Early printed books

This part of the virtual exhibit allows the discovery of some of the "treasures" of Angelo Sraffa's legal book collection. In the past, the fonds had become separated and dispersed within the broader heritage of the Library. Only a few years ago was it possible to restore its original completeness thanks to the owner's bookplate.

Ansaldis, Ansaldo. Discursus legales de commercio et mercatura. (Coloniæ Allobrogum : apud fratres De Tournes, 1698).

The bookplate offers evidence of a refined antiquarian culture. It depicts two women, one holding a mirror and the other a scale, identifiable with the cardinal virtues of Prudence and Justice. Inside a frame in the center of the depiction is the motto: Quod tibi fieri non vis, alteri ne feceris (Latin for ‘Do unto others as you would have them do unto you’). The image is a copy of the typographic printer's mark used at the turn of the second half of the 17th century and the beginning of the 18th century by the Genevan publisher Samuel De Tournes, a member of a well-known family of printers who used this mark for folio editions. Among the antique editions in Angelo Sraffa's library is a copy of the folio edition of Ansaldo Ansaldi's Discursus legales de commercio et mercatura (see photo), published in 1698 in Geneva by the De Tournes brothers, whose editorial brand is the image and motto copied by Sraffa for his bookplate. (In the photo is the volume of the Discursus that belonged to Sraffa with his bookplate on the front cover sheet).