Image: Juan De Valverde, Anatome corporis humani, Venice, Eredi di Lucantonio Giunta, 1607 (Literature and Philosophy Library, ANTICHI MEDICINA 05.05), c. E2r.
The collection is made up of around 350 volumes and consists of the historical nucleus of the library endowment in use at the university's ex-Anatomy Institute.
The volumes, whose dates of publication date predominantly from between the 16th and 19th centuries, show evidence of the development of medical science - and in particular the disciplines related to anatomy - over the centuries. Specifically, there are essays in the collection of primary interest to those working in the Medicine and Art Faculties of the University of Ferrara, as demonstrated by the presence of Examen omnium simplicium medicamentorum di Antonio Musa Brasavola (Venice, Vincenzo Valgrisi, 1539).
The collection includes works dedicated to particular problems and sectors of study, such as the preservation of anatomical parts, teratology and pathological anatomy: evidence of this is the presence of Epistolae anatomicae duae di Giovanni Battista Morgagni (Leiden, Johannes van Kerckhem, 1728).
There are numerous treatises and atlases of normal anatomy, among which are large-format editions that collect together illustrated plates, such as
Icones anatomicae by Leopoldo Marco Antonio and Floriano Caldani (1801-1814). Finally, the techniques used for anatomical research are also well-documented, for example in
Trattato di antropotomia by Angelo Dubini (Milan, Molina, 1837) and
Cours de microscopie by Alfred Donné (Paris, Baillière, 1844). 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
- Antolini, Patrizio
- *Santa Maria Nuova Central Hospital (Florence)
- *Sant'Anna Central Hospital (Ferrara)
- Arisi, Francesco
- Baroni, Luigi
- Bellucco, Pietro
- Bertelli, Ruggero
- Bianchi, Iuri
- *Ariostea Library (Ferrara) - stamp 3
- *Collegii Perugini Societatis Jesu Library
- *Ariostea Municipal Library
- *San Marco Scientific Library
- *Webbiana Library
- Caretti, Lanfranco
- Carletti, Giorgio Aroldo
- Cartolari, Enrico
- *Castagnetti, Elio
- Cattaneo, G.
- Cecchi, P. L.
- Cermenati, Mario
- Crainz, Franco
- Dietrich, Carl
- Fabris, Domenico
- Facipecora Pavesi, Antonio
- Fano (Family)
- *Gandolfi, Angelo - Bookseller (Bologna)
- Gatti, Tommaso
- *Jesuits: Collegio Torinese
- Jachelli, Francesco
- *Forni Bookshop (Bologna)
- Maugeri, Vincenzo
- Minato, G.
- Mingazzi, Stefano
- Modoni, Giuseppe
- Moggi, A.
- Monzani, Fazio
- Morandi, Francesco Saverio
- Moriani, Luigi
- Paradisi, Pietro B.
- Petrucci, Brizio
- Richardson, Jonathan
- Riminaldi, Ercole Antonio
- Riminaldi, Giovanni Maria (1732?-1789)
- Stecchi, Lodovico
- *University of Ferrara: Botany Institute
- *University of Ferrara: General Pathology Institute
- *University of Ferrara: History of Medicine Institute
- *University of Ferrara
- Vannoni, Pietro
To find out more
Silvano Capitani and Francesco Raspadori, Department of morphology and embriology: normal human anatomy section: ‘ancient collection’ library, in Towards a science museum: botanic gardens, museums and historical-scientific collections at the University of Ferrara , edited by Carmela Loriga, «Annals of the University of Ferrara», special volume, 2001, pp. 71-78.
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 (biblioteca.letterefilosofia@unife.it), 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.
Until 2010, the collection was kept in the complex now known as the Old Biology Institutes, where the university's ex-Anatomy Institute was located, which was the original home of the books.
Following analytical shelf inspections, dusting and cryogenic disinfestation (2009-2010), the collection was 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.
Starting from 2014, some pieces from the collection have undergone restoration ( list of volumes), performed by qualified professional conservators, on the basis of projects authorised by the relevant regional authorities.
The cataloguing of the collection in the SBN (National Library Service) was carried out from 2012-2015, 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 MEDICINA section of the library in which 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.
Audiovisual
 | | The historical collections. Literature and Philosophy Library (2020-lenght 2:45) Video in Italian Sign Language (LIS) made thanks to collaboration from the Equal Opportunities and Disability Policy Coordination, the E-Learning and Multimedia Services Office and AIDUS (Association for the Inclusion of Hearing and Deaf People). |
| | Anatomy for use and intelligent design: The story of a restoration (2016-lenght 10:40) A professional restorer illustrates some of the techniques he used to treat a 17th-century anatomy atlas preserved in the University of Ferrara's Human Anatomy Collection. |
| | | Promoting the treasures of the University of Ferrara - Cataloguing an ancient book (2016-lenght 11:18) These videos have been made thanks to cooperation between the University of Ferrara Library System and se@unife (University of Ferrara Centre for Technologies for Communication, Innovation and Distance Learning), and the collaboration of the Emilia-Romagna Institute for Artistic, Cultural and Natural Heritage (IBACN) and Franco Antolini's Restauro Libri firm (Ferrara). |
Exhibitions
Digitalisation
Guided tours
28 October 2018 - Stories of books and palaces. Inauguration of the tour with the opening of the locations. The students from the 4th year of the "A. Roiti" Science-specialist High School in Ferrara, along with representatives from the University Library System and Museum System, guided visitors around the palaces of the university, libraries and historical collections.
Other
Aloisio Antinori, La collaboration entre scientifiques et artistes pour la réalisation de traités d’anatomie, [conference speech] L’Art de la collaboration au Grand Siècle / The Art of Collaboration in Seventeenth-Century France (Princeton University, 10-12 May 2018)
To recommend studies or research projects on the collection or pieces from it, please write to biblioteca.letterefilosofia@unife.it
