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BARBERINI, Cardinal Francesco (1597-1769) -- Index Bibliothecae qua Franciscus Barberinus S.R.E. Cardinalis Vicecancellarius magnificentissimas suae Familiae ad Quirinalem aedes magnificentiores reddidit. Rome: Typis Barberinis, Excudebat Michael Hercules, 1681.
Two volumes bound in one, 2o (320 x 210 mm). Engraved title vignette, engraved arms of Barberini in vol. I, engraved emblematic device on last leaf of vol. II. (Inner margin of title with old repair, with loss of one letter of text, title with small narrow patch presumably where owner's name removed, some pale dampstaining.) Contemporary sprinkled brown calf, spine gilt (some mostly minor wear to joints, some rubbing). Provenance: Arenberg Family (Nordkirchen bookplate).
"The Barberini catalogue has enjoyed a special importance because it is a rather early and very large book and appears to have been widely circulated" (Taylor, p.23). The catalogue of the vast library created by Cardinal Francesco Barberini (1597-1679), "Nipote" of Pope Urban VIII Barberini. For many years one of the principal bibliographical reference works at the disposal of scholars, second in rank only to Thomas Hyde's third catalogue of the Bodleian Library, 1674, with which it shared the then revolutionary alphabetical arrangement under the authors' surnames, but was richer in books printed in Italy; it contained no less than 31,671 printed books. Barberini's vast income from his many benefices was estimated at 100,000 Scudi, allowing him to fully indulge in his collecting passions. He held numerous high offices from 1627-1633, among them that of Librarian to the Holy Catholic Church. For his own library, he employed as librarians Leone Alacci (1586-1669), Lucas Holstenius (Lukas Holste, 1596-1661) -- both of whom became custodians of the Vatican Library -- and Carlo Moroni (from ca 1673). The authorship of the catalogue has been attributed to Holste, but probably received its final redaction from Moroni. Preceding both volumes of the catalogue is a two-page "Motu Proprio" by Pope Clement IX, allowing the Barberini Library to own, with certain restrictions for their use, heterodox works. A third volume, describing the manuscripts, was planned but never published. The library of the Barberini Family (Biblioteca Barberiniana, Rome) became a part of the Vatican library in 1902.
Taylor, who repeatedly mentions and discusses the Barberini Catalogue, finds it "virtually unobtainable" (p. 228). RLIN lists only the copies at the Grolier Club and Emery University, both of which have only a half-title to volume two, as here. Fumagalli, no. 3701; Taylor, p.23 (and elsewhere).
Two volumes bound in one, 2
"The Barberini catalogue has enjoyed a special importance because it is a rather early and very large book and appears to have been widely circulated" (Taylor, p.23). The catalogue of the vast library created by Cardinal Francesco Barberini (1597-1679), "Nipote" of Pope Urban VIII Barberini. For many years one of the principal bibliographical reference works at the disposal of scholars, second in rank only to Thomas Hyde's third catalogue of the Bodleian Library, 1674, with which it shared the then revolutionary alphabetical arrangement under the authors' surnames, but was richer in books printed in Italy; it contained no less than 31,671 printed books. Barberini's vast income from his many benefices was estimated at 100,000 Scudi, allowing him to fully indulge in his collecting passions. He held numerous high offices from 1627-1633, among them that of Librarian to the Holy Catholic Church. For his own library, he employed as librarians Leone Alacci (1586-1669), Lucas Holstenius (Lukas Holste, 1596-1661) -- both of whom became custodians of the Vatican Library -- and Carlo Moroni (from ca 1673). The authorship of the catalogue has been attributed to Holste, but probably received its final redaction from Moroni. Preceding both volumes of the catalogue is a two-page "Motu Proprio" by Pope Clement IX, allowing the Barberini Library to own, with certain restrictions for their use, heterodox works. A third volume, describing the manuscripts, was planned but never published. The library of the Barberini Family (Biblioteca Barberiniana, Rome) became a part of the Vatican library in 1902.
Taylor, who repeatedly mentions and discusses the Barberini Catalogue, finds it "virtually unobtainable" (p. 228). RLIN lists only the copies at the Grolier Club and Emery University, both of which have only a half-title to volume two, as here. Fumagalli, no. 3701; Taylor, p.23 (and elsewhere).