Image: John Browne, Myographia nova sive
Musculorum omnium [...] accuratissima descriptio,
Amsterdam, Joannes Wolters, 1694
(Literature and Philosophy Library,
ANTICHI MEDSANNA 2535), c. [E]2r.
The collection includes almost the entirety of the oldest nucleus of the Sant'Anna Central Hospital of Ferrara's library collections, owned by the city's University Hospital and entrusted to the university in 1992 on loan for use and also for its promotion.
It is made up of over 3700 volumes, whose dates of publication range from the 15th to the 20th century, and it offers evidence of the development of medical science over the centuries, in particular in the Ferrara area.
There are numerous editions in the collection printed in Ferrara; these include not only important scientific works such as Febris china chinae expugnata by famous Ferrara doctor Francesco Maria Nigrisoli (Ferrara, Giglio, 1700), but also polemical texts, such as the Warnings and the Letter published by doctor Ignazio Vari under the pseudonym of "Castruccio Coppetta, barber at the Cona Villa" (Ferrara, 1754 and [after 1754]).
The many ownership notes on the pieces in the collection arguably highlight the areas of interest of the city's scholars: one that stands out is the name of the botanist and medical doctor Francesco Jachelli (died 1864), whose ex-libris is found in over 350 volumes, from De lacteis thoracicis in homine … by Thomas Bartholin (Utrecht, Dirck van Ackersdijck & Gijsbert van Zijll, 1654) to Osservazioni sopra le malattie di armata by John Pringle (Bassano, Remondini, 1781).
The collection is found in the Literature and Philosophy Library, in Palazzo Tassoni-Mirogli.
Owners of pieces in the collection
[organisations are preceded by *]
- *Academy of Sciences <Ferrara>: Library
- Agnelli, Giovanni Girolamo
- Albrizzi, Luigi
- *Andrea Nanni Publishing <Livorno>
- Angelini, Antonio
- Angelini, Domenico
- Angelini, Gaetano
- Angelini, Girolamo
- *Santa Maria Nuova Central Hospital <Florence>
- Baldassari, Luigi <doctor>
- Barbieri, Giuseppe Antonio
- Barioli, Anna
- Barotti, Giovanni Andrea
- Bassani Limentani, Lavinia
- Bennati, Carlo
- Berti, Antonio <doctor>
- Bertoni, Giorgio
- Bianchi, Iuri
- Bianconi, Nicola
- *San Marco Scientific Library
- *Bologna University Library
- Billing, Archibald
- Boari, Domenico
- Boari, Pietro
- Bonaccioli, Tommaso
- Bononi, Antonio Maria
- Bononi, Francesco
- Boschi, Gaetano
- Bosi, Luigi <1809-1883>
- Breventani, Ulisse
- Bruzza, Antonio Luigi
- Calcagnini, Carlo
- Calcagnini, Celio
- Calzolari, Ferdinando
- Capati, Eugenio
- *Capuchin Monastery <Ferrara>
- *Capuchin Monastery <Lugo>
- *Francesco Manuzzi Stationery and Bookbinding <Forlì>
- Casati, E.
- Casati, Emanuele
- Casati, Eugenio
- Casati, Luigi
- *Castagnetti, Elio
- Cavallari, Norma
- Cavicchi Cerchiari
- Chiappini, Edmondo
- Chiara, Domenico
- Cocchi, L.
- Collina, Domenico
- Colombo, Giuseppe <doctor>
- *Committee of Hospitals in Ferrara
- *Provincial Health Commission <Ferrara>
- Cozzolino, Vincenzo
- Crookshanks, Gavin
- Cuoghi, Quirino
- Delaunay, Augustine
- Dossani, Sigismondo
- Falchi, G.
- Farneti, Felice
- Ferraresi, Leopoldo
- Folchi, C.
- Folchi, Gaetano
- Folchi, P.
- *Fratelli Treves Booksellers <Bologna>
- *Gaetano Tobacconists <Ferrara>
- Gavassini, Girolamo
- *Jesuits <Ferrara>
- Giacchi, Oscar
- Giustini, Francesco
- Grillenzoni, Carlo <1814-1897>
- Grilli, Fabio
- *Italiana Laboratori Bouty
- Jachelli, Domenico
- Jachelli, Francesco
- Landi, Pasquale <1817-1895>
- Larghi, Bernardino
- La_Torre, Felice
- *Giovannoni Bookbinding
- *Librairie médicale et littéraire A. Maloine
- *Minerva Bookshop by Salmin brothers <Padua>
- *Detken & Rocholl Bookshop <Naples>
- *Marsigli e Rocchi Bookshop <Bologna>
- Longhi, Quirino
- Luccanelli, Francesco
- Lusci, Alessandro
- Maccanti, Antonio
- *Maccanti Armando
- Magni, Giuseppe
- Malvisi, Francesco Antonio
- *Mariano Foschi <Bologna>
- Marocco, Cesare
- Marotta, Arturo
- Massarenti, Carlo
- Mazzotti Biancinelli, Lodovico
- *Medizinische Buchhandlung Wilhelm Maudrich <Wien>
- Menini, Cesare
- Millot, Gabriel
- Minerbi, Cesare
- Miraglia, Biagio <1814-1885>
- Moggi, Andrea
- Morisani, Ottavio <1835-1914>
- Munster, Ladislao
- Murri, Augusto
- Muzzati
- Nigrisoli, Girolamo
- Nistri, Giovanni
- Novi, Alfredo
- *Orioli Antonio
- *Botanic Gardens <Ferrara>
- Ortolani, Marino
- *SS. Annunziata Civil Hospital <Cento>
- Pacchiotti, Giacinto
- Papacini, Simone
- Parola, Luigi <Chief Physician>
- Passega
- Perez, Giovanni <doctor>
- Peruzzi, Domenico
- Petrucci, Brizio
- Pianori
- Picca, Agostino
- Piermarini, Vito
- Poli, Gaetano
- Ravenna, Ferruccio
- *Cisalpine Republic <1797-1802>: Department of Olona: Prefecture 1183
- Scaramucci
- Scardua, Tiberio
- Schiatti, Ventura
- Sitta, Pietro
- Soranzo, Liaio
- Spadazzi, Cesare
- Spannocchi, Tito
- Stecchi, Lodovico
- Stecchi, Marc-Antoine
- Tamoni, Domenico
- *Pineda & Dolcetti bookbinding and typography, Ferrara
- Trabucco di Castagnetto, Cesare
- *Trombetta, Anna and daughters
- *University of Ferrara: Anatomy Institute
- *University of Ferrara: Botany Institute
- *University of Ferrara: History of Medicine Institute
- *University of Parma: Clinical Medicine Institute
- Vaccari, Ferdinando
- Vanghetti, Giuliano
- Vannoni, Pietro
- Vignali, Armando
- Visentin, Francesco
To find out more
The cultural heritage of Health Authorities in Emilia-Romagna: knowledge and promotion: proceedings from the seminar on 3rd March 2000, Bologna, Oratory of Santa Maria della Vita, edited by Graziano Campanini, Micaela Guarino, Gabriella Lippi, supplement to "IBC. Information, comments, investigations on cultural heritage" IX, 2001, no. 3.
Giuseppe Chinarelli, Sant'Anna Central Hospital of Ferrara through five centuries of history: 1440-1490: monograph, edited by Cesare Menini, Ferrara, Orlando Arlotti Foundation, 2003, pp. 105-106.
The Health Libraries, edited by Laura Cavazza and Zita Zanardi, report in "IBC. Information, comments, investigations on cultural heritage" XIII, 2005, no. 2.
Anna Bernabè, Protecting and enhancing our region's precious heritage, the case of the historical library collection of the Sant'Anna Central Hospital, entrusted to Unife, presentation at the Historical seminar on the topic of medical and pharmacological botany in Ferrara in the books of the Sant'Anna Central Hospital Collection. (Ferrara University Hospital and University of Ferrara, 13 December 2017).
Anna Bernabè,The historical library collection [at the Literature and Philosophy Library], in Stories of books and palaces. Tours of the Unife libraries, edited by Cristina Baldi and Paola Iannucci, Ferrara, UnifePress, 2021, pp. 286-289.
The collection is kept at the Literature and Philosophy Library.
The volumes that make up the collection are ineligible for external loans, but it is possible to consult them in the library, upon request, made by telephone (+39 0532 293417 - 293123), email or through the online catalogue.
Rules for consultation
Regulations for the activities and services of the University of Ferrara Libraries, art. 28
- The consultation of ancient or valuable documents must take place in a dedicated area, controlled by the library.
- Volumes that need restoring are excluded from consultation.
- Users can access only one document for consultation at a time, unless there is a proven need to compare it with other documents.
- Users must diligently comply with the following instructions:
- use the designated bookstands and other equipment in the room made available, in order to protect the documents;
- if the specialised staff consider it necessary, wear the cotton gloves provided;
- if the use of gloves is not considered necessary, handle the documents with clean, dry hands;
- bring only erasable pencils, note paper and a laptop without a case;
- do not make any mark or underline anything, even in pencil, on the documents;
- do not place writing paper or anything else on top of the documents;
- avoid putting pressure on the bindings in order not to damage them;
- do not trace any images (watermarks, drawings, miniatures, bindings);
- if needed, use only flexible tape measures and magnifying glasses;
- in the case of loose or miscellaneous papers, do not alter in any way the order of the documents;
- report any missing items, damages or discrepancies found in the documents consulted to the librarians as soon as possible.
- Users are responsible for the works they are consulting until the moment they are returned. If you are leaving the consultation area, even briefly, the document must be returned.
The collection was transferred to the University of Ferrara following the signing of a contract through which Local Health Unit no. 31 in Ferrara granted "a series of volumes making up the Historical Library of Sant'Anna Central Hospital" to the university on loan for use.
In this context, the university committed to designating this heritage for "goals of education and research within the institutional purposes of the university". The volumes were immediately taken to the Rectory and other university premises.
Following analytical shelf inspections, dusting and cryogenic disinfestation (2009-2010), they were transferred to the Literature and Philosophy Library, where a storage area was made available that would guarantee adequate conditions for the conservation and promotion of these ancient and valuable documents.
The cataloguing of the collection in the SBN (National Library Service) was carried out from 2014-2016, and was outsourced to a firm specialising in the cataloguing of ancient books. The technical instructions provided to the cataloguers also included a detailed description of the pieces (handwritten notes, notes on ownership and ex-libris, binding, etc.) and the identification of owners and origin.
The volumes are located in the ANTICHI MEDSANNA section of the library where they are kept.
To find out more
Marina Contarini and Anna Bernabè, Protection and promotion of ancient and valuable collections in the University of Ferrara libraries (2008-2017- ), in Cultural heritage revealed. The university libraries, from teaching to research and new opportunities. Ferrara Round Table, Restoration-Museums Fair, 22 March 2017. Proceedings, edited by Marina Contarini, Anna Bernabè and Maria Grazia Mondini, Ferrara, UnifePress, 2017
With the Art Bonus, you can support projects for ancient book restoration at the University of Ferrara.
