[The Italian Library Association and Enrico Jahier]

Abstract

The section opens with a paper by Enrico Jahier, Director of the Marucelliana Library of Florence from 1937 to 1952, on the work of the Florentine Provisional Council for the re-establishment of a democratic Italian Library Association after the Second World War. The paper, scheduled for publication in the second issue of the «Rivista delle biblioteche», founded in the same year 1947, never saw the light of day due to the sudden death of the journal's editor, Luigi De Gregori.

There follows Jahier's speech on the installation of the first Central Executive Council of the re-established Association in 1951.

The section closes with Giorgio De Gregori's recollections of Enrico Jahier as librarian (in particular, of his work at the National Library of Florence, where he was responsible for cataloguing and classification, before becoming director of the Marucelliana Library). De Gregori also recollects their common war experience; both served in the Alpini Regiment. An Evangelist by upbringing, and Waldensian by religion and culture, Jahier was renowned for his rigour, moral integrity, mild but intransigent nature, practical sense, his silent anti-Fascism and immense passion for music.

De Gregori's recollections are followed by some excerpts from Jahier's letters to him (1949-1954) and a bibliography of Jahier's writings.