An overview

Among the manuscripts-of which only about a hundred codices and fragments dating from the 12th to the 16th century survive today-are the illuminated codex set up in Ferrara in 1472 containing Jacob Ben Ascer’s Arba Turim and Diodato Segre’s Divina corona sabauda (1622), an autograph text handing down encomiastic compositions in praise of Charles Emmanuel I of Savoy.

The Greek manuscript collection, which was also badly damaged by fire, had 405 codices before 1904: of the current 309 manuscripts, about 90 bear miniatures and decorations. Among the best-known codices are a witness to the In duodecim minorres Prophetas commentarii by Theodoret (late 10th – early 11th century), enriched with miniatures reproducing on a gold background the medallions of the 12 prophets, and the De caelesti syderum dispositione by Giovanni Camatero, set up in the 16th century and certainly belonging to Duke Emanuele Filiberto of Savoy.

The manuscript collection in the Latin alphabet consists of Latin, French, Italian, and Spanish codices. Among the most significant Latin-language documents are the codex k of the Gospels (it hands down a portion of the Gospel of Mark and the Gospel of Matthew), probably written in the fourth-fifth century and coming from the monastery of Bobbio; a witness to the commentary on the Apocalypse by Beatus of Liébana, made in the first quarter of the twelfth century; the so-called “Rosselli Missal,” datable to the 14th century and set up for Cardinal Nicolas Rossell, active at the papal curia in Avignon; Pliny’s Historia Naturalis commissioned between the 15th and 16th centuries by the Gonzaga family, with miniatures attributed to the school of Mantegna. French-language manuscripts include the Guiron le Courtois du bois verdoyant, compiled around 1465 and enriched with more than 100 illuminated folios. Among codices in the Italian vernacular it seems worth mentioning two witnesses to Torquato Tasso’s Mondo Creato, datable to the late 16th century.

Among the documents that entered the Library after 1904 of particular interest are the archives of Giovanni Flechia, Alberto Nota, Felice Romani, and the Peyron family.

Evidence of this is Guillaume Durand’s Rationale divinorum officiorum (in an illuminated copy for the bishop of Turin Domenico Della Rovere), Cicero’s De officiis and other texts, Justinian’s Institutiones with commentary by Accursus printed in Mainz by Johann Fust and Peter Schoeffer in 1459, 1465, 1468, respectively, as well as several volumes published in Rome by the Italian prototypographers Conrad Sweynheym and Arnold Pannartz.

Also of significance are the early prints-including some in Greek characters (this is the case with the three-volume Aristotle) and the celebrated Hypnerotomachia Polyphili of 1499-by Aldo Manuzio and the illuminated incunabula set up by the workshops of Antoine Verard: among these is the Ogier le Danois, published in Paris probably before October 25, 1499.

Unfortunately, the fire of 1904 devastated the section deputed to preserve the volumes printed in the Piedmont region, destroying unique or very rare specimens that were fundamental to the study of the introduction of typographic technique in the region.

The incunabula editions of the National University Library of Turin are surveyed by the ISTC database https://data.cerl.org/istc/_search: descriptions of the specimens are in progress and will gradually be made available both on the MEI portal https://data.cerl.org/mei , and on the Opac SBNhttps://opac.sbn.it/ricerca-avanzata.

Almost all of the ancient printed volumes are reported to be described and are available on the Library’s online catalog.

Of definite interest is the collection of drawings and prints by Filippo Juvarra and his students, especially Ignazio Agliaudi Baroni di Tavigliano and Giambattista Sacchetti. In addition to these are other architectural drawings by Ascanio Vittozzi, Ercole Negro of Sanfront and the Valperga family. Alongside are drawings by Renaissance artists such as Luca Cambiaso and Bernardino Lanino, and Baroque artists such as Vanvitelli and Fabrizio Galliari.