The document that brought Lilio's project into the European debate

The Compendium novae rationis restituendi kalendarium was printed in Rome in 1577 by the heirs of Antonio Blado. It presented in concise form the calendar reform project drawn up by Luigi Lilio and was circulated in order to gather opinions before its final adoption.

A summary of the project

The text must be distinguished from Lilio's longer treatise to which it refers. The Compendium in fact declares that it sets out the main elements of a work not yet printed.

His pages set out the proposals for correcting the calendar and for the lunar computation, accompanied by tables. They are therefore a fundamental source for studying the project submitted for discussion, to be compared with the decisions of 1582 and with later explanations of the reform.

Studying the text and the individual copies

The historical value of a book does not lie only in its printed words. Bindings, annotations, stamps, marks of ownership and old shelfmarks can help to reconstruct its circulation and uses.

The Study Centre pays particular attention to the census of surviving copies, their description and the comparison of reproductions. Each copy must be identified through the institution that holds it and its shelfmark, distinguishing sixteenth-century originals from modern reproductions.

This work makes it possible to examine the Compendium both as a scientific document and as evidence of the spread of knowledge in Renaissance Europe.