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Maximus Family Collection
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Maximum Family Collection

Part of the book collection that belonged to the Princes Maximus Family was acquired by the Angelica Library in Rome at the end of the 19th century, specifically between 1883 and 1884, through the interest of the then director, Ettore Novelli. It consists in particular of 171 manuscript and 428 printed works, book and documentary material relating to the 16th-19th centuries, particularly rare and valuable, interesting historical evidence of the social, political and cultural life of Rome. The oldest nucleus, about twenty manuscript works, come from the library of Cardinal Camillo II Massimo (1620-1677), a leading figure in the artistic and cultural scene of Baroque Rome, a passionate researcher of statues, epigraphs, coins, drawings and, of course, books.[dt_divider style=”thin” /]

 

Notable among the manuscripts belonging to him now in Angelica are the Raccolta di iscrizioni esistenti in Roma e altre città d’Italia, a work by Alonsius Ciacconius from the sec. XVI, extremely rich in drawings, and for its uniqueness, the Collection of Images of Mexican, Japanese and Indian Deities, probably acquired by Cardinal Camillo during the time of his nunciature in Spain; drawn on sheets of rice paper, it constitutes a very rare testimony to the civilization and religiosity of pre-Columbian America.[dt_divider style=”thin” /]

 

The Massimo Family Fund also includes, in addition to the books that had belonged to Cardinal Camillo, those texts that his descendants, who were passionate about artistic and medieval things and anything that could bring prestige to their family, had purchased at public auctions and from antiquarian booksellers in Rome and abroad.[dt_divider style=”thin” /]

 

Bibliography:
From Palazzo Massimo to the Angelica, manuscripts and printed books of an ancient Roman family – Ministry for Cultural and Environmental Heritage, Angelica Library; edited by Nicoletta Muratore, Rome, Palombi 1997.

Part of the book collection that belonged to the Princes Maximus Family was acquired by the Angelica Library in Rome at the end of the 19th century, specifically between 1883 and 1884, through the interest of the then director, Ettore Novelli. It consists in particular of 171 manuscript and 428 printed works, book and documentary material relating to the 16th-19th centuries, particularly rare and valuable, interesting historical evidence of the social, political and cultural life of Rome. The oldest nucleus, about twenty manuscript works, come from the library of Cardinal Camillo II Massimo (1620-1677), a leading figure in the artistic and cultural scene of Baroque Rome, a passionate researcher of statues, epigraphs, coins, drawings and, of course, books.

 

The Massimo Family Fund also includes, in addition to the books that had belonged to Cardinal Camillo, those texts that his descendants, who were passionate about artistic and medieval things and anything that could bring prestige to their family, had purchased at public auctions and from antiquarian booksellers in Rome and abroad.

 

Bibliography:
From Palazzo Massimo to the Angelica, manuscripts and printed books of an ancient Roman family – Ministry for Cultural and Environmental Heritage, Angelica Library; edited by Nicoletta Muratore, Rome, Palombi 1997.