As part of the activities for the 150th Anniversary of the first Malta stamp, MaltaPost will assist the National Library of Malta with the Book Restoration Project.

“As part of it’s Corporate Social Responsability, MaltaPost will restore historic documents at the National Library. Our aim is to safeguard Malta’s heritage and to raise awareness on the urgent need to restore and conserve the huge amount of rare books held in Malta’s National Library,” said Joseph Gafà, CEO of MaltaPost p.l.c. “Restoring these rare books will prevent their loss to future generations.”

MaltaPost p.l.c will be financing the restoration of AOM 7, a volume of 76 original bulls on parchment addressed to the Grand Masters of the Order of St John. All documents by the name of Urban were issued by Popes. There are bulls from Urban III (Uberto Crivelli, 1185 – 87), Urban IV (Jacques Pantalèon, 1261 – 64), Urban V (Guillaume de Grimoard, 1362 – 70) and Urban VIII (Maffeo Barberini, 1623 – 44).

Bull, the name given to documents issued by popes, make up a category of the most frequently produced documents in the papal chancery. These were so called due to the pendant leaden seal which they carried. Bulls may be divided into two distinct classes; privilages and letters or epistula. Privileges, like most of the ones in this volume were the most solemn acts produced in the papal curia. Their aim was to concede privileges, confer protection and confirm immunity and ecclesiastical possessions.

In contrast, most of Urban VIII’s 17th century documents in the volume are briefs, papal documents of a more specific nature. One such document in AOM 7 no. 28 is dated 5th June 1624, wherein Urban VIII urges Grand Master Antoine de Paule to build a Collacchio, an enclosed residential area for the knights within the new city of Valletta. As is evident, briefs were different from privileges in that the writing was disposed across the longer side of a piece of a very fine parchment made from the skin of newborn lambs.

Some of the documents in this volume have seals. A seal may be defined as the positive imprint on wax or molten metal of an image inscribed in negative on stone or metal. Privileges as well as letters always had leaden seals attached. In the case of some of the earlier bulls found in this volume, the seal has unfortunately gone missing but there is evidence of its previous existence in the holes on the plica or fold at the bottom of the document, to which the pendant seal must have been attached.

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