Book collections
Between the book collections It is worth mentioning, for its conspicuous historical-documentary, as well as scientific, value Paul Kahle fund, consisting of the library and archive of the illustrious German orientalist, active in the first half of the last century. The Kahle collection, which became part of the library's heritage in 1966, includes a collection of Arabic, Persian and Turkish manuscripts, dating back to between the 15th and 20th centuries, whose catalog published with the contribution of the Piedmont Region in 2011, can be consulted in various libraries of the SUM Centre. For how to access the Fund's material, consult the Regulation, present at the bottom of the page. The consultation request forms, also present at the bottom of the page, must be sent to the address biblio.do@unito.it
Also worthy of mention are two collections, which remain undivided and both searchable in the University electronic catalogue: the Edoarda Masi fund, including a rare collection of Chinese periodicals, of significant interest for the study of the history of the People's Republic of China in the Maoist period and the Antonio Attisani fund, a rich collection of publications on the performing arts and culture of Tibet.
Of great importance at a national level, among the specialist libraries in the field of Asian studies, is the Oscar Botto Oriental Library, whose ownership, following the ceased activity of CESMEO, the International Institute of Advanced Asian Studies, to which it belonged, was donated in 2019, through the Compagnia di San Paolo, to the University of Turin.
The Botto library consists of approximately 40,600 volumes, including monographs and periodicals, as well as educational and documentary material on non-paper support, representing a variety of disciplines and scientific interests, from linguistics to literature, art, archaeology, pertinent to a vast cultural area, including India, South-East Asia, China and Japan. During the institute's forty-year activity, valuable book collections have come together: the Jean Boisselier Fund, focused on the art of South-East Asia, with special attention to Thai culture and Khmer artistic production; the Siegfried Lienhard Fund, of predominantly linguistic interest, including a collection of Sanskrit and Prakrit texts, as well as grammars and dictionaries of the main Indian languages; the Anne Marie Esnoul Fund, consisting mainly of studies on North Indian art; the Oscar Botto Fund (owned by the Piedmont Region, which granted loan for use to the University of Turin), collected by the scholar in over fifty years of studies and research, divided into a series of sections dedicated respectively to epic and dramatic Sanskrit literature, Buddhist doctrine and literature, political thought and the legal science of ancient India.
While waiting for a suitable location to host it to be prepared, the Botto library is temporarily located in a remote warehouse.
