Special Collections
- Roman department and Ceccarius collection
- Cartography
- Prints and drawings
- Oriental collection
Roman Department
Roman department was born in 1903 thanks to Domenico Gnoli, who directed the National Library Vittorio Emanuele II in Rome from 1881 to 1909. Gnoli wanted to identify, among the duties of the institute that he had to lead, documentation about the culture and history of Rome that just became the italian capital. The first core of the collection was the department of Roman Topography, which constituted a small part of the material from the suppressed religious congregations books: Gnoli didn't want to damage on the already structured collections and acquired other material from the antique trade; lately, this fund's increase happens through legal deposit and through the purchase of modern and antique works. This kind of collection offers a sight of Rome in its monuments researched in all times: therefore general and specific descriptions of Rome, Mirabilia urbis, guidebooks, views, travellers' sensations and last but not least the collection, one of the most detailed, of Rome city maps. All the volumes of this Department can be consulted from the general Catalogue, the special one in cards and the Opac BNCR.
At the moment the increase occurs through legal deposit and purchase of modern and antique works.
Originally the collection had been instituted with special care on history and all problems of Roman topography; nowadays not only the appearance of Rome and its transformation through centuries is documented, but in every manifestation of its cultural life, including dialect.
This collection includes manuscripts and printed works; it consists of 4000 monographs and 2600 among drawings, printed documents and engravings. It can be consulted in Roman Hall.
Documents of Roman Department can be found on General Catalogue, on Opac BNCR and on a special card catalogue which can be consulted directly in the hall.
Ceccarius collection and fund
In 1972 the Ministry of Education purchased and entrusted the Roman Department the Ceccarius (Giuseppe Ceccarelli, 1889-1972) library and archive, the famous Romanesque who assambled an important collection that documents the culture of the Roman ' nineteenth and twentieth century. The fund includes about 4,000 volumes, some Roman periodicals, historical manuscripted and printed documents, to which are added those of his activities as a journalist or member of cultural or administrative public institutions, prints and topographic maps of Rome, a valuable miscellany full of curiosities and some rarities, a collection of press clippings and about a thousand photographs, some of which are important because they document the transformation of Rome the day after its proclamation as capital of Italy.
The Ceccarius collection and fund includes, in addition to monographs, the Ceccarrius archive that documents his activity as "romanista", as a journalist and member of important cultural and political institutions, and a curious, valuable collection of manuscripts and printed documents (letters, family archives, diaries, theatrical posters, prints, photographs, etc.)..
The Ceccarius collection and fund were purchased by the Ministry of Education in 1972 and donated to the National Central Library of Rome in order to enrich the heritage of the Roman Department.
The Fund and the Collection especially document the Roman culture during the 800th and the 900th century.
The Ceccarius collection and fund can be consulted in the Roman Department inside the Special Collections Area.
Vittorio Emanuele and Ceccarius Photo Archive
Vittorio Emanuele's photo archive includes about 3500 photos (all positive) of various types, loose either in albums, received in the Library to protect the reproduction or for legal deposit. It collects photographers works between the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth, as well as some homogeneous groups of historical documentary value (monuments, portraits, artwork, scenes of life and custom)relating to famous people (Garibaldi, Puccini) or individual events (opening of the tunnel Simplon, the arrival of Hitler in Rome). The Ceccarius photo archive, received by the National Library with the Ceccarius Library and Collection, consists of 1500 photos (all positive) that document for the most part Rome and its changes between the late and early twentieth century. All photographs have been partially subjected to dust and are being accommodate in suitable containers. They are freely available by appointment with the head of the Roman Room (link to the person in charge).
Cartography
This collection includes a rich patrimony of antique and modern geographical maps, and it configures in an autonomous way regarding cartographic representations contained in manuscripts and in precious ancient atlas, which are part of the historical funds of the Library, of which their collocation was kept.
The fund, whose origins go back to the foundation of the National Library which forfeited the soppressed religious congregations patrimony, is regularly increased from a legal deposit's accessions, purchases and donations.
The ancient part of the Collection includes precious handwritten nautical charts of the 15th - 17th centuries, 10 celestial globes, printed and handwritten, an Arabian astrolabe of the 16th century and a 17th century leather case.
In the modern section, that currently includes 21.000 geographical maps, there are also reprsented organic collections of the official Government bodies and of private institutes.
This collection offers a complete sight of Italian cartographic production, from its origins to present time.
About cartographic material, two card catalogues in alphabetical order are available: one ordered for geographical headlines and the other one for authors, engravers, cartographers etc. In the catalogue alphabetically ordered by geographical headings are included: cards concerning all loosen papers, cards concerning the perusal of atlas and other works from historical funds and others concerning globes and other articles related to cartography, owned by the Library.
This fund and other special catalogues are consultable in the Special Collections area, in the sector dedicated to Cartography.
Prints and drawings
The fund includes loose prints (collected in folders or albums), posters, loose drawings (collected in folders or albums) and "Artist's books". Instead, it does not include the collection of engravings and prints that are, since their origin, part of other collections, of which their collocation was kept. The collection of prints and drawings goes back to the National Library's institution which gained the suppressed religious congregations patrimony; subsequently enriched through legal deposit, purchases and gifts, and is still increasing.
Among the drawings we find some important collections, such as Vito Lombardi's albums or those of the set-designer Romolo Liverani, the nucleus of 51 drawings by Gaspar van Wittel and projects relating to the competition for the construction of the monument to Vittorio Emanuele II . Even if the prints are from different periods, of particular interest the Chromolithographs of the Arundel Society that reproduce italian painting of different places and eras. The "Artist's books" section designed to keep literary documents and graphic products even beyond the usual editorial circuits. For the engravings there is a special card catalogue ordered by author and subject; the material is also available on the SBN catalogue. The drawings are still in treating process. The collection is available in the Prints and Drawings sector in the Special Collection Area.
Oriental Collections
The area of the Oriental Collections comes from the presence in the Library of four distinct funds, received in different times and ways, which now are an important and unique heritage in the Italian libraries: Arab Collection , Chinese Collection , Japanese Collection and Slavic
Collection.
Oriental Collections are part of the Special Collections Area where a reading room was set up.
