The Museum's publications
The Museum offers a selection of volumes and eBooks that document the history of the discipline through reproductions of its collections, including posters, policies, and antiques.
These publications provide unique insights into the historical journey of insurance, illustrating the evolution of practices through captivating documents and works of art. Each publication is a valuable contribution to our understanding of the past and the appreciation of insurance culture.
Un mare di rischi
2020
This is the catalogue of the exhibition of the same name, organized at the Galata Museo del Mare in Genoa from the end of January 2020 to the end of June 2020.
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The volume includes color images of all the works displayed in the exhibition, such as insurance posters, manuscripts, antique books, policies, shares from Italian and foreign insurance companies, and fire plates. All material originates from the Museum's historical collection.
Accompanying the images is a selection of texts that explore the history of insurance from the Middle Ages to the present day, with specific focus on particularly intriguing topics such as usury, slave insurance, and Lloyd's of London.
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The volume, measuring 21x26 cm and consisting of 96 fully illustrated pages, is published by the Genoese publisher De Ferrari.
The volume is available at the Museum
€19 + shipping costs
The volume is available at the Museum
€ 25,00 + shipping cost
Posters and insurance
2019
The book showcases Italian and foreign advertising graphics from the late 19th century to the 1990s, covering a chronological span of one hundred years.
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All the posters were printed on behalf of insurance companies, representing an original and lesser-known area of poster design and corporate communication.
Through this selection of 130 posters from the Museum's collection of over 450, readers can appreciate the evolution of the language of insurance in advertising. The book includes two introductory essays that outline the history and significant aspects of this fascinating sector, which features renowned artists such as Dudovich, Metlicovitz, Hohenstein, Boccioni, Carboni, and Nespolo.
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Accompanying the texts (in Italian and English) and images are indexes by author and company.
The fascinating history of insurance
2015
Historian Ennio De Simone takes the reader on a fascinating, and in many ways unprecedented, journey spanning seven centuries of insurance history.
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Beginning with the early forms developed in the 14th century by Florentine and Genoese merchants for ships and their cargo, the volume addresses the debates between canonists and moralists regarding the legitimacy of insurance contracts. It explores the subsequent technical developments driven by the studies on probability by French mathematicians, the emergence of the first English insurance companies, and the origins of Lloyd’s, leading up to the widespread prevalence of insurance today, which covers virtually every type of risk.
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This publication, featuring texts in both Italian and English, adds to the very limited number of works on this topic. The volume is enriched by an iconographic apparatus focused on policies, books, fire plates, and a section entirely dedicated to insurance posters, many of which are presented for the first time.
The volume is available at the Museum
€ 28.00 + shipping costs
The volume is available, in English or Italian, at the Museum
€ 50.00 + shipping costs
Quaderni di sicurtà
ed. 2012
Following the first edition in 1996, a new, updated edition of 380 pages has been published by Electa, featuring descriptions of over 450 antique books and more than 3,000 titles, including monographs and periodicals printed after 1830.
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The antique volumes are accompanied by color photographs and comprehensive critical notes on the authors and the content of the works. Additionally, the enclosed CD-ROM includes modern editions and periodical titles.
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The publication is completed with a list of the companies, institutions, and insurance organizations mentioned in the books, as well as an author index and a subject index for modern works and periodicals available on the CD-ROM.
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This work serves as a bibliographic encyclopedia on insurance, making it invaluable for scholars and professionals, as well as for those with a passion for books who wish to explore the oldest relics of insurance literature.
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An English edition of this work has also been published, thanks to the contribution of Fondazione Cariplo. Its publication was sponsored by ANIA, AIBA, Chartis, Covéa, HDI, Mach1, Reale Mutua, RSA, and Sara Assicurazioni.
eBooks
You can purchase the most valuable texts preserved by the Museum in digital format.
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This enables researchers and enthusiasts to access rare historical information and sources, as well as to have their own digital copies of printed or manuscript texts.
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Here is a list of available volumes:
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De contractibus et usuris , San Bernardino da Siena, 1470
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Tractatus de assecurationibus & sponsionibus mercatorum , Pedro Santerna, 1552
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Tractatus de assecurationibus , Benvenuto Stracca, 1569
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An essay on insurances , Nicolas Magens, 1753
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Traité des assurances et des contrats à la grosse , Balthazard M. Emerigon, 1850
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On marine insurance , Ascanio Baldasseroni, 1786
By clicking on the links, you can preview an excerpt.
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Please contact us via email, indicating the desired volume. We will respond with payment instructions.
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The eBook is accessible on any device.