The Vatican Library: Selected References

Research Guide No. 3
Compiled by Cheryl Adams and Pablo Calván, Reference Specialists
January 1993

The vast treasures of the Vatican Library reflect a long and fascinating history of acquisition efforts and papal influence. Following are citations to books and articles in English which may interest those wishing to know more about these collections and how they came to be. This bibliography was created to coincide with the exhibition "Rome Reborn: The Vatican Library and Renaissance Culture," which was on display at the Library of Congress from January 8 to April 30, 1993. The illustration in the banner above is from the Prognostichon Hierosolymitanum, a 16th-century Latin mansucript by papal functionary Giovanni Michele Nagonio.

Baumgarten, Paul Maria.
"The Vatican Library." In The Vatican: its history--its treasures. Edited by by Ernesto Begni, James C. Grey, and Thomas J. Kennedy. New York: Letters and Arts Pub. Co., [1914]. Pp. 431-472 : ill., facsims.
LC call number: N2940.B5

Burton, Margaret.
Famous libraries of the world : their history, collections, and administrations. With an
introduction by Arundell Esdaile. London : Grafton & Co., 1937. -- xix, 458 p., xxxi plates
(incl. front. port. 1 fold), plans.
LC call number: Z721.B97

Section on the Vatican Library: pp. 282-303.

Carlen, Claudia, I.H.M.
"Popes and the Vatican Library." In Translatio studii : manuscript and library studies honoring Oliver L. Kapsner. Edited by Julian G. Plante. Collegeville, Minn.: published for the Monastic Manuscript Microfilm Library by St. John's University Press, 1973. Pp. 39-47.
LC call number: Z1005.T83

Clark, J.W.
"On the Vatican Library of Sixtus IV." In Cambridge Antiquarian Society. Proceedings and Communications. Vol. 10 (Mar. 6, 1899). Pp. 11-61.
LC call number: CC23.C2

Fifth centenary of the Vatican Library. 1475-1975 : catalogue of the exhibition. [Vatican City?]: Biblioteca apostolica vaticana, 1975. xxvii, 153 p., lxv p. of plates : col. ill.
LC call number: Z810.B43 B5 1975

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

John Paul II, Pope, 1920-
"Address at the inauguration of the expanded Vatican Library." In L'Osservatore Romano. Mar. 26, 1984; p. 4.
LC call number: Newspaper 0880 (request in Newspaper and Current Periodical Reading Room)

Lomer, G.R.
"A short list of references to the Vatican Library." In Library quarterly. Vol. 9 (Oct. 1939) ; p. 404-410.
LC call number: Z671.L713

Orcutt, William Dana.
The magic of the book : more reminiscences and adventures of a bookman. Boston: Little,
Brown, & Co., 1930. 4 p. leaves, vii-xii, 314, [2] p. : ill. incl. plates, col. front., plates (1 col.),
ports. (1 col.), facsims.
LC call number: Z4.O66

Notes of a visitor to the Library.

Rome reborn : the Vatican Library and Renaissance culture. Anthony Grafton, editor. Washington: Library of Congress, 1993. xxvi, 323 p. : ill.
LC call number: CB361.R66 1993

Catalog of the exhibition held at the Library of Congress, Washington, D.C., Jan. 6-Apr. 30, 1993.

Sayle, Charles.
"The Vatican Library." In The Library. Vol. 6 (Nov.-Dec. 1894). Pp. 327-343; 371-385.
LC call number: Z671.L69

Sladen, Douglas Brooke Wheelton.
How to see the Vatican. With sixty half-tone plates and a map. London: K. Paul, Trench, Trübner, & Co. ltd. ; New York : J. Pott and Co., 1914. xxxi, 441 [1] p. : ill. front., 59 plates (incl. plans).
LC call number: N2940.S5

Section on the Library: Pp. 213-241.

Thompson, James Westfall, 1869-1941.
The medieval library. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1939. viii, 681, [1] p.
LC call number: Z723.T47

Reprinted with a supplement by Blanche B. Boyer in New York by Hafner Pub. Co. in 1957. Description of the Vatican Library begins on p. 561.

Tisserant, Eugène, Cardinal.
"Pius XI as librarian." In Library quarterly. Vol. 9 (Oct. 1939). Pp. 389-403; photo.
LC call number: Z671.L713

The Vatican Library : its history and treasures. Edited under the patronage of Alfons Maria Cardinal Stickler and Leonard Eugene Boyle; text, Maria Siponta De Salvia; English text, Brigitte Weitbrecht. Yorktown Heights, N.Y.: Belser, c1989. 277 p. : ill. (some col.)
LC call number: Z810.B43 B5 1989

The Vatican Library. Two papers by Monsignor Eugène Tisserant and Theodore Wesley
Koch. Jersey City, N.J.: Snead and Co., 1929. 40, [2] p., 1 leaf incl. front. : ill. ports, plan.
LC call number: Z810.R76 V3