- The Collection
- Consultation
- Conservation and Cataloguing
- Promotion
- Studies and Research Projects
Image: Alpinolo Natucci, Il concetto di numero
e le sue estensioni. Studi storico-critici
intorno ai fondamenti dell'aritmetica generale,
Turin, F.lli Bocca, 1923 (Mathematics Library,
ANTICHI C14; origin: M.T. Borgato and L. Pepe),
front cover.
A "mathematics library" is listed among the science buildings of the Free University of Ferrara starting from the academic year 1928/29; its promoter was Margherita Beloch, professor of geometry, who would go on to run it for around twenty years.
It was most likely the original nucleus of the present-day Mathematics and Information Technology Department Library. The first inventory of the collection was printed in 1943, and lists around 400 volumes, which mostly reflect Beloch's scientific and cultural interests: the majority cover the historical development of mathematical theory and geometry. An example of this is Elementi di geometria projettiva by Luigi Cremona, in a Paravia edition from 1873. The pieces were acquired through donations or purchase on the antiques market, as is the case of the three volumes of Works by Galileo Galilei in a Florentine edition published by Tartini and Franchi in 1718.
The collection also includes sets of scientific pamphlets compiled by eminent mathematicians such as Domenico Montesano (1863-1930), Luigi Fantappiè (1901-1956), Fabio Conforto (1909-1954) and Mario Fiorentini (1918-2022), a lecturer at the university who donated around 200 volumes from his own private library.
In 2020, the collection was enriched by over 500 texts on mathematics education, for universities and high schools, which make up the "pedagogy collection" donated to the university by professors Maria Teresa Borgato and Luigi Pepe. In 2023, a further donation was made, of scientific publications from the professional archive of Professor Luigi Pepe.
The collection is found in the Mathematics and Information Technology Department Library.
To find out more
The collection is kept at the Mathematics and Information Technology Department 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 974047 - 974007), email or through the online catalogue.
Rules for consultation
The collection is kept in the Mathematics and Information Technology Department Library.
The volumes from the collection are partly catalogued in the SBN (National Library Service).
The cataloguing of the "pedagogy collection", donated by Maria Teresa Borgato and Luigi Pepe, was carried out in 2022, 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 catalogued thanks to this operation are located in the ANTICHI section of the library where they are kept.
With the Art Bonus, you can support projects for ancient book restoration at the University of Ferrara.
Congress
11-13 November 2021 - 20th National Congress of the Italian History of Mathematics Society (SISM) on the topics "Mathematics in the time of Dante" and "Mathematics in the Napoleonic period". For the occasion, the Library System presented the Borgato-Pepe Collection of elementary mathematics books donated by Professors Maria Teresa Borgato and Luigi Pepe to the University of Ferrara Mathematics and Information Technology Department Library.
The coordinator of the scientific committee at the congress and a member of the organising committee was Alessandra Fiocca from the Unife Mathematics and Information Technology Department.
The initiative took place at the University of Ferrara Mathematics and Information Technology Department (Via Machiavelli, 30 - Ferrara).
To find out more
To recommend studies or research projects on the collection or pieces from it, please write to biblioteca.matematica@unife.it.