The first book museums in Italy

Abstract

Just before the advent of Fascism, in Turin, in the nearby town of Carmagnola and in Florence were born the first Italian examples of book museums. It was early and exceptional experiments of valorizing of book history and of the ancient techniques of manufacturing manuals in a time of great innovation. The first, called the National Museum of the book, was opened in 1913 as a result of the exhibition of the history of printing held during the Universal Exhibition of 1911; the second, created in 1921, was the result of collecting a notable family that took up the typographic tradition of Carmagnola old more than 4 centuries; the third, said Museum of books and illumination, was the result of the exploitation of the extraordinary collections of the Medici library and of the policy pursued by the Director Guido Biagi. Of such museums, outlining the events that led to their creation, only the museum in Carmagnola has come to this day, while the others for various reasons, were closed and never reconstituted. The contribution also provides an opportunity to reflect on the creation of a new museum of the book in Italy at a time when libraries lack visibility into the organization of the Ministry of cultural heritage, which could be distributed and polycentric in the offices of the State libraries in Rome, with its hub at the National Central Library.