Ancient Books. The Library of the Institute of Philological Research

In 1495, the renowned humanist and printer Aldus Manutius made a sincere promise to support young people in their studies of “fine literature” by providing them with “accurate” editions of Greek and Latin authors: “though we have fallen into these turbulent, tumultuous, and miserable times, in which weapons are more often handled than books […] I will not rest until a significant number of good books have been produced.” The passion for teaching through printed word has distinguished figures as geographically and temporally distant as the Italian Manutius, the philosopher Juan Benito Díaz de Gamarra (1745-1783) in the New Spain, or the French naturalist and botanist Georges-Louis Leclerc (1707-1788), better known as Count Buffon. The library of UNAM’s Institute of Philological Research (IIFL) preserves ancient editions of these three authors, along with works by other scholars from the modern era who dedicated their lives to the study of sacred and secular sciences, making significant contributions to the arts of the book.

The exhibition Bibliographic Samples from the Zesati-Rougier Ancient Collection at the Rubén Bonifaz Nuño Library of the IIFL, inaugurated on September 12, 2024, aims to disseminate these valuable human, technical, and artistic testimonies. In 2019, UNAM acquired this collection thanks to the efforts of Mario Humberto Ruz Sosa, former director of the institute, and of our rector, Leonardo Lomelí Vanegas. José Luis Martínez González, coordinator of the IIFL library, explains that the Zesati-Rougier Ancient Collection is part of the Félix de Jesús Rougier collection from the Institute of Humanities and Sciences A. C., inaugurated in 1988 with books from the Missionaries of the Holy Spirit. From 1988 to 2013, Carlos Zesati Estrada, a doctor in Sacred Scriptures and professor of Classical Literature at UNAM, managed the collection and ensured its integrity. The civil association for Support to the Development of Archives and Libraries (ADABI) assisted in cataloging the new university collection, and under the coordination of Elvia Carreño Velázquez, an acknowledged researcher at the IIFL, a detailed bibliographic catalog was produced.

Located in a restrained room on the second floor of the library, the Zesati-Rougier Ancient Collection consists of over 3,000 volumes published between the 16^th and 18^th centuries, during the era of manual printing. Nearly 47 per cent of the books are in Latin, and 46 per cent in Spanish, with the remainder comprising 45 trilingual editions (Bibles in Hebrew, Greek, and Latin) and several works in French, English, and German. On its beautiful wooden shelves, the collection preserves books richly decorated with architectural covers, alongside others illustrated with various engraving techniques. Some volumes feature urban or topographic maps, while others contain mathematical or physical tables and diagrams. The collection also includes ancient Roman breviaries, with their distinctive musical notation in red and black ink.

The university’s bibliographic heritage and the study of the history of modern printing—of which Mexican printing is also a part—find an invaluable resource in the Zesati-Rougier Collection. Prominent printers and booksellers in this collection include Estienne, Elzevier, Giunti, Plantin, Anisson, Orga, Ibarra, Ribera Calderón, Eguiara and Eguren, Zúñiga and Ontiveros, De la Rosa, and Galván; each recognized for their unique editions.

The selection of items for the exhibition, as well as the creation of bibliographic notes and descriptions, was carried out by 28 students and professionals who attended the presential course “History of Books and Publishing in the Colonial Era”, taught by the author of this article at the Department of Continuing Education of the IIFL, from February 14 to April 24, 2024. As part of the course, the students visited the collection several times to work with the books of their interest. Many were drawn to the materiality of the books: the origin and quality of the paper, the formats, the bindings, and the ownership marks (seals, ex-libris). A few students chose to study typographic techniques and letter designs, while others focused on editorial practices of the time, such as the inclusion of portraits of authors in the preliminaries to legitimize the editions, or the use of emblems by printers as commercial trademarks. In relation to this, two variants of the famous festina lente (“approach slowly”), a symbol of Manutius’ press, are exhibited, represented by an anchor and a dolphin.

The exhibition’s organization and the design of the explanatory labels were the result of collaboration between José Luis Martínez, coordinator of the IIFL library; Óscar Admín Reyes Ruiz, and José Fernando Benítez Mondragón, graduates in History; and the author of this article. The Bibliographic Samples from the Zesati-Rougier Ancient Collection exhibition will be on display until December 13, 2024.

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