Izvorni znanstveni članak
Marko Marulić and the British Library
Milan Grba
; British Library, London
Sažetak
The objective of this paper is to use new data to supplement previous research into Marulić’s works in British libraries, as well as to describe the provenance of some of the most important copies of his books in British collections. We have managed to identify 24 Marulić first editions and editions from the 16th centuryin a total of 52 copies and three Marulić editions of the 17th century in 14 extant copies. In total, then, in the United Kingdom, 27 Marulić editions of the 16th and th centuries in 66 copies have been identified. Not only the British Library, but 24 other historical British libraries have old Marulić editions. These are the libraries of the universities, the National Library of Scotland, historical libraries of private collectors still in existence in places where they were created and used. Marulić books are preserved by six of the total of 37 libraries of Anglican cathedrals of England and Wales and finally by the library of Lambeth Palace in London.
The biggest and most important Marulić collection in Britain is in the British Library. This collection consists of 92 titles, ranging from the Quinquagonta parabolae of 1510 to the last publication about Marulić that the library acquired in 2010 (Marulić Days 2010: scholarly, literary and publishing programme, April 22-25, Književni krug – Marulianum, Split, 2010). Certainly the most important are Marulić Latin editions of the 16th century, of which there are 13. As well as four translations, this makes a total of 17 editions from the 16th century, in 18 copies.
Nine 16th century editions originally were kept in private English libraries and in the Old Royal Library. The British Museum acquired these historical libraries as a whole by gift or purchase in the 18th century. Two old Marulić books belonged to the library of george III, which was donated to the library of the British Museum in 1823. The other old Marulić books in the collection, the provenance of which is discussed in the article, are books that the Department of Printed Books of the British Museum directly purchased in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Marulić books of the 20th and 21st century in the British Library’s collection were bought or acquired in exchange with the National and University Library of Croatia and the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts in Zagreb.
There are over 30,000 Croatian books in the British Library and more than 100,000 various items of different formats: periodicals, manuscripts, maps, prints and so on. Together with other resources in the library, this is the greatest cultural,scholarly, information and reference centre about Croatian writing in Britain The Marulić collection can for several reasons be considered the core of the whole Croatian collection. His books cover the last half-millennium, they once graced the oldest English private collections and made up part of those libraries on the basis of which some two and a half centuries ago the British Library was created. Thus in Marulić’s presence in the British Library there is a reflection of both the centuries of Croatian writing and of the scope of the Croatian collection in this library.
Ključne riječi
Marko Marulić; British Library; British Museum; provenance; reception; bibliophiles; collectors
Hrčak ID:
67372
URI
Datum izdavanja:
22.4.2011.
Posjeta: 2.368 *