The Biblioteca Serlupiana
The Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz has received the Biblioteca Serlupiana as a generous gift: the largest donation in its 125-year history. The Serlupiana collection consists of more than 13,000 volumes, including rare books; prints; photographs; documents; letters; and ephemera from the 15th to the 20th Centuries.
The Serlupiana collection was established in Florence during the early 20th Century, thanks to the extraordinary efforts and passion of Filippo Serlupi Crescenzi and Gilberta von Ritter de Zahony, two erudite collectors and keen-eyed bibliophiles. Their primary focus was to obtain first editions of printed books with original bindings, selected both for their rarity and their artistic and bibliophilic value. The thoroughness and methodical nature of the collectors' activity is well evidenced in the index of the library, a valuable source of information that reveals the orderly and discerning minds of its creators.
Encompassing over 500 years of book history stretching across multiple geographies and a wide range of disciplines – from philosophy to literature, jurisprudence, theology, and beyond – this broad collection embodies the Serlupiana family's enduring fascination with the book itself, both as a physical object and as a repository of knowledge.
The Biblioteca is strongly tied to the city of Florence, where it is destined to remain. The Kunsthistorisches Institut is honoured to contribute to the preservation and exploration of this extraordinary collection, which in turn opens up new perspectives for research at the Institute in general, and in particular in the fields of book history, collecting, and library science.
For further information please contact:
camilla.musci@khi.fi.it