Fondo Estense
Item
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Country
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IT
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Name of institution (English)
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Estense Library
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Language of name of institution
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ita
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Contact information: postal address
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Largo Porta Sant'Agostino 337, 41121 Modena
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Contact information: phone number
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0039 0594395711
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Contact information: email
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ga-esten@beniculturali.it
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Title (English)
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Estense fonds
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Title (official language of the state)
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Fondo Estense
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Language of title
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ita
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Creator / accumulator
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Biblioteca Estense Universitaria
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Date note
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bulk: 14th century/19th century
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Language(s)
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heb
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ita
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lat
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Type of material
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Textual Material
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Scope and content
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The Fondo Estense comprises a wide range of manuscripts and printed books of diverse typologies, topics, provenances and chronologies. For instance, the collection includes a Hebrew Bible copied by the scribe Moisés de Torrutiel in Spain in 1470 (alfa.0.5.9).
A 17th-century miscellany of Latin writings (alfa.O.6.15) contains a letter written by the Sephardic poet Diogo Pires (1517-1599) to the humanist Paulo Jóvio in February 1547, in which he provides some details about his biography, including his studies in Leuven and Paris, the move from Portugal to Antwerp with his family and a voyage to London. This letter was published by Peter Kolendić (1961) and Carlos Ascenso André (1992). A digital copy of this codex is available online:
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Lat.174=alfa.O.6.15
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Archival history
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The so-called "Antico Fondo Estense" was the collection of manuscripts and printed books from the library of the House of Este, which was transferred from Ferrara to Modena in 1598 when the latter became the new capital of the Duchy. After this transfer, the library's holdings continued to grow in number. However, the most significant improvement occurred in the 18th century, thanks to the initiative of great librarians such as Lodovico Antonio Muratori (1672-1750), Francesco Antonio Zaccaria (1714-1795), and Girolamo Tiraboschi (1731-1794). For example, Tiraboschi purchased nearly 3,500 printed volumes from the library of the Modenese nobleman Alfonso Vincenzo Fontanelli. The suppression of religious orders also led to the incorporation of manuscripts and printed books from the libraries of the Jesuits (1773), the Theatines (1782-83), the Benedictines, the Barnabites, and the Augustinians (1796-1814). After the Restoration, the librarian Antonio Lombardi (1768-1847) attempted to reconstruct the Este collection, recovering in Paris the manuscripts that had ended up at the Bibliothèque Nationale during the Napoleonic rule. The same recovery failed for the printed works, which were returned by the French in different and less valuable editions, sometimes even mutilated. In the 19th century, the collection expanded with new acquisitions, such as the purchase of the printed works of the Modenese physician and botanist Giuseppe Maria Savani (1810) and the rich inheritance of the Paduan Marquis Tommaso Obizzi del Catajo (1817), with more than 300 codices. Also worth mentioning are the incunabula donated by Duke Francis IV and his brother Maximilian (1825-1837), the collection of Giulio Besini (1837), head of the ducal police at the time of Francis IV, and the library of the botanist and bibliophile Giovanni Brignoli de Brunhoff (1857).
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(source: Estense Digital Library)
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Administrative / Biographical history
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The Biblioteca Estense is the dynastic library of the Este family. Its origins date back to the 14th century. Driven by the impetus of Marquis Niccolò III, it became an important humanistic library composed of precious literary, historical, and artistic works. Its collection grew significantly during the Renaissance through the incorporation of valuable manuscripts and printed books on the initiative of the Dukes of Este. In 1598, after the loss of Ferrara, the library followed the Estense house to the new capital of the Duchy, Modena. In the following centuries, the Biblioteca Estense continued to be enriched with works of diverse provenance and type. The suppression of religious orders and the incorporation of the respective libraries in the Biblioteca collection contributed to the increase of its collection, as well as donations and acquisitions resulting from the initiative of illustrious librarians such as Ludovico Antonio Muratori and Girolamo Tiraboschi. Following the transfer to the Palazzo dei Musei, the Biblioteca Estense effectively merged with the Biblioteca Universitaria. The establishment of the Biblioteca Universitaria Estense dates back to 1995. It has been part of the Gallerie Estensi since 2015.
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(source: Biblioteca Estense Universitaria website)
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Author of the description
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Carla Vieira, 2022
Linked resources
Items with "Existence and location of originals: Fondo Estense"
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