Spending time with books, meandering among shelves, and breathing the dusty air of silent reading rooms has always been a special treat for me. There is nothing like soaking the calm atmosphere of a library. And this is exactly what I felt last week when I went to visit the London Library in London.
I was very lucky to be shown around by two very knowledgeable members of staff, Elena Smith, Press and Marketing Manager, and Andrea Del Corno, Italian Acquisitions Officer, who took me around the Victorian corridors of such a real gem of culture.
Ugo Foscolo (on the left) and Giuseppe Mazzini (on the right)
The London Library gives shelter to a large number of Italian works, mainly in Arts, Literature and History. Thanks to its founder, Thomas Carlyle, who built it 1841, several books and Italian manuscripts were acquired from the Rolandi Bookshop, a printing shop on Berners Street in the heart of Soho which provided a stable and reliable meeting point for Italian refugees and a hub for Italian cultural activity and debate. All the major figures of Italian culture gravitated towards that shop, from Foscolo to Mazzini, Rossetti to Pepoli.
The shop is no longer there unfortunately (although at least it has not turned into a take-away but offices and an art gallery!); but its heart moved to 14 St James’ Square. And undoubtedly the friendship between Carlyle and Mazzini contributed enormously to the variety of books that were saved and that found refuge in the London Library. Mazzini himself thanked Carlyle on a number of occasions and it was interesting to read a short letter that he wrote to Carlyle accepting an invitation to supper discussing the best way of getting to his house as he could not afford a ride on the omnibus (the precursor of the famous red London bus).
I am grateful to Andrea for having shown me a fine example of a copy of the Divine Comedy edited by Ugo Foscolo which was completed by Mazzini and published in London in 1842. Shame that only the second volume is available; the first one, much more valuable (and thus expensive!), contains illustrations too. I cannot think how striking this must look and hope the Library will receive enough funding to be in the position to purchase this jewel of Italian literature.
Being a food writer, I was pleased to see a copy of my favourite chef, Pellegrino Artusi, “The Art of Eating Well”, a real masterpiece of Italian cooking which is not only educative and also very entertaining. I would recommend everyone interested in Italian cooking not to miss it. I wonder whether Mazzini and Artusi knew each other – if so I’m sure the art of eating well had an influence on the unification movements!
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For more info visit www.londonlibrary.co.uk
