Special Libraries

Many important catalogues of special classes of mss. and im. portant single volumes have been published in facsimile. A new catalogue of the printed books was made in 1927-29 to make easily available the library's rich treasures. This catalogue, made possible by the aid of the Carnegie Endowment, was worked out mainly according to the code of the American Library Associa tion by four Vatican librarians and four American librarians.

Other Roman Libraries.

The most important library in Italy for modern requirements is the Nazionale Centrale Vittorio Emanuele (495,000 vols., 300,00o pamphlets and 5,223 mss.). This contains the biblioteca maior o secreta of the Jesuit college of Rome and the cloister libraries of the Provincia Romana, and has the right to copies of new Italian books. Noteworthy among the mss. are the Farfensi and the Sessoriani of Santa Croce in Jerusalem, some of these last being of the 6th to the 8th cen turies. The library was reorganized in 1910. It is rich in the renaissance, in Roman topography, and generally in books of ref erence and in journals. A monthly Bollettino is issued of modern foreign literature received by the libraries of Italy. The library acts as the central bureau of bibliographical information for Italy.

The Biblioteca Casanatense, founded by Cardinal Casanate in 1698 (131,778 printed vols., 2,086 incunabula, with many Roman and Venetian editions, and 6,124 mss., some of the 8th–ioth centuries), is rich in theology, mediaeval history, law and the social sciences. An incomplete catalogue of the printed books by A. Audiffredi (1761-88) still remains a model.

The Biblioteca Angelica, founded in 1614 by Angelo Rocca (120,00o printed vols. and 3,00o mss.) was the first library in Rome to be opened to the public. The library of the University of Rome is the Alessandrina, founded by Alexander VII. in 1661, with the greater part of the printed books belonging to the dukes of Urbino, and opened in 1676. In 1815 Pius VII. granted to it the right to receive a copy of every book printed in the States of the Church, which grant was continued by Italian law but limited to the province of Rome. The library possesses 200,00o printed books.

The library of the Senate, established at Turin in 1848, contains 130,289 vols. rich in the history and statutes of Italian cities. That of the Chamber of Deputies (1848) contains 250,00o vols., and specializes in more modern history, law and politics. The

Vallicelliana (1581), controlled by the R. Society Romana di Storia Patria has some important mss., including one attributed to Alcuin; the Lancisiana (17i I), is valuable for its medical col lections; the Accademia di San Luca possesses a good art library; the Biblioteca Militare Centrale (1893) has ioo,000 printed vols. and 72,000 maps; and the Biblioteca della R. Accad. di S. Cecilia (1875), a musical collection of 15o,000 vols. and 6,000 mss.; the Corsiniana, founded by Clement XII., is rich in incunabula and prints, and, since 1884, belongs to the Accademia dei Lincei. The Deutsches Institut, Ecole Francaise and British and American Schools, and the International Institute of Agriculture may be mentioned. All these and many other Roman libraries are open, at least to advanced students.

Subiaco.

At Subiaco, about 4o m. from Rome, the Benedic tine monastery of Santa Scolastica has only 6,000 printed vols. and 400 mss., but it is remarkable as having been, in 1465, the first seat of typography in Italy, and students may inspect the series of Sweynheim and Pannartz's original editions preserved in their first home.

Florence.

The Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale of Florence, formed from the union of Magliabechi's library with the Palatina, is the largest after the Vittorio Emanuele at Rome. The Mag liabechiana became public in 1714, and in 1861 Palatina (formed by Ferdinand III., grand duke of Tuscany), was joined with it. It had long had a right to a copy of every work printed in Tus cany, a right maintained more rigorously since 186o. Since 187o the Nazionale receives, by law, a copy of every book published in the kingdom. Its monthly Bollettino is the current bibliography of the national literature. The mss. include the most important extant codici of Dante and later Italian poets and historians. The Galileo collection numbers 3o8 mss. Of the 25 mss. portolani, the oldest is dated 1417, and several seem to be the original charts executed for Sir Robert Dudley (duke of Northumberland) in the preparation of his Arcano del Mare. Amongst the early printed books is a great number of i6th century Rappresentazioni, books printed on vellum, municipal histories and statutes, testi di lingua and maps. The library contains 750,000 printed vols., 22,207 mss., and 3,601 incunabula, besides prints and maps. A new building was completed on the Corso dei Tintori in 1929.