Rome - For the first time, FAO will display at the upcoming Committee on Forestry (13-16 March), a historical collection of rare forestry books dating back to the eighteenth century that provide a snapshot in time of the state of forest research as it first developed in Central Europe and evolved through the beginning of the twentieth century. Acquired from the International Center of Silviculture (CIS), the first permanent international forestry organization founded in Berlin in 1939, the collection is the first ever attempt to document worldwide all publications related to forestry by scientists. The goal of the center's library was to establish annually, updated bibliographies of forest-related literature from European countries.
With a considerable number of valuable books, mostly in German, dating back to the eighteenth century, the collection offers a unique glimpse into the beginnings of forestry as a science as it first developed in Central Europe.
The collection is also special in that it survived the Second World War. Scientists made arduous efforts to protect it from the war by asking extraterritorial rights for the library and the protection of the Swedish embassy. In 1944, with the assistance of the center's Secretary General, scientists themselves personally drove and moved the books in lorries at their own risk, from Berlin to Salzburg. When fighting seemed imminent in Salzburg in 1945, the scientists moved them again to a castle, a mine and some to Ramsau, to keep them protected. Most of the collection therefore remained intact throughout the war. Eventually in 1951, at the end of the war, the collection was transferred to the FAO premises in Rome, which succeeded the CIS.
The collection is significant for its historical and scientific value. It includes books authored by renowned scientists who established forestry as a science, such as Humboldt, Brehm, Cotta, Hartig, Pfeil, Pressler and Brandis. It also covers botany, zoology, silviculture, growth and yield, and forest engineering.
"No other such collection exists in any other library worldwide," said Elizabeth Johann, an expert in forestry history, who reviewed and assessed the collection and organized the exhibit. "It demonstrates that sustainable forest management dates back to the eighteenth century and that international collaboration within the scientific community continued even in times of war and national disagreements."