Jesuit Books and Libraries in Europe, 1540s-1770s
The European Jesuit Libraries Provenance Project
This is the largest census of books owned by European Jesuit institutions prior to the suppression. It includes both texts currently held in libraries and information from pre-1773 inventories, and is an ongoing project created by Kathleen Comerford (Georgia Southern University).
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The EJLPP depends not only on libraries willing to share their collections, but on student interns. Our tenth assistant, Baoxin Lau (BA student), completed her semester with us in Spring 2021! Since then, we've had four more students, including the prize-winning Mady Bullard (see the About Us section for more), who is currently pursuing a degree in Library and Information Studies at Valdosta State. Students have created and maintained the Digital Commons site, worked on biographies for Jesuit authors, and helped me create the lists of women printers. I'm so proud of the work they all have done, and grateful to Georgia Southern for its support of student and faculty research.
Our Source Collections
University, Private, and Public Libraries We Have Consulted On Site (in Alphabetical Order)
The Beinecke Library, Yale University, New Haven, CT (photo displayed above; credit: Comerford, October 2016. Copyright information for photos taken at the Beinecke is available here). Part of this research was supported by a grant from the Beinecke Library.
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Biblioteca Comunale dell'Arciginnasio, Bologna, Italy
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Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale, Florence, Italy
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BPEB (Library of the Episcopal Seminary of Barcelona) (for more, see the blog post from 6/10/2019).
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The British Library, with the help of Michael Davies-Powell (for more, see "About Us," under Individuals)
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CRAI (Learning and Research Resources Centre) Biblioteca de Fons Antic (Rare Book and Manuscript CRAI Library) at the University of Barcelona (for more, see the blog post from 6/10/2019).
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John Carter Brown Library, Brown University, Providence, RI
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Emory University Rose Library and Pitts Theology Library, Atlanta, GA. See the blog post from 3/25/2019 for information on a presentation we gave there.
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The Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington, DC (Copyright information for photos taken at Folger is available here)
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Georgetown University: Woodstock Theological Library and Lauinger Library, Washington, DC
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Hendrik Conscience Library, Antwerp
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Katholieke Universiteit Leuven libraries, Leuven
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Library of Congress, Washington, DC
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Marsh's Library, Dublin, Ireland
The Martinus Bibliothek (Mainz, Germany), with the help of Elisa Frei (for more, see "About Us," under Individuals)
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Maurits Sabbe Library at KU Leuven
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Princeton University Firestone Library and Princeton University Marquand Art Library, Princeton, NJ. Part of this research was supported by a grant from the Princeton University Friends of the Library.
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University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium
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The Wissenschaftliche Stadtbibliothek (Mainz, Germany), with the help of Elisa Frei (for more, see "About Us," under Individuals)
Yale University Law Library, New Haven, CT
Archives We Have Consulted On Site (in Alphabetical Order)
Archivio Arcivescovile di Bologna, Bologna, Italy
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Archivio di Stato di Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy
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Archivio di Stato di Firenze, Florence, Italy
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Archivio di Stato di Modena, Modena, Italy
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Archivum Romanum Societatis Iesu, Rome, Italy
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Plantin-Moretus Museum, Library, and Archive, Antwerp, Belgium (photo displayed above; credit: Comerford, August 2016)
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Rijksarchief Antwerpen, Antwerp
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Rijksarchief Leuven, Leuven
We have also used the online catalogues of many libraries, including those at the University of Texas at Austin, University of Pennsylvania, the Biblioteca de Castilla-La Mancha, Biblioteca Centrale della Regione Siciliana, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze, Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Roma, Biblioteca Regionale Universitaria di Messina, Austrian National Library, Morgan Library, Boston College Library, Newberry Library, various libraries at Durham University, New York Public Library, Biblioteca Trivulziana of Milan, Duke University Library, University of Kent Libraries, Royal Library of Belgium, Cambridge University, Emory University, University of Glasgow, Biblioteca Augusta di Perugia, Harvard University, the British Library, National Library of Medicine (Bethesda, MD), Universidad Pontificio de Comillas, Scottish National Library, University of London, McGill University, Universidad de Sevilla, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Hereford Cathedral Library, Biblioteca Provinciale dei Cappuccini di Palermo, Biblioteca Statale Isontina Gorizia, and the Biblioteca centrale della Regione siciliana (Palermo); the digital collections at Hathitrust, Google Books, Bayerische StaatsBibliothek digital, LIAS (KU Leuven), archive.org, Internet Culturale, Pinterest, canadiana.ca, and the Pre-Reformation Digital Library; historic and current auction and bookseller catalogues of Sotheby's, Forum Auctions, liberantiquus.com, Bayntum, abebooks.com, Nederlandsche Vereeniging van Antiquaren, antiqbook.com, Classic Books and Ephemera, Govi, Philobiblion, Law Book Exchange, abaa.com, Quaritch, Fondo Antiguo, Christie's; and printed sources on the Jesuit studies as well as on the history of books and printing.