The printed books from 1501 to 1820 form a multidisciplinary collection, although, given their origin, the presence of religious books is substantial. Like the manuscripts and incunabula, the vast majority come from confiscated religious houses in the province of Barcelona, and often show signs of ownership and use.
The collection
The Rare Book and Manuscript CRAI Library has close to 130,000 printed items dating from 1501 to 1820. There is a significant presence of European printing, particularly from Spain, Italy, France, Flanders, Germany and Switzerland. The sixteenth-century collection is the richest in Spain, both in number of editions, which surpass 11,300, and in number of copies, which surpass 17,350.
The collection is multidisciplinary. While books from convent libraries predominate, there are not only religious volumes, but also a good percentage of volumes on science, history, law and philology, as well as classical and literary texts. Indeed, the variety of subjects covered by the convent libraries can be accounted for partly by the fact that the convents served schools and advanced studies created by the religious orders and some even became public libraries. Also, most of the convent libraries received bequests and donations from a variety of leading figures, such as humanists, university professors, writers, ecclesiastical writers and liberal professionals like doctors, pharmacists and jurists.
Highlights include a group of sermon collections (possibly the richest in Spain), a collection of journals from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, legal works and scientific books, among which are volumes on medicine and pharmacology from the Royal College of Medicine and Surgery and the Pharmacy of Sant Victorià. Many editions, particularly in the field of science, are accompanied by woodcuts and copper engravings that beautifully illustrate the text.
Catalogues and inventories
Three complementary resources are available for consultation:
- Catalogue alphabetical listing by author's name (including anonymous works) of printed works catalogued up to 1984, located in the aisle of the Philology and Communication CRAI Library in the Historic Building.
- Inventory ordered by author's name (including anonymous works), consisting of photographs of the covers of uncatalogued books, located in the aisle of the Philology and Communication CRAI Library in the Historic Building.
- Online catalogue
Special collections
Printed books in special areas
Printer's devices and Former owners
The collection details the activity and devices of the most prominent European printers, whose devices can be consulted in the Printers' devices database.
We know the provenance of our books because of handwritten or printed marks of ownership (ex libris, ex donos, stamps, coats of arms, etc.) that are found in them. The former owners are documented and their marks of ownership are digitalized and appear in the database of former owners.
Links of interest
- Printed works in the Blog de Fons Antic
- Printed works in the Sponsor a document project
- Online printed works in BiPaDi (many thematic collections in progressive increase) and in MDC (Ancient cartographic material)
- Virtual exhibitions of the CRAI Biblioteca de Fons Antic. The web contains information on all the virtual exhibitions organized to date. Most of them include printed works from the 16th to the early 19th century.
- Bibliography of ancient books, where all the catalogues cited in the entries of the online catalog are compiled.
Participation in external projects
- Biblioteca digital Ovidiana
- Biblioteca Erasmiana Hispánica
- Catálogo Colectivo del Patrimonio Bibliográfico Español (CCPB)
- Catálogo de obras medievales impresas en castellano (COMEDIC)
- Catálogo y Biblioteca Digital de Relaciones de Sucesos (siglos XVI-XVIII)
- CERL Thesaurus (CT)
- EDIT 16 - Censimento nazionale delle edizioni italiane del XVI secolo
- European Jesuits provenance project
- Footprints: Jewish books through time and place
- Iberian books
- Sciencia.cat. La ciència en la cultura catalana a l'Edat Mitjana i el Renaixement
- USTC Universal Short Title Catalogue