Personality book collections. The Carlo Petrucci collection, "La Magna Capitana" Library, Foggia

Abstract

Grazia Carbonella

Personality book collections. The Carlo Petrucci collection, "La Magna Capitana" Library, Foggia.

Interest in personality book collections recently triggered a new approach to the librarian’s work, conflating the usual description of single units with an archival vision focused on groups of documents, their context, and their historical layering. Many such studies were devoted to writers’ book legacies, not so many to musicians’ and music professionals’ ones. This essay describes the Petrucci collection at the “La Magna Capitana” Library, Foggia, hosting some of the books owned by Carlo Petrucci (1915-2010), a Discoteca di Stato consultant and SIAE inspector, together with those of his uncle, Armando Petrucci (1886-1952), a conductor. Their original context and use were reconstructed through careful study of their physical conditions — their unique bindings, annotations, dedications, and wear — and the historical sequence originating the entire collection. The above-cited dual study approach was thus tested, proving that it can open up multiple and often unexpected research paths.