Every year they are published such a quantity of editorial news that, sometimes, it is difficult to remember that there is countless books that remain waiting to be read. Works that saw the light of day years, decades ago and even centuries ago. So that they do not fall into oblivion, the University of Barcelona has launched again – always coinciding with the week of Sant Jordi – the ‘Sponsor a book’ campaign, that seeks patrons to restore works of bibliographic heritage that resides in the CRAI Fons Antic Library of the UB.
The objective of the fourth edition of this initiative is twofold: to achieve the restoration of exceptional books and making its important collection known to the public, containing more than 130,000 volumes. Among all of them, the three chosen to star in this year’s campaign: the first volume of the intaglio plates from the first edition of the ‘Encyclopèdie’ by Diderot and d’Alembert, the first volume of a Flemish edition of the ‘Works’ of Francisco de Quevedo and the second volume of ‘Atlas curieux’, by Nicolas de Fer, from 1705. “All of them are a true treasure,” highlights Neus Verger, director of the CRAI Biblioteca de Fons Antic.
Recovery work
Many of the volumes contained in the collection, such as the Quevedo copy, come from the confiscations of ecclesiastical assets in 1835 and 1836. After a period of 45 years, lThe books from the different convent libraries –with a large number of manuscripts, incunabula and prints– were moved to the new building of the definitively restored university. Of course, many of the specimens arrived then in unfavorable conditions and require recovery work that cannot always be undertaken by the UB Restoration Workshop. From this need arises the ‘Sponsor a book’ campaign.
“We need a push to obtain the necessary resources to gradually restore the chosen works. With this program we seek the involvement of people who love books and are sensitive to this problem and who can feel that these treasures are their own, which, although they are kept in our library, are actually the heritage of all citizens,” explains Verger. Additionally, the program includes digitization of works that are restored.
Last year, the campaign made it possible to restore, in addition to the first volume of the ‘Atlas curieux’, the ‘Isolario’, by Vincenzo Coronelli, printed in Venice at the end of the 17th century. This year the restoration budget has been doubled to reach three copies. Anyone who wants can make their donation and become part of the family of patrons through the initiative’s website: www.mecenes.ub.edu/apadrinaunllibre.
