The Cerruti Collection holds an excellent book heritage that can ideally be divided into four categories: manuscripts, some of the great publishing masterpieces of history, atlases and magnificent bindings.

Among the oldest books is a nucleus of precious illuminated manuscripts from the 14th century and the Italian Renaissance that includes, among others, the Antiphonary by Neri da Rimini, the Book of Hours by Martino da Modena and the Book of Hours started by the so-called Maître du Policratique de Charles, a refined manuscript produced in Paris between the 14th and 15th centuries that was part of the splendid collection of illuminated manuscripts, incunabula and bindings of the photographer and collector André-Jean Hachette. Some of the illuminated manuscripts have also been acquired in the Collection because of their interest from the point of view of history and collecting history, such as, for example, the Hours of Ippolita Maria Sforza, produced in Florence in the 1580s and originally part of the ms. Varia 89 of the Royal Library of Turin, from the book collections of the House of Savoy.

Among the works from the late 15th century and the first decades of the following century are a number of incunabula and cinquecentine decorated with woodcuts or hand-coloured engravings with sometimes ornate initials, such as the Psalter-Hymnal made in the late 15th century in Nuremberg, where the monumental Liber chronicarum by Hartmann Schedel was also printed in 1493, of which the Collection preserves an exceptionally period-coloured copy. And again, the Heures à lusaige de Romme imprinted in Paris around 1512, which feature a remarkable binding executed in Pierre Rocolet's workshop for Louis XIII's chancellor, Pierre Seguier.

There is also an editio princeps of the most famous and enigmatic book of the Italian Renaissance, as well as a typographical masterpiece by the greatest printer in history, the Venetian Aldo Manuzi, namely the allegorical novel Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, in the binding made for the famous bibliophile Jean Grolier.

Of particular interest is the illuminated document of the Titulo de Grandeza de España granted by Philip V to Louis Jean Charles de Talleyrand-Périgord in 1717, one of the most sumptuous examples of a specific type of decorated manuscript that arose within the Spanish court and survived into the modern age.

One of the most magnificent nuclei of the collection are the atlases, including the first modern post-Ptolemaic atlas, Abraham Ortelius's Theatrum Orbis Terrarum of 1601, in the copy that belonged to Cosimo II de' Medici, and the sumptuous volume by the German-born cartographer Andreas Cellarius, considered the most spectacular astronomical work of the 17th century, the only celestial atlas published in Holland at the height of the so-called “golden age” of Dutch cartography.

From 1477 is the first annotated edition, and fifth edition ever, of the Divina Commedia, with an erudite commentary, written between 1323 and 1328, a few years after Dante Alighieri's death, and the first complete edition of his masterpiece.

Among the modern volumes of absolute artistic value are Guillaume Apollinaire's famous Calligrammes, with 66 original lithographs drawn on stone by Giorgio de Chirico and imprinted by Edmond Desjobert, published by Gallimard in 1930, and Albert Camus's novel, The Plague, from 1947, with an exceptional 1970 binding designed by Pierre-Lucien Martin with a trompe l'oeil geometric motif.

In the current layout of the house-museum at Villa Cerruti, which faithfully respects the original layout arranged by the Founder, the books are located partly in the study library and partly in the billiard room. However, only a selection of these is displayed for public viewing, with some pages open, in special museum showcases. Due to the preciousness and fragility of the materials and the very high value of the prints and bindings, it is not possible to offer the visiting public a more direct consultation.

Digitisation is therefore the first necessary tool for the sharing of this exceptional book heritage and for its consultation by scholars and an ever-widening public.

With this intention, starting with a selection of about seventy volumes from the Collection, a digitisation project was initiated using the professional scanner Metis Eds Gamma.

The pages of each book were scanned in their entirety by camera. Subsequently, the scans were processed with integrated software, edited, collated and archived in tiff, jpg and pdf formats.

At the same time, for about fifteen volumes – manuscripts, ancient illuminated and decorated books and large in-folio formats – which for conservation reasons, due to the delicacy and uniqueness of the materials of the bindings, the paper or the illustrations could not be exhibited in contact with the camera, but only on appropriately prepared sets and with suitable supports, a photographic shooting campaign was carried out thanks to the collaboration of Ernani Orcorte, a professional photographer specialised in photographic campaigns and the shooting of ancient artefacts for museum institutions.

In a subsequent project phase, the digitalisation of a selection of approximately 700 items including photographs and paper documents from the Collection’s archive fund was carried out, while a pilot initiative for the accessibility of the contents to the visually impaired was activated on twenty volumes, through the sharing of the texts in E-pub format and the audio description of the precious bindings.

The accessibility of the digitalised contents of the Cerruti Collection will allow a heterogeneous public, less accustomed to the enjoyment of ancient artefacts, to approach a specialised sphere and, at the same time, will solicit highly specialised users, stimulating research, in-depth studies and publications in the sector.