The socio-cultural imprint that Maria Gioia Tavoni, Bolognese by birth, residence and teaching, but Faenza by adoption, left in those nine years, between 1973 and 1982, in which she directed and made the municipal library great is indelible. An imprint that she often revives, not missing the opportunity for ‘reunions’ among friends with whom she once shared cultural projects or to present her own works that explore the history of books from its origins to the present day, a topic that holds no secrets for her having been a professor of Library Science at the University of Pisa and then, since 1987, a professor of Bibliography and Book History at the University of Bologna. Her latest work is entitled ‘Libri all’antica, le edizioni dell’Elefante’ (Pendragon editore, Bologna).
“The volume comes just two years after ‘Stories of books and technologies. From the advent of printing to digital’ and reconstructs the events of the small Roman publishing house of Elefante founded in ’64 by Enzo Crea, specializing in art editions and reproductions of rare and ancient texts: says Giorgio Cicognani, former curator of ancient collections at the municipal library of Faenza and who between ’73 and 1982 had the opportunity to work side by side with Maria Gioia Tavoni “She arrived after having won the competition for library director. An extremely active person, as he still is, who within a few months launched an intense program to give impetus to the institution on several fronts: on the one hand the launch of numerous cultural initiatives including, I remember, in December ’75 , a conference on public reading whose underlying theme was ‘The book, the people and the territory’, on the other the development of the library’s children’s room and the encouragement of public reading. In those years our library experienced a surge in the influx of users”. Cicognani also recalls the many exhibitions organized to raise awareness of the library’s rich book heritage, such as the very rare Zauli Naldi bookcase, the cartographic collection ‘Man and waters in Romagna’, ‘The liturgical books’ and the ‘Giuseppe Sarti’ musical collection, just to name a few. Once his experience in Faenza was over, Tavoni chose a university career, first in Pisa, then in Bologna.
“As I was saying – notes Cicognani – Maria Gioia is tireless and continues to write continuously. Beyond the two books in two years, it is worth remembering that she has a production of over three hundred writings to her credit, including several monographs that have favored the eighteenth century. Then she also undertook studies on incunabula and then moved on to the twentieth century. A persevering and tireless scholar, she dissected every aspect of the history of books and publishing Charles Baudelaire’s motto: ‘There is only one way to forget time: to spend it studying and writing’. ‘Old-style books, the Elephant editions’ is configured as a small story of those who loved ‘old-style books’ with the desire to produce them first of all in a workmanlike manner, as objects and as subjects, ‘beautiful inside and outside’. The compilation of the historical catalog is by the researcher Federica Rossi. The book will be presented at 6pm on May 3rd at the Torricelli Meeting.
Carlo Raggi
