regarding publishing and book trading (published in Latin but translated and published in Dutch in 1892). He became the co-owner of Luchtmans publishing firm and bookstore in 1821 but decided in 1848 to dissolve the firm, leaving the publishing house to E.J. Brill, and concentrate himself on his collecting activities. Bodel Nijenhuis played an important role in the cultural life in Leiden in the mid-nineteenth century. He was a member of the Maatschappij der Nederlandse Letterkunde and, from 1839 onwards, its secretary. He also published some bibliographic studies such as a catalogue of the library of the Maatschappij der Nederlandse Letterkunde (J.T. Bodel Nijenhuis & H.W. Tydeman, Catalogus der bibliotheek van de Maatschappij der Nederlandsche Letterkunde te Leiden, 1829) and a catalogue of topographical publications (J.T. Bodel Nijenhuis, Topographische lijst der plaatsbeschrijvingen van het Koningrijk der Nederlanden, 1862; 1868).