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ShareMumbai: Very few people know that within the high security vaults of the Asiatic Library are priceless Italian and Latin books stored with great care. The rarest of the lot is the richly illustrated edition of Dante's Comedia Divina (Divine Comedy) (1757).
For the last 200 years that Dante's book has been with the library, it has been displayed for the public to see only a couple of times, heavily guarded under protective glass cases. However, now, the city will not only get a chance to take a look at Dante's masterpiece, it will also have the unique opportunity to read the book from cover to cover in its digitised format.
"Knowledge if not shared is lost in the sands of time," said Vidya Vencatesan, reader and head of department of French at the Mumbai University and Former Honorary Secretary of the library.She continues, "To take pride in saying that we have the Comedia Divina safely stashed away and get misty-eyed at how Mussolini, in 1930, offered a million pounds for it -- a legend that has been doing the rounds for decades now -- worked well 50 years ago. Today it is important that we make this treasure available to interested scholars to study and research".
Rare books from the library have earlier been converted into microfilms that captured the pages of the books only in black and white and required a microfilm reader to view them. But with digitisation, the books can be read on a simple computer, appreciated in full colour, enlarged and studied in detail. "A number of libraries across the world have digitised their books and made them available to the public. We are still trying to get used to the technology," says Dr Supriya Rai, a member of the Asiatic Society LitClub.
Comedia Divina's digitised version will only be available for viewing within the library during the course of the exhibition. "If a scholar or a student wants to view it after the exhibition, they will have to write to the management and get the required permission," says Dr Rai.
The exhibition, Italian Treasures, organised by The Asiatic Society LitClub, is a part of the 9th World Italian Language Week (a cultural initiative organised by the Italian government). "Dr Robert Bertilaccio, lecturer of Italian at the Mumbai University who is also is the curator for the exhibition, and I once casually decided to visit the Asiatic Library to take a look at the collection of Italian manuscripts. He was very impressed by the large collection and we decided to hold an exhibition to celebrate the Week," says Vencatesan.
The book, along with a number of other Latin and Italian manuscripts was gifted to the society by Mountstuart Elphinstone, governor of Bombay in 1820, who was also the president of the society for a brief period. "It is believed that his library in Pune was set on fire during local riots and the manuscripts, now heavily guarded at the Asiatic library, were the only few that he managed to recover," said Sonavi Desai, convener of the The Asiatic Society LitClub.
Along with Comedia Divina, 20 other precious manuscripts will also be on display but will be viewable only through protective glass cases. The exhibition also includes the infamous first edition of Galileo Galilei's masterpiece Dialogo sopra i due massimi sistemi e copernicano (1632), which was banned by the Catholic Church. "This book was especially chosen because it's been 400 years since Galileo discovered the telescope," says Vencatesan.
The society has organised a guided tour through the exhibition on Tuesday, 3.30pm. The exhibition is open to all from 11am to 6.30pm until November 4 at the Asiatic Library.
