Lost books and dispersed libraries in Sicily during the 17th century

Abstract

Bibliographies and catalogues (either in printed or electronic form) are valuable sources of information to determine what kinds of books were less likely to survive at a given time and place. This may usefully be seen, to give an example, by examining the bibliography of 17th century editions printed in Sicily. The lowest rates of survival of copies - among over 4,000 editions listed in the bibliography - are mostly found in a small number of literary genres (opera and music drama; doctoral dissertations; minor jurisprudence literature such as ordinances and edicts) and other ephemera (news and chronicles; nuptialia; funeral orations; trade reports). Furthermore, the rate of survival seems much influenced by format: the smallest the format, the less probable is the survival of items across centuries. On the other hand, inventories of private book collections sometimes found in Public Archives can contribute to illustrate further the study of survival rates in the hand-press era. A notable example is discussed from the first decades of 17th century in Sicily. Here, a library of about 10,000 volumes owned by the influential aristocratic Francesco Branciforti in a small feudal centre (Militello in Val di Catania) was fully dispersed after his death. From an inventory and the documentation of a trial concerning this library, we can notice the existence of a number of books that seem to be hardly traceable anywhere else.