sebina, you, sebinayou, opac, catalogo, servizi, biblioteca, utente, BiblioFe, Polo Bibliotecario Ferrarese, Ferrara, università di Ferrara

Image: Agostino Scilla, La vana speculazione disingannata dal senso, Naples, Andrea Colicchia, 1670 (Science and Technology Library, ANTICHI 03 00001)

This collection, which in total counts almost 500 volumes and over 400 pamphlets and extracts, was established thanks to the passion and foresight of geologist and paleontologist Piero Leonardi (1908-1998), who was called to fill the post of Geology Professor at the University of Ferrara in 1949.

The dates of publication of the documents in the collection span from the second half of the 17th century to the end of the 19th century.

Some of the oldest publications in the collections are La vana speculazione disingannata dal senso by Agostino Scilla (Naples, Andrea Colicchia, 1670), and De’ crostacei e degli altri marini corpi che si truovano su’ monti by Antonio Lazzaro Moro (Venice, Stefano Monti, 1740) , in which he also attempted to demonstrate the errors in some bizarre hypotheses on the origin of "pietre figurate", or fossils.

Publications from the 19th century make up the majority of the collection, and some of the most noteworthy are the Parisian edition (1834-1836) of Recherches sur les ossemens fossiles by Georges Cuvier and the essential work Die Dolomit-Riffe von Südtirol und Venetien by Edmund Mojsisovics von Mojsvar (Vienna, 1879).

The works in the collection specifically relating to Geology are located at the Science and Technology Library, in theEx-Ferrarese Agricultural Sugar Refinery, while the pieces of paleontological interest can be consulted in the Library of the "Piero Leonardi" Museum in the Paleontology Section, in Palazzo Turchi di Bagno.

The works in the collection that are of geological interest are kept at the Science and Technology 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 974897), email or through the online catalogue.

The works in the collection that are of paleontological interest are kept at the Library of the "Piero Leonardi" Museum

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 293744), email or through the online catalogue.

The part of the collection relating to paleontology is kept at the Library of the "Piero Leonardi" Museum

The part of the collection containing works on geology was transferred to the university's Technology Hub along with the rest of the Earth Sciences Department, and from 2010, the volumes were then entrusted to the Science and Technology Library.

In 2020, interventions for conservative restoration began on pieces from the collection kept at the Science and Technology Library. These interventions are always entrusted to qualified professional conservators, and carried out on the basis of projects authorised by the relevant regional authorities.

The collection is only partly catalogued in the SBN (National Library Service).

The cataloguing of the part of the collection located in the Science and Technology Library was carried out in 2017-2018 by university librarians, and also involved a detailed description of the pieces (handwritten notes, notes on ownership and ex-libris, binding, etc.) and the identification of owners and origin. These volumes are located in the ANTICHI section of the library where they are kept.

The volumes located in the Library of the "Piero Leonardi" Museum are found in the PALEO section.

With the Art Bonus, you can support projects for ancient book restoration at the University of Ferrara.

Exhibitions

Natura Naturata. Masterpieces in the libraries of the University of Ferrara (Ferrara, Chemistry and Biology Library of Santa Maria delle Grazie, 18 April - 1 May 2019). The exhibition is also online as part of the digital library Virtual Heritage Unife.

To recommend studies or research projects on the collection or pieces from it, please write to biblioteca.scientificotecnologica@unife.it.