Ex-libris în carte vâlceană: Mănăstirea Bistrița
Ex-Libris and the Book from Valcea: Bistriţa Monastery

Summary/Abstract: The old Romanian book collection of the Bistriţa Olteana Monastery (the Neagoe Basarab Centre for the Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Heritage Objects) comprises over 400 titles of books printed in Romanian and Greek. These prints contain numerous ex-libris of which emerges the circulation of volumes at the time, books with intrinsic value, which during the circulation in the Romanian space are complemented by manuscript records that represent valuable and unique sources of information. "The notes on the cult books illustrate the reverence of people in rural areas for the written word, even though many of them could not decipher it personally". The examining of some of the handwritten notes in our collection offered a multitude of approaches. The books were brought together from the entire Diocese of Valcea, they belonged to its parishes, but also the monastery's collections, being the token of local identity and conscience. From this point of view, books present material with many implications of provenance, a part being from Valcea County but also the neighbouring areas. Over the years, the owners of the church books have noted, either in ink or in pencil, with specific tools of the time, annotations on daily life, events in their daily activities or weather changes, astronomical phenomena or other great things. Amongst the encountered ex-libris, the most relevant ones are those containing the stamp or signature of their owners. A conclusive example is the book collection of the Bishop Calinic of Ramnic reflected by its donation.

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