Giampaolo Soranzo Collection

Collection of military art and science publications, published from the 16th to the 20th century, collected by Giampaolo Soranzo from the mid-1960s onwards.

 

Contents of the collection

The collection contains 324 works, in 541 volumes, relating to military art and science, printed over four centuries, starting in 1582, with the publication of Brancatio, della vera disciplina, et arte militare by Giulio Cesare Brancaccio, all the way to 1982, with the anastatic edition of Della fortificatione delle città by Girolamo Maggi, a book published in 1583.

The collection specialises on a narrow range of subjects, starting with military art and science, documented by general works that contain all subjects required for the training of officers and which include military academy glossaries, dictionaries and textbooks.

There follow the military corps – mainly infantry and cavalry – with many volumes of instructions and graphic plates that trace the evolution, behaviour and movements of various national armies; artillery with detailed descriptions of firearms; the navy, with works on naval tactics and navigation methods; and the air force and the first chemical weapons in the volumes that date back to the early 20th century.

Works on strategy and tactics include many examples of military operations led by Frederick II of Prussia and Napoleon I. Fortifications, divided into permanent and field (or temporary), are discussed in works on the study and application of fortifications in tactics, that is to say their use for attack and defence.

The collection also contains documentation on military engineering and architecture, and military history – from the origins to the end of the 19th century – especially for the period of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars, with a particular focus on the figure of Napoleon and his army.

The texts are mainly in French and Italian; 1 was published in the 16th century, 40 in the 17th century, 133 in the 18th century, 294 in the 19th century, 73 in the early 20th century. Due to the collection’s nature, the volumes are rich in plates (6,575 charts, illustrations, battle plans, army manoeuvres, etc.), including 278 geographic maps. There is a significant number of ex libris, statements of ownership, autographs, dedications, marginal notes, which indicate their provenance from dissolved convents and monasteries, military academies, antiquarian bookshops and which constitutes, therefore, an element of additional interest, as it pertains to bibliology, the history of libraries and book collecting.

The main part of the collection, which was obtained in 2001, was later supplemented by about 90 publications on the same subjects, and a small collection of periodicals.

 

Search instruments

Library catalogue for the entire collection and, with regard to the 2001 acquisition, printed catalogue.

 

Accessibility conditions

May be browsed on request in the library.

 

Method of acquisition

The collection was acquired in 2001 and supplemented in 2004