Sixteenth century books from the Library of Gian Rinaldo Carli High School in Koper

Abstract

What are they, how many are there, and in what condition are the sixteenth century books found in the Library of the Gian Rinaldo Carli High School in Koper? These are some of the questions answered in this article. In addition to providing a detailed catalogued and physical description of the aforementioned books, I also analysed them in order to determine their historical, and even more importantly, their pedagogical profile. Therefore, this article consists of three parts. Firstly I pre- sent a historical outline of the library and books deposited in it, then I analyse the sixteenth century books found in the library, and finally, I provide their catalogued and physical description. The analysis focuses on the volumes which are marked by affiliation, the marking which determines that they belong to the Collegium/High School or to the private individuals who were in some way connected with the insti- tution, or from whose hands the books were passed on to the library. Beginning with the typology of the books found in the library, I apply the results to other volumes in the collection and thus confirm that most of them had didactic purpose because these are mostly classic works, from philosophy to history, rhetoric, politics, literature, and educational texts. In short, they represent the core from which the Library of the Gian Rinaldo Carli High School in Koper was created.