Ancient fund: engravings

 

The oldest engravings on loose sheets date from the second half of the 16th century, and the newest from the first half of the 20th century. They are from both Spanish and European settings, and the main techniques -xylography, chalcography and lithography- are well represented. The majority come from a donation made by the Biblioteca Nacional de España to the University of Barcelona in 1887.

 

The collection

The collection of engravings has more than 11.270 separate plates. The oldest are from the second half of the 16th century and the newest from the first half of the 20th, from Spanish and European scopes and with a well represented variety of techniques.

Most of the collection comes from a donation made by the Biblioteca Nacional de España to the University of Barcelona in 1887. According to the reports of this institution from that year, 213 duplicates and 5.402 plates were donated but with no more detailed information. A characteristic of these engravings is that they are stamped with the inscription: “Biblioteca Nacional enajenado”. Some of them also have a stamp referring to their former origin: “Colección del Sr. Dn. V. Carderera adquirida por el gobierno en 1867”.

We also have evidence of a donation from the Calcografía Nacional to our library in 1881, but in this case we do not have any evidence of quantity or any other information about the material donated.

All the engravings have a unique reference number made up of various elements that reflect the order in which they are organized: dimensions (indicated by a letter), origin (Spanish or foreign), century, name of engraver, and number of record.

 

Catalogues

 

Virtual exhibitions

 

Links of interest

 

If you want to know how to cite the old collection and use the images of the Rare Book and Manuscript CRAI Library in your academic work, access the resource The old collection of academic work: some recommendations (Catalan).