Venue
The Huntington's Education and Visitor Center, Rothenberg Hall
1151 Oxford Rd.
San Marino, CA 91108
Early Books’ Migration: European Upheaval and American Collections
Wednesday, April 09, 2025 at 7:30 p.m.
Cost: Free with reservation
Sponsor: The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens
For more information call: 626-405-2100
Or click here: https://huntington.org/event/early-books-migration-european-upheaval-and-american-collections
This lecture presents the ongoing investigation of the consequences – intended and unintended, direct and indirect – of historical policies and political events on the European book heritage that migrated to the United States, with a specific focus on 15th-century printed books, the so-called incunabula. The title of this lecture is also the title of a four-year project that Professor Dondi is leading at the University of Rome to investigate the consequences—intended and unintended, direct and indirect—of historical policies and political events on the European book heritage that migrated to the United States. Between the 18th and 20th centuries, major political changes in Europe mobilized vast quantities of early European printed heritage that ultimately formed the core of American public collections. Policies such as the secularization of religious houses implemented under Joseph II, Napoleon, the formation of the Italian, Spanish, and Greek State, and events such as the October Revolution and the two World Wars caused the sequestration, disposal, dispersal, transfer, and sale of thousands of books printed in Europe in the 15th-century, the so-called incunabula, around 50,000 of which are today preserved in hundreds of libraries in the United States. For more information and to reserve a spot, visit the above provided link.
