Archivio dei possessori

The AP is a project collecting data and photographic records of data referring to the owners of the Library’s printed books and manuscripts: bookplates, stamps, ownership and readers’ notes, and binding marks. The project aims at reconstructing the history of the Library’s holdings and of every single item. It is part of a broader project supported by the Marciana focusing on the history of its holdings and collections, as well as on single exemplars, and is linked to the cataloguing of ancient printed books and manuscripts. The software was designed from the outset to integrate data from several libraries. Indeed, the Biblioteca Universitaria di Padova and the Fondazione Giorgio Cini in Venice insert its own data in the AP. The AP includes records provided with free access images and is constantly expanding. It catalogues identified and unidentified owners, in order to facilitate recognition. Although data can be simply consulted by browsing, it is also possible to query the system starting with ownership marks, the owner’s name and shelfmark. Every record indicates one (or more than one) shelfmark and each is linked to its online cataloguing description. Thus, AP consultation is complementary to catalogue consultation. The AP is supplied with a brief “User’s Guide” where common­use abbreviations are also indicated.