05/12/23

LIBRORUM FRAGMENTA: Incunabula and manuscripts reused in the Historical Library

EXHIBITION From December 13, 2023 to April 7, 2024 in Sala Duc de Calàbria

Tuesday - Saturday, 10:00 - 14:00 h  16:00 - 20:00 h
Sundays and holidays, 10:00 - 14:00 h    Closed Monday

In general, all books, and especially medieval incunabula and manuscripts, have been exposed, from the beginning, to deterioration. Located in front of the cliff: they have been ruined by inadequate conservation, frequent, constant and intense consultation by user-readers; Likewise, the passage of time has aged them and, on occasions, the subject matter has also been considered obsolete.

Having reached this point, the people in charge of its custody have estimated that certain volumes, taking into account both their physical and textual state, were useless. From this moment on, they were given another use, transforming them into materials intended to be reused. Many of those books, battered and dilapidated, were sold on the second-hand market, where different professionals came to stock up on old and deteriorated parchments and papers, with the intention of recycling them in their respective trades.

15/11/23

Christmas timetable 2023

The opening hours of the Historical Library during the Christmas holidays will be as follows:

Sala Pérez Bayer (researchers):

- Open: December 27, 28 and 29 from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

- Closed: 25,26 and from December 30 to January 7

You can consult the Christmas timetables of the other libraries of the University of Valencia.

24/10/23

Valencian Book Day: Tornem al Tirant!

On the occasion of the Valencian Book Day 2023, the Biblioteca Històrica is organizing the continuous reading of Tirant lo Blanc by Joanot Martorell, Tuesday 21 November from 10:00 am. The aim of the initiative is to promote the knowledge of the Valencian language and culture, to introduce Valencian authors and works and to bring the bibliographic heritage closer to the whole of society.

For this reason, the library will be closed on November 21.

To take part in the reading, call 96 162 55 86 (from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.), from Monday to Friday.

Encourage yourself to participate! Llegim Tirant!

10/10/23

Desaparecido: the eventful voyage of the Liber Augustalis.

We present “Desaparecido: the eventful voyage of the Liber Augustalis”, the first book in the Inutilitas Librorum series.

The Historical Library of the University of Valencia and the publishing house Publicaciones de la Universitat (PUV) have started Inutilitas Librorum, a new series of monographs on ancient books, the management of bibliographic heritage, the collections of heritage libraries and the tools for their study. The objective is to disseminate studies on these topics and encourage research on the heritage collections that the Historical Library of the University of Valencia preserves.

The series is included in the Cinc Segles institutional collection and has an advisory board made up of professionals and researchers of recognized national and international prestige.

Desaparecido, number 1 of this series, tells an interesting and unknown story. On November 26, 1940, the Historical Library of the University of Valencia reported the disappearance of the manuscript of the Liber Augustalis, which had been part of the library of the kings of Aragon in Naples (15th century). A century later, the dukes of Calabria would give it to the monastery of San Miguel de los Reyes de València. In 1837, on the occasion of the confiscation of Mendizábal, this valuable manuscript would be kept by the University Library. Now, eighty-three years later, his whereabouts have been located. An exhaustive study of the existing documentation has allowed us to conclude that the manuscript currently kept in the Peralada Palace Library is none other than the one that disappeared from our library in 1940.

Buy                    Link to Roderic

21/06/23

Summer timetable 2023

June:
- Saturdays: closed from June 24 (included)

Sala Pérez Bayer  (researchers)

July:
- From Monday to Friday: from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. and from 3:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

- Saturdays: closed

August:
​- Monday to Friday: from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

- Saturdays: closed

Closed from August 7 to 27

Sala Duc de Calabria  (exhibitions)

- From Monday to Friday: from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. and from 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
- August, Sundays and holidays: from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

You can check the summer timetable of the other UV libraries.