Our Collection

An engraved portrait of Lorenzo da Ponte by Michele Pekenino, after Nathaniel Rogers.
An engraved portrait of Lorenzo da Ponte by Michele Pekenino, after Nathaniel Rogers.

Da Ponte Collection

The Da Ponte Collection of Italian language books consists primarily of literary works by classical and Italian authors, mostly published in Italy in the early 19th century. They came to the New York Society Library through the poet and librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte (1749-1838), who is chiefly remembered for having written the libretti for several of Mozart's operas. Da Ponte came to the United States in 1805, became a professor of Italian literature at Columbia College, and established the Italian Library Society within the New York Society Library, placing several hundred volumes here for the use of his students. Fifty-five of Da Ponte's books are currently in our online catalog.

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