Hidden Collections Registry - Dev

Clementine Collection Rare Book Cataloging Project

The Clementine Collection is comprised of the combined personal libraries of the Albani family of Urbino and Rome, Italy. This family of minor nobility included a number of cardinals as well as Giovanni Francesco Albani who reigned as Pope Clement XI from 1700-1721. Subjects well represented in the collection include Roman and canon law, church history, philosophy, and a significant collection pertaining to Jansenism, to the Gallican church of the 18th century, and particularly to the aftermath of the bull Unigenitus. Also included are books of Italian literature and drama which one would expect in the library of cultured and educated men who were also important patrons of the arts. A number of these works are dedicated to members of the Albani family, especially Clement XI and his nephews, Cardinals Annibale and Alessandro Albani. The books date from the 15th century to the early 19th (although the incunabula have been removed and located elsewhere in the Department). Of the remaining volumes, a preliminary analysis of the collection places over eleven percent of the imprints in the 16th century, with the largest number dating from the 17th, and a slightly smaller percentage dating from the 18th century. Owing to the frequent past rearrangement of the materials and in-depth analysis only of select subject areas, no accurate picture exists of the collection's overall chronological breakdown.

Cataloging Hidden Collections

2008

1500 - 1830

The books are European, with Italian and French imprints predominating.

868 linear feet

9600 objects

102

Lenore Rouse

False