Joanina Digital - beyond the screen

This edition, dated from 1697, belongs to the dissemination of the Roman Breviary according to the post-Tridentine directives. A liturgical book, it is intended for the prayer of the canonical hours, and is printed in red and black, with text in two columns and engravings. This typology of works is representative of the specificity of the liturgical rites of each religious community, giving it its own identity.

The composition of the present copy contains two main titles: The Breviarium Romanum of 1697 and the Officia propria Sanctorum trium ordinum S.P.N. Francisci, of 1700, of the same workshop. To the first, 11 separate Letters are added. To the second, 20 Offices and Supplements mostly related to the Order of Friars Minor, both with printing licenses dated between 1703 and 1739.

The relevance of this copy is also due to its singular materiality. The binding, made with leather-covered wood folders and incorporating decorative motifs, retains traces of 2 metal clasps.

A Civil Law work, by Pio Antonio Bartolini, which organizes, in three parts, his reflections around a set of seven new laws. As a complete incunabulum, it represents a rare specimen in the international context (not previously documented in the national context) and it stands out for its excellent state of conservation.

This work is also illustrative of the history of the Library itself and of its cataloguing and reading practices, as it contains handwritten records of notes, old shelfmarks and even a reading record, whose last entry points to the month of April, 1790.

We highlight the particular techniques used in its assembling, such as the use of a set of white sheets within the body of the book, which, in addition to marking the materiality of this copy, contributed to its exceptional preservation. The eighteenth-century leather binding presents the super-libros of the University Library, engraved with gilding iron tools on the upper folder.

Another example of a rare Civil Law work, published by Ludovicus Miraeus, this book was printed by Charlotte Guillard and Guillaume Desbois, in 1550. The Code served as a fundamental reference on Roman law for legal scholars and was considered a landmark of feudal and imperial law.

The work presented is an imperfect, truncated copy, because it lacks the title page, the initial 92 unnumbered pages at the beginning of the work, columns 1-1024 and the last unnumbered sheet, for reasons unknown to us. It does not have the original binding, a reason that, associated with its fragile state of conservation, may have resulted in the loss of the initial and final pages.

This edition is considered rare because only one other copy has been found on the national platform of libraries in Switzerland, without any other reference in other major international libraries and platforms.

The Collection of Miscellanies, or Miscellanic Collection, as it was named by its former owner/collector, is distinguished by the quality and variety of its subjects.

Acquired by the General Library of the University of Coimbra from the Reverend José Pedro Hasse de Belém, a high-ranking dignitary of the Lisbon church, it is a precious library of manuscripts and printed documents containing the collection of miscellanies. Subsequently, numerous volumes of disparate origins and diverse subjects (funeral orations, academic eulogies, sermons, panegyrics, etc.) were added to Monsignor Hasse's miscellany collection.

Referred to as pamphlets, or opuscules, in prose or verse, containing religious, political, cultural propaganda, etc., these works generally consist of no more than 48 pages, bound in paperback.

The pamphlets on display were part of the first stage of the Joanina Digital Project, and they include descriptions of voyages made by Portuguese navigators to the Gulf and Arabian Peninsula.

The Pleasant Gallery of the World was printed in Leiden (Netherlands) circa 1729 by Pierre Vander Aa (1659-1733), a renowned geographer, publisher, and bookseller responsible for publishing important collections of travel, natural science, and antiquities.

The Joanina Library's copy is bound in 32 volumes, totaling 66 tomes. The illustrations were drawn on-site and engraved by Luyken, Mulder, Goerée, Baptist, Stopendaal, and other renowned masters, and they are preceded by a brief description that accompanies each engraving and caption.

As the title suggests, the work consists of a large number of maps and engravings of the major empires, kingdoms, republics, provinces, cities, towns, and fortresses of the time, depicting geography, fauna, and flora, as well as buildings, costumes, and customs, and historical or religious events, across multiple latitudes. Volumes 24 and 25 stand out, divided into 4 tomes, which recreate parts of the broad geography of the Middle East (Arabia, Holy Land, Anatolia and Assyria).

Friar João Torriano (1611-1679) was a Benedictine monk and architect, chief engineer of the Portuguese kingdom. He was the son of Leonardo Torriani, whom he succeeded, and the brother of Diogo Torriano, of the Aula de Risco (Drawing Class) of the Paço da Ribeira, Lisbon.

João Torriani was invited by King João IV to design the Monastery of Santa Clara-a-Nova, Coimbra, by Royal Order of June 19, 1649. For several years, João Torriani designed several religious buildings, and also taught Mathematics at the University of Coimbra.

The work of Andrea Palladio (1508-1580), a Venetian architect, was inspired by the thinking of architects Vitruvius and Alberti, and he became a member of the prestigious Academy of Florence. He published the work L'architettura… divisa in quattro libri, a fundamental work for the history of modern architecture.

The former owner, whose autograph signature can be found on the title page, is a testament to the fact that João Torriani had a deep interest in the historical evolution of architecture.

In 1583, Leonardo Torriani (ca. 1560-1628), an Italian architect in the service of the Spanish Crown, was appointed chief engineer by Philip II. It was in this capacity that he visited the island of Palma to study, design, and build the necessary fortifications for the island. In Portugal, he was commissioned to build the Fort of São Lourenço do Bugio (1594), the Fort of São Julião da Barra (1597), and the Fort of São Filipe de Setúbal (1598).

His six-year stay in the archipelago resulted in a highly curious album with the Description and History of the Kingdom of the Canary Islands. Written between 1560 and 1595, the work included 66 watercolor drawings of maps, landscapes, towns, plans of the archipelago's fortresses, walls, and bastions.

More than a mere technical report on fortifications, this is a decisive source for the history of the Canary Islands, combining ethnographic, historical-geographical, and cartographic descriptions. It reveals Leonardo Torriani's exceptional qualities as a cartographer and draftsman of town plans in the 16th century.

The codex preserved at the University's General Library is the only known copy of the original manuscript, written in Italian by the author himself.