National Trust libraries: an untapped resource. A pilot study of Italian holdings at Belton House, Lincolnshire

国民信托在英国拥有并管理着150多处藏有藏书的财产，其中大部分仍保存在原主人收集和阅读这些书籍的建筑物中。在国家信托财产中，有40到50个图书馆被描述为具有“重大国家意义”（Purcell和Shenton， 2005）。这些图书馆的内容为研究英国私人图书所有权的历史提供了无与伦比的资源。迄今为止，对大多数这些馆藏所做的工作相对较少，尽管对主要图书馆进行编目的过程正在进行中，研究人员可以在Copac目录上获得结果。这个网络项目将作为一个试点研究，以展示这些令人兴奋的藏品的未来研究潜力，这些藏品是我们国家文化遗产的内在组成部分。该网络将汇集来自不同背景的有关各方，讨论初步调查结果，并就未来的发展方向进行合作。这项初步研究将通过考察宗教改革后意大利书在英国大图书馆中的地位，揭示这些不同图书馆漫长而复杂的历史的一个方面。近代早期意大利和英国之间的关系尤其丰富和复杂。一方面，意大利是英国作家、剧作家、艺术家、建筑师的文化参照点，他们从这个国家寻找榜样和灵感，而与此同时，宗教差异使天主教国家和改革后的欧洲国家分裂。英国图书馆中这一时期的意大利语书籍在多大程度上揭示了两国关系中固有的紧张关系，它们能告诉我们近代早期英国对意大利文化和历史的接受和理解？试点研究将在林肯郡的贝尔顿府进行。贝尔顿拥有信托的第二大图书馆（超过11,000种图书），由布朗洛家族的几代人收集，这些藏品已经完全编目。在这个丰富多样的图书馆中，有229件在1500年至1800年间出版的意大利语作品，涉及各种流派和主题。对这些意大利馆藏的全面分析（由PI，一位早期现代意大利文学史专家和一位专门研究书籍历史和出处的研究助理进行），包括仔细搜索读者与书籍互动的迹象，将构成研讨会演讲和初步讨论的基础。在初步分析之后将举行两个主题研讨会。第一个研讨会（在贝尔顿馆）将探讨“早期现代图书馆的文化流动性”的主题，考虑到欧洲大陆书籍进入英语馆藏的通道，以及这些文本中包含的社会和文化历史。这次活动将依靠直接访问贝尔顿收藏的文本来指导讨论，并旨在通过各种方式绘制出国家信托图书馆中的书籍可以而且应该被纳入这些房屋讲述的关于拥有它们的家庭的叙述中的地图。第二次研讨会由剑桥大学材料文本中心主办，将探讨“大图书馆：影响评估”的主题，并将寻求推进关于大图书馆馆长的新想法，与策展人自己讨论。一个展览将在贝尔顿大厦举行，向普通观众展示书和地方之间的联系。最后，一个计划会议将为一个更大的项目制定框架，该项目将涵盖欧洲主要语言，并研究宗教改革后一些英国大图书馆对欧洲大陆书籍的收购和接收情况。

The National Trust owns and manages over 150 properties in the United Kingdom that contain collections of books, the majority still housed in the buildings where they were assembled and read by their original owners. Between forty and fifty of the libraries in National Trust properties have been described as being of 'major national significance' (Purcell and Shenton, 2005). The contents of these libraries constitute an unparalleled resource for the study of the history of private book ownership in the United Kingdom. To date, comparatively little work has been done on most of these collections, although the process of cataloguing the major libraries is underway and ongoing, the results accessible to researchers on the Copac Catalogue as they become available. This network project will function as a pilot study, in order to showcase future research potential in these exciting collections, which form an intrinsic part of our national cultural heritage. The network will bring together interested parties from a variety of backgrounds to discuss initial findings and collaborate on the way forward in future. The pilot study will shed light on one aspect of the long and intricate history of these various libraries, by examining the place of Italian books in an English great house library in the wake of the Reformation. The relationship between Italy and England in the early modern period is particularly rich and complex. On the one hand, Italy acted as a cultural reference point for English writers, dramatists, artists, architects, who looked to that country for models and inspiration, while at the same time religious differences divided the countries of Catholic and reformed Europe. How far do the Italian books in an English library from this period reveal the tensions inherent in the relationship between the two countries, and what can they tell us about the reception and understanding of Italian culture and history in England in the early modern period?The pilot study will take place at Belton House in Lincolnshire. Belton houses the Trust's second largest library (over 11,000 titles), assembled by successive generations of the Brownlow family, and the collection has been fully catalogued. Within this rich and varied library are 229 works in Italian published between 1500 and 1800, across a variety of genres and subjects. A full analysis of these Italian holdings (conducted by the PI, a specialist in Italian literary history of the early modern period, and a research assistant specialising in book history and provenance), including a careful search for signs of readers' interaction with the books, will form the basis for the workshop presentations and initial discussion.Two themed workshops will follow the initial analysis. The first workshop (at Belton House) will explore the theme of 'Cultural mobility in the early modern library', considering the passage of continental books into English collections, and the social and cultural history contained in these texts. This event will rely on direct access to texts from the Belton collection to guide discussion, and will aim to map the various ways in which the books in National Trust libraries can and should be drawn into the narratives that these houses tell about the families that owned them. The second workshop, hosted by the Centre for Material Texts at the University of Cambridge, will explore the theme of 'Great House libraries: an assessment of impact', and will seek to advance new ideas about the curatorship of great house libraries, in discussion with the curators themselves. An exhibition will be held at Belton House showcasing the connections between book and place for a general audience. Finally, a planning meeting will put in place the framework for a larger project, spanning major European languages, and looking at the acquisition and reception of continental books in a number of English great house libraries after the Reformation.