The Accademia Albertina di Belle Arti Library is housed in the neoclassical building which hosts the Academy and the Albertina Art Gallery (named like so because it was re-found by King Carlo Alberto in 1833). The bibliographic heritage consists of about 28,000 books. In 1778, the initial unit was due to the painting director and professor Laurent Pécheux. Today, the historical background consists of a patrimony of books amounting to about 5,000, partly dating between 1501 and 1830 and partly later but of particular editorial value. The collection is predominantly artistic (art history and artistic techniques) and reflects the institution's educational vocation. Of particular relevance are Diderot-d'Alembert's Encyclopédie in its first edition, L’art de connaitre les hommes par la physionomie, by Johann Caspar Lavater, and the nineteenth-century artistic anatomy classics (Bertinatti, Gamba, Sabattini). Furthermore, a rich collection of international periodicals, often unavailable elsewhere and already the subject of quality travelling exhibitions, are also of particular importance. The Designs and Prints Cabinet is attached to the Historical Library, which holds about 5,000 sheets dating between the sixteenth and twentieth centuries. Also attached to the Historical library is the Photo Library, made up of examples of undisputed historical importance made between the mid-nineteenth century and the first years of the twentieth century.
