La Biblioteca Ambrosiana tra Roma, Milano e l'Europa: Federico Borromeo Fondatore della Biblioteca Ambrosiana. Atti delle giornate di studio 25-27 novembre 2004 (review)

This volume with different contributions not only on the Biblioteca Ambriosana and its foundation and development, but also on some of the most important European libraries, shows more than their history and their transformation up to the present time, it also depicts their cultural responsibility as protectors of humanity, art, and science and also of the exchange of ideas. Modern technology offers a new way into the future by the application of new technology and electronic information resources, such as CD-ROM editions or the internet. Three groups of themes have been discussed at this conference: the concept of the humanistic libraries in Europe and their organization, the foundation of the Ambrosiana, and the presentation of some libraries and their function in the papers of their directors. The praise of books of the English bishop Richard of Aungervly (Philobiblon sive de amore librorum) points the way forward for the humanists with their collections and shows at the same time the value and the beauty of books. This beauty was lost during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, when the book became a part of the architecture of the reading-room with its desks. The ideal of the classical library as a representative not only of the service of the knowledge but also of beauty and as an expression of the cultural sensibility too had been renewed in the rococo period in the Catholic areas, specially in Rome and that of the Empire. Humanists like Petrarca condemned the pure collectionism of some nobles. As bibliophiles their own collections were open to their friends and all scholars, a practice that preceded that of the public libraries, the first of which was opened in Rome in 1595 by Angelo Rocco who wanted the Angelica open to all interested people. Printing offered a greater opportunity for acquiring books to learned laymen such as Pico della Mirandola and Gian Vincenzo Pinelli, whose collection later on was purchased by Cardinal Federico Borromeo. A network of intellectuals all over Europe was created through this collecting of books by changing information about books and catalogues of different collections. The French king Francis I intended to establish a library for scholars. On the one hand he bought or ordered copies of manuscripts and on the other hand the printer Robert Estienne prepared an edition of classical texts using the royal manuscripts. The Jesuits adapted for their library concept the program of Roman humanism, but they placed emphasis on the theories of the Counter-Reformation and on the anti-Gallicanism of Antonio Possevino (Bibliotheca selecta). The political situation in Germany caused the emergence of small collections by princes, sometimes also influenced by scholars of the university founded by them, such as the Bibliotheca Palatina of Heidelberg. The library situation in the Balkans is characterized by the Turkish war and occupation, except for some towns on the Adriatic coast of Croatia. During this period most monasteries had been destroyed, including their books. The whole coast was a part of the dominion of Venice and stood under its cultural influence. Scholars and bibliophiles acquired their books mainly in Venice. There were ecclesiastical collectors, as the bishop Juraj Kruzˇic´, who had about 2,000 volumes accessible to everybody, which was to be given after his death half to the Franciscans and half to the Dominicans. There were also lay patrons, such as the orientalist Ivan Pasˇtric´, who stayed for many years in Rome, and whose books ended up in the archiepiscopal seminary of Spalato.

The first library of modern times was the Escorial, founded by Philip II, with all books accessible to everybody and with its alphabetic catalogues and some subject catalogues too at its entrance...