A standout among thousands...
A standout among thousands...
Women's marks of ownership in Catalan convent collections
Owning a book, contemplating it, remembering where it came from, leafing through it, reading it. Any of these ‘moments’ of the book in relation to its owner point to different meanings. In fact, they tell us about the lives of the women who integrated some of them into their daily lives or even an entire library.
A specific and precious element in this world of female reading were the monasteries, where nuns were readers and owners of books and, as such, in many cases left their mark of ownership.
Despite the walls of the cloister, books entered and left the convents, and the works in these libraries were used by women of different generations, who left their names written in them.
Alongside the physical exhibition at the CRAI Universitat de Barcelona, examples from other female convents have been added virtually, offering a good overview of readers and their books in various religious orders: Benedictines, Discalced Carmelites, Poor Clares and Dominicans.
The Historical Institute of the Order of Preachers offers here an example of books with ownership marks, providing biographical data on these ancient nuns who owned them, from four monasteries: Santa María de Montesión, Nuestra Señora de los Ángeles y Pie de la Cruz in Barcelona, Santa Clara de Vic and Santa Catalina de Siena in Palma de Mallorca.
Links to the other virtual expos:
Acknowlegments:
Monasterio de Sant Domènec de Guzmán (Sant Cugat del Vallés)
Organization:
Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades, Agencia Estatal de Investigación,
Spain. Grant PID2023-146272NB-I00 funded by MICIU/AEI/ 10.13039/501100011033
and by the “European Union NextGenerationEU/PRTRCaption
In collaboration with:
