All the Palatine

The digitization of the Palatine Latin collection at the Vatican Library seems to now be as good as complete. But wait for the official announcement.

This is a pretty big deal, because it means the former Latin section of the University of Heidelberg Library as of 1622 has been recreated as an online avatar at Bibliotheca Palatina. The prestigious library was hauled off to Rome as war booty and only the German and Greek books later returned.

The 2,030-book collection will also constitute the first complete large collection or sublibrary at the 80,000-codex Vatican Library to be available online. (Though not at the Vatican itself, where only half of the items are so far available in the Pal.lat. online collection.)

The collection is being digitized at the University in Germany with funding from the benefactor Manfred Lautenschläger. Presumably for contractual reasons the Vatican itself can only show the digital images online after a certain delay. Here are the last 11 items I have logged:

1. Pal. lat. 1819 [Juristische Sammelhandschrift]
2. Pal. lat. 2006 Schreibkalender, Tagebuch Pfalzgraf Johann Kasimirs; Abschussliste 1582 (1582)
3. Pal. lat. 2020 Schreibkalender, Desiderata der Palatina
4. Pal. lat. 2021 Indices zu Handschriften und Drucken der Palatina
5. Pal. lat. 2022 Gebetbuch in deutscher Sprache, genealogische Notizen (16. Jh.)
6. Pal. lat. 2023 Schreibkalender, Tagebuch Kf. Friedrichs III. von der Pfalz/Pfalzgraf Johann Casimirs (1569)
7. Pal. lat. 2024 Schreibkalender, Tagebuch Kf. Ludwigs VI. von der Pfalz (1581)
8. Pal. lat. 2027 Schreibkalender, Tagebuch Kf. Ludwigs VI. von der Pfalz (1579)
9. Pal. lat. 2028 Mappe mit Einbandfragmenten (14./ 15. Jh.) (14./ 15. Jh.)
10. Pal. lat. 2029 Inventarium manuscriptorum Latinorum Bibliothecae Palatinae (17. Jh.)
11. Pal. lat. 2030 Codicum manuscriptorum Latinorum Vaticanae Palatinae Bibliothecae Index (Vatikanstadt, 1678)

Meanwhile work continues to digitize the other Vatican collections, with these 11 items arriving online in the past week:

1. Reg.lat.1521: La Bugia, Rime del Marchese M. Palombara
2. Reg.lat.1646: classics, signed by scribe William in 1270 on the last page
3. Reg.lat.1648
4. Reg.lat.1657, Cicero, Ad Familiares
5. Reg.lat.1667, Quintus Serenus Sammonicus (died 212): De medicina praecepta saluberrima, a didactic medical poem, with this lovely opening initial:
   
6. Reg.lat.1690, genealogy in German
7. Reg.lat.1694, Evrard de Bethune's Latin grammar, Graecismus
8. Reg.lat.1696, Cicero, fine Renaissance initials like this:
   
9. Urb.lat.371, Sebastiani Maccii Durantini ... Soteridos
10. Urb.lat.1061, letters and reports of 1593
11. Urb.lat.1108, letters and reports of 1639-40

This is Piggin's Unofficial List number 143. If you have corrections or additions, please use the comments box below. Follow me on Twitter (@JBPiggin) for news of more additions to DigiVatLib.