Bibliographic Collections

The Library possesses about 400,000 volumes, of which about 60,000 are still contained in the ancient Monumental Hall. Within this library holdings are over 120,000 ancient printed books and more than 6,000 manuscripts.

The original core

From the very beginning, the variety and plurality of interests characterised the character of the Antiquarian Library desired by Cardinal Casanate at the service of its most frequent users: artists, curials, preachers and professors. Father Mattia’s ‘libraria’, the primitive nucleus of the collection, was in fact a collection of volumes on various subjects, from law to patristic literature, from sacred and liturgical texts to books on history and politics, Latin and Greek classics and works on scientific subjects.

The 18th-century acquisitions

Subsequent acquisitions, the result of a policy that drew on both the antiquarian market and current production, were overseen by leading figures in the Casanatense such as Prefects Agnani, Schiara and Audiffredi, who made the Library an internationally renowned institution that excelled among Roman libraries, increasing the universality of its collections that would characterise it until the mid-19th century.

The development of the collection

The editions from 1830 to the present day constitute the ‘modern’ side of the Library’s holdings, which are continuously updated along the lines of certain thematic paths marked out by the Dominican Fathers who founded it.

Read more:

La Biblioteca Casanatense, Firenze, Nardini, 1993

A. A. Cavarra, Cronaca Casanatense: centocinquant’anni di gestione laica, Roma, Il Sextante, 2023

For more information on the library’s collections and holdings