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Burcardo Library and Theatre Collection | ||||
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The Library The Burcardo Library consists of about 40.000 volumes, from 16th century editions to current publications. The book collections are all related to the performing arts: theatre plays of all ages, countries and genres, critical essays, theatre and performing arts history, reference works and directories, professional literature about librarianship. Among the most valuable collections, the Library counts 244 16th century editions and 346 17th century editions. The 16th century editions include Sophocles in Latin, published in Venice by Giovanni da Borgofranco in 1543; Aristophanes in Greek (Florence, Bernardo Giunta, 1515 and Benedetto Giunta, 1540) and in Italian (Venice, 1545); Plautus in Latin printed by Lazzaro Soardi (Venice, 1511); Terence in Latin (1553 and 1569); Seneca translated by Lodovico Dolce (1560). 17th century theatre is represented by contemporary editions of plays by Ariosto, Ruzante, Machiavelli, Aretino, Calmo, Dolce, Cecchi, Lasca. The 16th and 17th editions also include descriptions of feasts and tournements. 16th-17th century treatises on various subjects are also present: Delle antichità di Roma nel quale si tratta de' circi, theatri et anfitheatri... by Pirro Ligorio (1553), La pratica della perspettiva... by Daniele Barbaro (1568), Della poesia rappresentativa e del modo di rappresentare le favole sceniche by Angelo Ingegneri (1598). Starting from the 17th century, the presence of the Commedia dell'Arte becomes important: the Library includes many editions of plays, letters and poems written by the Andreinis (Isabella, Francesco and Giovan Battista), and treatises pro and against theatre (Della christiana moderatione del theatro by G. Domenico Ottonelli, 1615; Brevi discorsi intorno alle commedie, commedianti et spettatori by Pier Maria Cecchini, 1621; la Supplica by Niccolò Barbieri, 1634; Dell'arte rappresentativa premeditata e all'improvviso by Andrea Perrucci, 1699). Illustrated books are also present, including some books of large plates, like Albert Racinet's Le costume historique and Joseph Gregor's Denkmäler des Theaters and the five volumes of plates by Carlo Ferrario, scene designer at the Scala (1913). All Italian playwrights are present in the book collections; among them Carlo Goldoni: the Burcardo Library owns almost every edition of his plays, from the 18th century to the present. The shakespearian corpus is considerable too. Shakespeare's plays are present in many editions, mainly of the 19th and 20th century. The French theatre is well represented, with hundreds playwrights and thousands volumes; among the French playwrights, Molière and Scribe are present with many editions of their plays. The Library also includes a collection of opera libretti; a detailed catalogue of this collection was published in 1993. The Library counts 400 titles of periodicals, mainly Italian reviews. However, the Library also subscribes theatre reviews from all over the world, from Asia to Australia, from South America to South Africa. Among the historical serials, there are some theatre yearbooks and almanacs of the 18th century (the Almanacco de' teatri di Torino, the Almanach historique et chronologique de tous les spectacles) and some periodical publications of plays like the Biblioteca Ebdomadaria Teatrale and the Galleria Teatrale Barbini. Current periodicals are 80. Another important source of information is the huge collection of more than 570 thousand newspaper clippings. This collection is still growing, thousands articles are added every year. A special collection of newspaper clippings is related to the productions of the Teatro Argentina during the years 1918-1942. The Burcardo Library also includes Carlo Emilio Gadda's library. Gadda left the library he had gathered in his last house in Rome to the Burcardo, just before his death in 1973. The Gadda library consists of about 2500 volumes and 70 titles of periodicals. Some documents about the beginnings of Gadda's activity as an engineer during the Twenties are also included in his library. |
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