The Dante Collection in the University Library is the fruit of enlightened philanthropy, obsession and generosity, and wilful overspending. Nerida Newbigin will talk about Dante Alighieri (1260–1321), the illustrated manuscripts of the Divine Comedy (of which we have various facsimile editions), the earliest printed editions (including one of Fisher’s oldest printed books, the 1477 edition printed in Venice), the commentaries, and the invention of the ‘paperback’ in 1502. She will also talk about the individuals who shaped the collection: Sir Charles Nicholson, benefactor of the Nicholson Museum and the Library, Dr WJS McKay, a gynaecologist at Lewisham Hospital for Woman, who gifted a huge collection in 1919, and Frederick May, first professor of Italian at the University.
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