Organised by the Department of Italian Studies and Medieval and Early Modern Centre with the University of Sydney Library

Inspired giving: the Dante collection in the University of Sydney Library

From the earliest years of the Library’s history, gifts have shaped the collections as much as acquisitions. The strength of Fisher Library’s Italian collection lies in the breadth and depth of its holdings in Italian literature and philology, and in its extraordinary Dante collection. This talk celebrates Dante, our benefactors, and our librarians. As well as talking about the collection as a whole, it will look at two remarkable volumes: our 1497 edition of the Commedia, in which librarian Kim Wilson recently noticed – and asked questions about – an inscription dated 1510, marking the death of the Venetian painter Giorgione, and a drawing that has now been attributed to him; and a facsimile of the first printed edition of the Commedia, printed in Foligno in 1472, to be presented to the Library on behalf of the Dante Alighieri Society. These and other volumes will be on display.

Nerida Newbigin is an emeritus professor in Italian Studies at the University of Sydney. Publications since her retirement in 2008 include Acting on Faith: The Confraternity of the Gonfalone in Renaissance Rome (Saint Joseph’s University Press, 2013), with Barbara Wisch, and a critical edition of the Codice Rustici (Olschki, 2015), with Kathleen Olive. She is just finalising a monographic study of Florentine religious drama, Making a Play for God: The sacre rappresentazioni of Renaissance Florence.

For more information, contact: Associate Professor Francesco Borghesi – francesco.borghesi@sydney.edu.au