Objective:

This article focuses on Manuel Ancízar Basterra's donation (18111882) to the National Library of New Granada in 1849. The aim is to identify the conditions that made this transaction possible and what it reveals about the relationship between the donator and the institution.

Methodology:

First, it characterizes the donation based on a quantitative and qualitative analysis of its content. Second, it introduces some elements related to its formation: a previous inventory, as well as some marks on the books, are evidence of the origins of some of the volumes -linked in several cases to the intellectual networks where Ancízar was immersed-, and of the selection processes that shaped the collection delivered to the Library. Third, it makes explicit the symbolic characteristics of the donation in a context of political and educational changes promoted by the liberal governments of the time.

Originality:

This investigation invites to question the construction of narratives about the bibliographic heritage and proposes new elements to analyze the scholars and its legacy.

Conclusions:

The collection went through a selection process before turning from the private to the public domain, which was not about the cession of Ancízar's personal library and the transaction was one among several strategies of the agent to position itself in the New Granada scholar field. Finally, the analysis of inventories, both historical and contemporary, reveals that Ancízar's books were dispersed among the Library's assets, and the current Fund has few similarities with the original donation.