The collections

The era of watermarking is dominated by the laid mould and the watermark in light used by Fabriano papermakers to distinguish their products. It is characterized by the countless variants studied and collected by the brothers Aurelio (1830-1902) and Augusto (1842-1916) Zonghi, internationally renowned watermark experts and collaborators of Charles Moїse Briquet (1839-1918). In the 18th century, woven paper appeared, and the use of watermarks took on different meanings: from "artistic" chiaro-scuro watermarks to "security" watermarks for valuable papers.

Below are the collections currently available in the Corpus Cartarum FABRIANO:

• Collection of "Augusto Zonghi” (CAGZ)
• Collection of “Aurelio Zonghi” (CARZ)
• Collection of Luigi Tosti Duca di Valminuta” (RDV)

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Collection "Augusto Zonghi" (CAGZ)

A hundred years after the death of Professor Augusto Zonghi (1842-1916), his collection of ancient Fabriano papers, highly coveted by paper scholars worldwide, was acquired on March 22, 2016, by the Fedrigoni Fabriano Foundation and is preserved in Fabriano at the Miliani Paper Mills Historical Archive. To learn more.

Sent to the 1900 Paris International Exposition and described as "unique in the world" by the Judging Commission, it is a valuable reference for research and studies in the history of paper and watermarking, one of the most important in Europe. It is a cultural heritage of inestimable value, a material testimony of civilization.

The precious collection, a milestone in the history of paper, is gathered in 10 folders and 198 files: 2,212 papers (1,697 are watermarked), dated and manufactured in Fabriano between 1267 and 1798. The papers come mainly from the Fabriano Municipal Historical Archive, the Foundling Hospital Fund of the same archive, the Fabriano Notarial District Archive, and the Fano Municipal Archive. The papers taken by Zonghi are without writing but all dated, thus constituting an important tool for dating documents, manuscripts, and incunabula.

Accompanying the collection are the handwritten inventory register and the album where Zonghi reproduced 1,887 figures of signs copied by tracing from the original watermarked sheets. The inventory also describes watermarks that Zonghi could not remove from the archive but indicated where the document is located. For the same reason, many figures in the album "replace" the originals still preserved in the archive of origin.

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Collection “Aurelio Zonghi" (CAUZ)

The collection of ancient Fabriano papers was created by Aurelio Zonghi (1830-1902) in the second half of the 19th century. The collection, owned by the Municipality of Fabriano, is preserved and partially exhibited in the "Zonghi Room" of the Fabriano Paper and Watermark Museum.

The collection, kept in the original wooden trunk with a transparent showcase, consists of 135 files containing 368 papers (330 are watermarked), dated and manufactured in Fabriano between 1293 and 1599. On the front page of each file is indicated the watermark motif preserved inside (in many cases with different variants). The collection was awarded a silver medal at the 1881 Italian National Exposition in Milan.

In the essay "The main marks of Fabriano papers from 1293 to 1599 collected and declared by Canon Aurelio Zonghi" published in Fabriano in 1881, the author illustrates the method followed to create his collection and provides a list of the papers that make up the collection, indicating the date and place of origin (Fabriano Municipal Historical Archive and the Foundling Hospital Fund of the same archive).

In 2022, with the consent of the Archival and Bibliographic Superintendence for the Marche and thanks to an agreement with the Municipality of Fabriano, the Fedrigoni Fabriano Foundation digitized the papers, now available online in the Corpus Chartarum Fabriano in their entirety.

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Collection “Luigi Tosti Duca di Valminuta" (RDV)

In the 20th century, an important collection of Fabriano, Italian, and foreign watermarks, both modern and contemporary, was created by Duke Luigi Tosti di Valminuta, Delegate Councillor of the Miliani Company during the years around the Second World War, and is now preserved at the Miliani Paper Mills Historical Archive in Fabriano.

The work was presumably started by Professor Crivelli, who served as an archivist at the Miliani Paper Mills between 1945-1950, but it was Duke Luigi Tosti di Valminuta who inherited it and organized most of the materials. It was expanded in subsequent years (1972) by Cav. Coccia of the former Watermark Department, and from 1989 to 2008 it was further expanded by Dr. Ulisse Mannucci, Production Director of the Miliani Paper Mills in Fabriano.

It is a miscellaneous collection of 1,338 watermarked papers (laid or tissue, with clear reported watermark, chiaroscuro, clear punched, dark punched), of which 124 were loaned to the Fabriano Paper and Watermark Museum and the Pioraco Museum. There are 99 missing papers, while 26 are exhibited in the Main Hall of the Miliani Paper Mills Historical Archive in Fabriano. The papers are organized into 46 folders and fall into three categories of watermarks: 1. Artistic watermarks (for artistic and special papers); 2. Watermarks for banknotes (for valuable papers); 3. Personalized watermarks (for correspondence papers).