If we consider the definition of traditional archives (âcollections of documents produced or acquired by private and public institutions during the development of their own activityâ), all libraries should keep their own archive.1 However, over the course of Italian historyâwhich has involved a mix of several administrative centres and strong religious institutionsâlibraries of different kinds were founded and their archives are now kept in various different legal and administrative conditions. Only five Italian state libraries keep archives dating back to the first half of the eighteenth century, but none of them has an archive older than this.2 This is because the oldest Italian libraries are not the state libraries, but the libraries that belonged to the old pre-unification states. These include first of all collections from Italian nobility, such as the Este familyâs library. The Este collection was located in the Duchy of Modena and Reggio since the fourteenth century and, as was the destiny of other noble familiesâ library collections, its contents were confiscated by the Italian state after unification. Furthermore, some city libraries founded centuries ago survived as archived collections proper, such as the Gambalunghiana Library in Rimini, founded in 1619. Last but not least, we can rely on the archives of numerous long-lasting religious libraries. These include the Capitolare Library in Verona, the Malatestiana Library in Cesenaâfounded by Malatesta Novello and the Franciscans during the fifteenth century and now belonging to the municipalityâ, and the Ambrosiana Library, established at the beginning of the seventeenth century by the Archbishop of Milan as an independent institution. Several of these early modern librariesâ archives are now mixed with the archival collections of the institutions that owned these libraries. For example, the historical documents of the Este familyâs library are kept in the archive of the Duchy of Modena and Reggio. The archives of Romeâs Vallicelliana and Angelica libraries were partially confiscated by the Italian state and are now divided between the State Archive of Rome and the archives of the religious orders that founded them, the Oratorian Fathers and the Augustinian Fathers. The oldest sources on the history of the Marciana National Library are kept in Veniceâs State Archives among the documents of the Serenissima Republic of Venice.
Within this context, the distinctiveness of the Vatican Libraryâwhich is not Italian, of course, but which nevertheless holds many book collections and private libraries that offer material pertaining to Italian cultureâlies both in the antiquity and in the continuity of its documentation. What follows offers a source overview of sometimes little known or unnoticed Italian research into library archives, introducing the reader to the history of five collections: the Vatican Library, the Ambrosiana Library in Milan, the Roman Vallicelliana and Angelica libraries and the Venetian Marciana library. A short presentation of these examples illustrates how the study of library archives as a chief source for the history of (institutionalised) book collections has the potential of adding a new dimension to the Italian historiography of the early modern book, which for several decades focused on the world of the printing press, censorship and the early modern book trade.
The Vatican Library Archive
The Vatican Library archive has always been and still is an appendix to the Prefectâs office but it houses the documentation produced by all sections of the institution over the centuries.3 It therefore contains a great many sources necessary for reconstructing many historical and library-related aspects of the Vatican Library, including its functioning and services, its employees and librarians, its financial administration, and also the acquisitions of private libraries. These kinds of sources enable scholars to study the administrative, economic, and cultural activities of the old library.
Jeanne Bignami Odier was the first scholar to systematically make use of the Vatican Library archive when writing her work on La Bibliothèque Vaticane de Sixte IV à Pie XI, published in 1973.4 More than two decades later, Christine M. Grafinger published the list of book loans made by the Vatican between 1563 and 1700, as well as some articles based on the library archive records.5 The Vatican Library archive inventory is arguably the most important work that has been carried out on the archive, and despite still being in progress and having not yet been published, some of its contents can be guessed at by reading several chapters of the four monumental volumes that make up the Storia della Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana (The History of the Vatican Library). The first volume was published in 2010, and in 2016 the series reached its fourth volume, devoted to the Enlightenment period, while one more, on the nineteenth century, is due for release soon.6 The second and the third volumes document, among other things, the history of the private collections that entered the Vatican Library during the sixteenth and the seventeenth centuries. To do this, they draw upon two main kinds of sources: old catalogues and inventories that describe the Vatican and its acquired private collections (mostly kept in the main manuscript collection, Fondo Vaticano latino), and the records of the library archive, labelled with the shelf mark âArch. Bibl.â followed by a number. International scholars should take these volumes into account, even if they are not written in English, because they demonstrateâamong other thingsâthe extent to which early modern library archives can be used, and how interesting they are in describing the movements, the evaluations, and sometimes the splitting and dispersal of private collections. In what follows, I will discuss some documents that serve as an example of this. To the conclusions of the existing studies on most of these documents I will add my own considerations.
Among the documents inventoried and studied in the Vatican Library are the cost records that testify to the acquisition of books, their prices, and the prices paid for their bindings. These records allow us to learn more about the relationship between the library and the cityâs economy, and its day-by-day evolution that depended on the purchase of books found on the book market. One of these registers is ms. Vat. lat. 3965, a compact volume (230 Ã 162 mm) kept in the main manuscript collection, which details the libraryâs expenses from 1548 to 1555.7 A very similar record is the first part of the miscellaneous volume Arch. Bibl. 30, whose physical characteristics (56 folios, 220 Ã 160 mm) are completely different from those of the other parts, demonstrating that it was originally an independent volume. Expenses from September 1572 to January 1601 are recorded in it. These include purchases of books made in several bookshops in Rome, notably those run by Domenico Basa, Brianzo Brianzi, Marco da Montegiordano, Venturino Tramezzino, Bastiano della Pace, Scipione Paganini, and Bartolomeo Grassi. The two manuscripts also list expenses for book bindings and book restoration, payments for sheets of paper and parchment to be written on or used in the library, and for wooden shelves to store books.8 The manuscripts even detail how much was paid to transfer Aldo Manuzio the Youngerâs private collection to the Vatican Library (2 scudi and 20 baiocchi, the currency used in Rome at the time).9 This huge wealth of information makes it clear that further research and reflection on these sources is necessary if we want to describe the main aspects of the economic history of the printed books and the manuscripts. Evaluating the influence that libraries had within the book trade, the prices that these institutions could pay for books, as well as calculating the relationship between the prices of books and the prices of their bindings are all tasks that need to be carried out in the near future.
But in addition to the expenses registers, other kinds of archival documents typical of libraries have also already been drawn upon in the volumes devoted to the history of the Vatican Library. They will be drawn upon again in the future when it comes to continuing the reconstruction of the history of private libraries that have been incorporated into the papal collection.
Other examples of such archival documents include the manuscripts Arch. Bibl. 11 and Arch. Bibl. 15a and 15b, which all contain lists of purchased books, payment receipts, and other kinds of sources. They feature different handwritings, are written on different kinds of paper, vary in size, and are dated or datable to various times. For example, the beginning of Arch. Bibl. 11 features several lists of books used by Cardinal Agostino Trivulzio (1485â1548): Index registrorum habitorum ab heredibus bonae memoriae cardinalis Trivultii factus die 2 Iulii 1548 in la guardarobba di Nostra Signoria (ff. 1râ3r); Index aliorum librorum manu scriptorum (ff. 4râ5v); Libri stampati e Greci (f. 6r); Libri del cardinale Trivultio quali erano della libraria (f. 7v); and Libri ex A. Trivultio copia (ff. 7râ8v).10 A list of books that belonged to Girolamo Aleandro (1480â1542) is also included: Indice de libri che erano del cardinale Brundusino 1550 (ff. 9râ12r).11
Lists and evaluation lists detailing Cardinal Guglielmo Sirletoâs private book collection are also bound together here. On ff. 140r and 147r appear two copies of the same Relatione che messer Domenico Basa mercante de libri in Roma fa a suo giuditio e conscientia della libreria che fu del cardinal Sirleto bonae memoriae. Domenico Basa, who was Paolo Manuzioâs collaborator and manager of the Stamperia del Popolo Romano from 1567 to 1584, valued the 32 chests of Latin printed books, 5 chests of Greek printed books, 473 Greek manuscripts, 728 Latin manuscripts on different subjects, 667 manuscripts on theology, and 96 manuscripts written in other languages, at 7,575 ducats. However, Basa also explicitly noted that: âun libraro il quale compera per radoppiare lo potrebbe pagar otto mila scudi. Et un principe ad haverne buon mercato dodeci milaâ [a bookseller buying to resell at double the price could pay 8,000 scudi. And a prince, if the deal is good, 12,000]. On f. 141r appears a document entitled Quel che messer Giorgio Ferrari e messer Girolamo Frontini in Roma riferiscono della libraria del cardinal Sirleto bonae moemoriae, in which Giorgio Ferrari and Girolamo Frontini declare that âun principe la può pagare quindeci mila scudi. Un libraroâdice il Frontinoâdiece â¦â [a prince could pay 15,000 scudi. A booksellerâFrontino saidâ10,000].12 These price evaluations are evidence of an interesting and modern aspect of the book trade. They demonstrate that private libraries could be priced differently depending on the market to which they were being sold. This confirms that in the early modern period book prices were representative of the value books had in a particular context and for specific buyers, rather than having an objective value that was entirely dependent on production costs. Another evaluation that features in the manuscript Arch. Bibl. 11 concerns whether it was worth making copies from Sirletoâs Greek manuscripts:
If obtaining the original Greek manuscripts listed below is not possible, making a copy of all of them would be very expensive, because each of them contains several texts by different authors, and in order to identify which are wanted, many works that are not needed would have to be copied. If a Latin author has already been translated and published: 1) the translated and published ones are not to be copied â¦; 2) the New Testament, Saint Paulâs Epistles and other similar works too are not to be copied, because the oldest copies are preferable.13
These considerations show on which basis a collection could be expanded by ordering manuscript copies of those already present in the library. The decision depended on elements both inherent and extrinsic to the collection: the originalsâ rareness and accessibility, but also the cost of copying specific items.
The Ambrosiana Library Archive
Turning to another famous Catholic library, a distinguishing feature of the Ambrosiana Library in Milan is its historical continuity, coupled with its legal and financial independence. It was founded by the Archbishop of Milan, Federico Borromeo, and officially opened to the public in 1607 as an independent institution. This ensured that the archive was kept inside the library itself. Known as the Archivio dei Conservatori, it contains the archival records produced by the board of administrators, which was established by Federico Borromeo together with the Collegio dei dottori, the team of Catholic priests devoted to studying and researching.14 The Archivio dei Conservatori takes up several shelves in the library, and has always been well known inside the institution, but its use in cultural research is relatively recent. An article which extensively cites many of its records was published in 2005 by Cesare Pasini, who detailed the history of Federico Borromeoâs private acquisitions, which entered the Ambrosiana after his death.15 Additionally, in the Ambrosianaâs public reading room, Marco Panizzaâs Catalogo dellâArchivio dei Conservatori, an inventory in PDF format, is now available for scholars.16 Comprising 1244 pages, this inventory merits careful reading. It describes for example a collection of payment receipts (called âconfessiâ in old Italian) produced in Federico Borromeoâs house in Rome, where he lived from 1586 to 1595. Some of these receipts confirm the purchase of the famous multilingual (or polyglot) Biblia sacra published by Christophe Plantin between 1570 and 1573 (8 volumes, in folio). Federico Borromeo bought a copy of it while in Rome and in fact in April 1588 the book binder Hermanio de Hermani testified that he had received 10 scudi for the binding of the 8 volumes,17 while in the following October the bookseller Curzio Marcelli was paid 66 scudi for the edition itself.18 The copy bought by Federico Borromeo is still kept in the Ambrosiana Library with shelf mark S. N. A. VI 18â25, and is bound in red leather over pasteboard, decorated with Borromeoâs coat of arms. Moreover, the edition is listed in the catalogue of Federico Borromeoâs private library in the section Sacra ScritturaâRubrica B: âBiblia regia Hebraice Chaldaice Graece et Latine cum appendicibus A fol. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8â (ms. Ambrosiano E 20 suss., f. 3r), and in one of the oldest historical catalogues of the Ambrosiana.19 There, one of the three copies catalogued has the same old shelf mark that is present on the guard leaf of the only surviving Ambrosiana copy S. N. A. VI 18: âBiblia regia Hebraice, Graece, Latine, Chaldaicae, Syriace quoad testmentum novum, volumi 8, Antwerp. 1572â (ms. Ambrosiano Z 37 inf., f. 91r).
The combination of archival documents (in this case the âconfessiâ) with old catalogues and the surviving books enables us to understand in detail how Federico Borromeoâs private book collection was put together. In addition, this method also allows us to ascertain the prices of the books he obtained from the booksellers in Rome.
The Vallicelliana and the Angelica Library Archives
The history of the archives of two other Catholic religious libraries, those of the Vallicelliana Library and the Angelica Library in Rome, is different. Both these libraries were founded at the end of the sixteenth or the beginning of the seventeenth century, not as independent institutions but, instead, within a religious order, respectively the Congregation of the Oratory and the Augustinians. During the nineteenth century they were both affected by the suppressions of religious orders and as a result their archives were divided between the State Archive of Rome, their ordersâ administration (the Archive of the Congregation of the Oratory and the Archives of the Augustinian General Curia) and the libraries themselves. In 1873â1874, these became property of the Italian state, although their names did not change.
Let us examine more closely the state of the studies on the archive produced by the Vallicelliana Library. This book collection developed little by little in the last quarter of the sixteenth century to support the Catholic Oratorian priests in their studies at the Chiesa Nuova in the very heart of Rome.
The first private library bequeathed to the Oratory was that belonging to the Portuguese writer Aquiles Estaço, who died in 1581. Later on, the library grew thanks to the personal books of the founder of the Congregation, Filippo Neri, and of numerous other priests, who left their own, sometimes small collections to the Oratory.20 Details on the oldest legacies left to the Vallicelliana can be found in many of the archival records kept at the library and at the State Archive of Rome.21
Aquiles Estaçoâs private library can be reconstructed with the help of an inventory recently found in the same miscellaneous volume that contains his will in the State Archive of Rome.22 This inventory can be compared with the Statianae Bibliothecae Index, preserved in ms. Vallicelliano P 186 and datable between Estaçoâs death in 1581 and 1605, and with its apograph inserted in ms. Vallicelliano P 206 (ff. 1râ37r). Another notable collection which became part of the Vallicelliana is the private library of Cesare Baronio.23 It is known about from various archival sources: Inventarium bonorum et singulorum librorum, dated 2 July 1607 and kept at the State Archive of Rome; a list of books that Baronio left to the Capuchin fathers of his hometown, Sora, preserved in ms. Vallicelliano Q 72; and the list in the above-mentioned ms. Vallicelliano P 206 (ff. 109vâ116v).24
This last manuscript, Vallicelliano P 206, has an elegant appearance and was written in around 1640. Several private libraries that belonged to individual priests before passing into the Vallicelliana are listed and described in this volume. Its title, Benemeritorum de Vallicelliana bibliotheca Congregationis oratorii Romani, eorum scilicet qui suis testamentis relictis libris illam locupletem reddiderunt aeternum posteris monumentum [Eternal memorial for posterity of the meritorious who served the Vallicelliana Library of the Congregation of the Roman Oratorians, that is of those who through the legacy of their own books enriched that library], testifies to the desire to ensure that the memory of the ancient donations that enriched the Oratorio library lived on.
Completely different from this is ms. Vallicelliano P 204. Like many of the volumes of the Vatican Library archive already discussed, it is a typical archive volume and contains papers of different handwritings and sizes, produced separately. They all relate to the administrative life of the library.
What was the rationale behind these materials remaining in the library instead of being handed over to the State Archive or the Archive of the Congregation of the Oratory? Although reflection on this mixture of archival and literary manuscripts is still required, through the examination of other similar cases, what is strikingâin this and in other library archivesâis the convergence of the archival evidence and the books still kept in the collections. This means that the economic and administrative history and the cultural history of the libraries coalesced. While this is an undoubtedly obvious convergence, up until today and as far back as the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, it has only been highlighted in a few contexts, which are little known in international research environments.
Let me give one more specific example. It is known from his will that an Oratorian hagiographer, Antonio Gallonio (1556â1605), left his books to Francesco and Antonio Zazzara, and that, later, those books passed from the Zazzara brothers to the Vallicelliana Library. Just like Aquiles Estaçoâs private library, we know about Gallonioâs from its inclusion in an Index librorum dated 8 July 1605 kept at the State Archive of Rome, as well as from a list preserved in ms. Vallicelliano P 183 (ff. 179râ194v), and from the âmonumentumâ already mentioned, ms. Vallicelliano P 206.25 But in addition to these inventories, ms. Vallicelliano P 204 (ff. 50râ53v) details an exchange of four books belonging to the Zazzara brothers, which had previously been in Antonio Gallonioâs collection, for thirty-nine Vallicelliana books. The exchange was authorised by Fabiano Giustiniani, a famous Vallicelliana librarian, in December 1605.26 The four great editions offered to the Vallicelliana Library and the thirty-nine editions obtained in exchange are valued in ms. Vallicelliano P 204 in scudi and baiocchi. Each of the two groups of books amounted in total to 47 scudi and 50 baiocchi, making the exchange a perfectly fair one.
How many of these books still survive? Two volumes on the history of England, among those that had originally belonged to Gallonio, are described as follows in ms. Vallicelliano P 204 (f. 50r):
Dui tomi in foglio legati come glâaltri di sopra [sc. in cartapecorina et cartone] dellâhisthorie dâInghilterra, uno intitolato Anglica, Normanica, Hibernica, Cambrica a veteribus scripta, Francofurti 1603; lâaltro intitolato Rerum Anglicarum scriptores post Bedam, Francofurti 1601, stimati ducati 9â50. [Two separate volumes bound like those cited above [sc. in parchment over pasteboard] of the Histories of England, one entitled Anglica, Normanica, Hibernica, Cambrica a veteribus scripta, Francofurti 1603; the second entitled Rerum Anglicarum scriptores post Bedam, Francofurti 1601, valued at 9â50 ducati].27
On the guard leaf of the copy of the Rerum Anglicarum Scriptores kept in the Vallicelliana Library and currently in use, both an ownership note written by Antonio Gallonio and a purchase note can be read: âEx libris Antonii Gallonii Congregationis oratorii Presbyt. Bibliothecae Congregationisâ and âEmptum die 23 octobris 1604. Scudi 4â (bought on 23 October 1604. Scudi 4).28
Also in this case, like in other documents in the Vatican Library and Ambrosiana Library archives, the inventories of private libraries are sometimes accompanied by financial information. That practice is typical of administrative archives and shows that there was a rich trade between booksellers and individuals or institutions, and also between individuals and institutions.
The Marciana Library Archive
Examining the history of the Marciana Library can also help to illustrate the typologies of the early modern Italian library archives and their role in the reconstruction of the history of private libraries. Before becoming a state library, the Marciana was the library of the Republic of Venice, and because of this the documents concerning its administrative history were produced by, and are now kept inside, the archives of the Venetian magistrates. They can be found in particular in the collection of the âde supraâ Procurators of St Markâs, which is now kept in the State Archive in Venice. The âde supraâ Procurators were in charge of managing the assets of St Markâs Basilica, which was not the cityâs cathedral but the chapel of the Dogeâs Palace. Marino Zorziâs important work La libreria di San Marco, which is the reference publication for the history of Veniceâs Marciana Library, draws extensively on this archival collection.29 In the âde supraâ Procuratorsâ collection, for example, the detailed documentation about the legacy given to the Marciana by the famous doctor and scholar Melchior Wieland (Melchior Guilandinus) can be found. Upon his death in 1589, Guilandinus left the institution not only his own books but also 1,000 ducats deposited at the Sacro Monte di Vicenza, as evidenced by the archive records.30
Library archives prove to be of immense value when it comes to tracing the cultural and economic history of our book collections. This article has shown that some early modern library archives in Italy are to be found outside of libraries, while others are still kept in the libraries where they were produced. As I pointed out above, in Italy and in the Vatican City scholars have already made use of these archival resources and have published articles and contributions based on library archive records. The inventory and the in-depth investigation started inside the Vatican Library archive, along with the research conducted by Giuseppe Finocchiaro in the Vallicelliana Library, Marco Panizzaâs patient and systematic Ambrosiana inventory, and Marino Zorziâs monumental reconstruction of the history of the Marciana, are all important leads to follow. They are like new paths that have been opened up in an ancient forest, and can lead to a wide consideration of libraries and their administrative and cultural history that would have been unimaginable in the past.
I am grateful to the organisers of the conference âPrivate libraries and private library inventories, 1665â1830â for their warm hospitality in Ravenstein and their invitation to collaborate in this publication. The travel costs have been funded by the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Unionâs Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (Grant Agreement n° 694476). The research that served as a basis for this chapter was completed in October 2019.
See Istituto Centrale per gli Archivi (ICAR) online at <https://icar.cultura.gov.it/home> (last accessed 27 August 2023).
Ministero per i beni e le attività culturali, Archivi di biblioteche. Per la storia delle biblioteche pubbliche statali (Rome: Storia e letteratura, 2002), p. XXXVI. The oldest archives are 1) the archive of the National Central Library in Florence, which houses the archival records of the Magliabechiana Library opened to the public in 1747 (Ministero per i beni e le attività culturali, Archivi di biblioteche, pp. 45â55); 2) the Marucelliana Library, also in Florence, which was founded in 1702 and in 1869 became a state library (Ministero per i beni e le attività culturali, Archivi di biblioteche, pp. 57â63); 3) the Estense Library in Modena, whose archive dates from 1736 (Ministero per i beni e le attività culturali, Archivi di biblioteche, pp. 11â119); 4) the University Library of Padua, founded by the Republic of Venice in 1629, whose library rules can be found in the oldest section of the archive (Ministero per i beni e le attività culturali, Archivi di biblioteche, pp. 139â153); 5) and the Marciana National Library in Venice, whose archive dates back to the first half of the eighteenth century (Ministero per i beni e le attività culturali, Archivi di biblioteche, pp. 57â63).
Christine M. Grafinger, âUffici della Prefettura. Archivioâ, in Francesco DâAiuto and Paolo Vian (eds.), Guida ai fondi manoscritti, numismatici, a stampa della Biblioteca Vaticana, vol. II (Vatican City: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, 2011), pp. 911â916.
Jeanne Bignami Odier, La Bibliothèque Vaticane de Sixte IV à Pie XI (Vatican City: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, 1973). Both Leonard Boyle and Grafinger herself acknowledged Bignami Odierâs intuition about the importance of these papers for the history of the Vatican Library and its collections: Leonard E. Boyle, âPrefazioneâ, in Christine M. Grafinger, Beiträge zur Geschichte der Biblioteca Vaticana (Vatican City: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, 1997), p. VII; Grafinger, âUffici della prefettura. Archivioâ, in Francesca DâAiuto and Paolo Vian (eds.), Guida ai fondi manoscritti, numismatici, a stampa della Biblioteca Vaticana (Vatican City: Biblioteca Apstolica Vaticana, 2011), p. 913.
Christine M. Grafinger, Die Ausleihe vatikanischer Handschriften und Druckwerke (1563â1700) (Vatican City: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, 1993); Beiträge zur Geschichte der Biblioteca Vaticana (Vatican City: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, 1997); Die Ausleihe vatikanischer Handschriften und Druckwerke 18. Jahrhundert. Teil I: Biblioteca Vaticana (Vatican City: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, 2002).
Storia della Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana (Vatican City: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, 2010â). Vol. I: Antonio Manfredi (ed.), Le origini della Biblioteca Vaticana tra umanesimo e Rinascimento: (1447â1534) (2010); vol. II: Massimo Ceresa (ed.), La Biblioteca Vaticana tra Riforma cattolica, crescita delle collezioni e nuovo edificio (1535â1590) (2012); vol. III: Claudia Montuschi (ed.), La Vaticana nel Seicento (1590â1700): una biblioteca di biblioteche (2014); vol. IV: Barbara Jatta (ed.), La Biblioteca Vaticana e le arti nel secolo dei Lumi (1700â1797) (2016).
The manuscript was published by Léon Dorez under the title of âLe registre des dépenses de la Bibliothèque Vaticane de 1548 à 1555â, in Fasciculus Ioanni Willis Clark dicatus (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1909), pp. 142â185; Giacomo Cardinali, âLegature di âMastro Luigiâ per la Biblioteca Vaticana (con un catalogo di alcuni suoi ferri)â, in Miscellanea Bibliothecae Apostolicae Vaticanae, 23 (Vatican City: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, 2017), pp. 119â144 and Storia della Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, vol. II, passim.
Massimo Ceresa, âAcquisizioni e ordinamento degli stampati nel corso del Cinquecentoâ, in Storia della Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, vol. II, pp. 91â104. Some of these booksellers are cited in Marina Venier, âTopografia della tipografia (o meglio del libro) a Roma nel XVI secoloâ, in Cristina Dondi, Andreina Rita, Adalbert Roth and Marina Venier (eds.), La stampa a Roma nella città dei papi e in Europa (Vatican City: Biblioteca Apostolica vaticana, 2016), pp. 197â215; Gian Ludovico Masetti Zannini, Stampatori e librai a Roma nella seconda metà del Cinquecento: documenti inediti (Rome: Palombi, 1980).
Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, Arch. Bibl. 30, f. 51r: âA 6 di novembre 1598 fu fatto un mandato di scuti sei di moneta a pagarsi a me Marino Raynaldi custode della Bibliotheca Vaticana di N. S. per fare portare in detta Bibliotheca li libri della libraria di Aldo Manutioâ [On 6 November 1598 a payment for the amount of 6 scudi, in coins, was ordered to be paid to me Marino Raynaldi, keeper of the Vatican Library of Our Lord, to have the books of Aldo Manuzioâs collection moved to said library] and on the following folio âDie sexta Novembris 1598 Per un mandato camerale spedito da Lutio Calderino di scuti sei per far portare li libri dâAldo Manutio in Bibliotheca Vaticana per ordine del bibliotecario. S. 6.â [On 6 November 1598. For a payment order of 6 scudi issued by Lutio Calderino to have Aldo Manuzioâs books moved to the Vatican Library, by order of the librarian. Scudi 6] and âHo speso io Marino Ranaldi per fare portare in le stantie della Bibliotheca Vaticana di N. S. casse 65 dalla libraria del Manutio S. 2.30â [I, Marino Rainaldi, have spent 2.30 soldi to move 65 chests of books from Manuzioâs library to the Vatican Library]. On Aldo Manuzio the Youngerâs private collection see Alfredo Serrai, La biblioteca di Aldo Manuzio il Giovane (Milan: Sylvestre Bonnard, 2007).
Pierre Petitmengin, âI manoscritti latini della Vaticana. Uso, acquisizioni, classificazioniâ, in Storia della Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, vol. II, pp. 51, 82 n. 71; Christine M. Grafinger, âServizi al pubblico e personaleâ, in Storia della Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, vol. II, pp. 220, 234 n. 31.
Pierre Petitmengin, âI manoscritti latini della Vaticanaâ, in Storia della Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, vol. II, pp. 66, 186 n. 189; Léon Dorez, âNouvelles recherches sur la bibliothèque du cardinal Girolamo Aleandroâ, Revue des bibliothèques, 7 (1897), pp. 298â302.
Santo Lucà , âGuglielmo Sirleto e la Vaticanaâ, in Storia della Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, vol. II, pp. 145â188; Franco Pignatti, âCesare Baronio e la Vaticanaâ, in Storia della Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, vol. II, pp. 193, 212â213 n. 9â10.
âSe non si possono havere li originali delli libri greci come sta notato nella lista [nei fogli seguenti], sarebbe gran spesa a farne copia, perché in un libro son diverse opere et diversi autori et si copierebbono di quelli che non si cercano; però è necessario che avisino quel che particularmente desiderano et di queli non importerebbe havere gli originali. Se un autore latino si trova tradotto et stampato: 1) di quelli che si trovan tradotti et stampati latini non mi par sia necessario a far spesa di farli copiare â¦; 2) li testamenti nuovi o epi-stole di s. Paolo et simili cose non serveno le copie sole di questi, si desideran gli esemplari più antichi che si possono havere.â (Arch. Bibl. 11, f. 127râv.)
Francesco Bentivoglio (ed.), Costituzioni del Collegio e della Biblioteca Ambrosiana (Milan: Tipografia pontificia ed arcivescovile San Giuseppe, 1933).
Cesare Pasini, âLe acquisizioni librarie del cardinale Federico Borromeo e il nascere dellâAmbrosianaâ, in Franco Buzzi and Roberta Ferro (eds.), Federico Borromeo fondatore della Biblioteca Ambrosiana. Atti delle giornate di studio 25â27 novembre 2004, Studia borromaica, 19 (2005), pp. 461â490.
Mario Panizza, Catalogo dellâArchivio dei Conservatori (Milan: Veneranda Biblioteca Ambrosiana, 1998â2012).
Milan, Biblioteca Ambrosiana, Archivio dei Conservatori, Cartella 10 n° 26; Pasini, âLe acquisizioni librarie del cardinale Federico Borromeoâ, p. 487 and n. 121.
Milan, Biblioteca Ambrosiana, Archivio dei Conservatori, Cartella 10 n° 231; Pasini, âLe acquisizioni librarie del cardinale Federico Borromeoâ, pp. 485â486 n. 114; on Curzio Marcelli, the âlibraio al Pellegrinoâ (bookseller in Via del Pellegrino in Rome), see Masetti Zannini, Stampatori e librai a Roma, p. 94.
Massimo Rodella, âFederico Borromeo collezionista di manoscritti: un primo percorsoâ, Studia Borromaica, 15 (2001), pp. 201â213.
Elena Pinto, La biblioteca Vallicelliana in Roma (Rome: Stab. tip. Leonardo da Vinci, 1932); Giuseppe Finocchiaro, Vallicelliana segreta e pubblica. Fabiano Giustiniani e lâorigine di una biblioteca âuniversaleâ (Florence: Leo S. Olschki, 2011).
Unfortunately, I was not able to get an appointment at the Archive of the Congregation of the Oratory. On this archive see Giovanni Morello and Francesco Dante, âLâarchivio della Congregazione dellâOratorio di Roma alla Chiesa Nuovaâ, Ricerche per la storia religiosa di Roma, 2 (1978), pp. 275â362; Carlo Gasbarri, LâOratorio Romano dal Cinquecento al Novecento (Rome: [s.n.], 1962), pp. 7â11.
Roma, Archivio di Stato, R.C.A. Prot. 579, ff. 565râ571r, Nicolaus Compagnusâs register, partially published in Pinto, La biblioteca Vallicelliana, pp. 111â112; Elisabetta Caldelli, âPer lâinventario dei libri di Achille Stazioâ, in Marco Palma and Cinzia Vismara (eds.), Per Gabriella. Studi in ricordo di Gabriella Braga (Cassino: Edizioni dellâUniversità di Cassino, 2013), pp. 1â94.
Working with a team of scholars, researchers and translators, Baronio wrote his Annales at the main premises of the Oratorio.
Giuseppe Finocchiaro (ed.), I libri di Cesare Baronio in Vallicelliana (Rome: Biblioteca Vallicelliana. Amici delle biblioteche, 2008).
Giuseppe Finocchiaro, âAntonio Gallonio letterato e agiografo. Intorno a una biblioteca privata della Riforma cattolicaâ, in Luigi Gulia, Ingo Herklotz and Stefano Zen (eds.), Società , cultura e vita religiosa in età moderna. Studi in onore di Romeo De Maio (Sora: Centro di studi Sorani Vincenzo Patriarca, 2009), pp. 101â132. Professor Edoardo Barbieri kindly informed me that Giuseppe Finocchiaro is going to publish a new monograph on Antonio Gallonio.
Pinto, La biblioteca Vallicelliana, pp. 116â120.
Anglica, Normannica, Hibernica, Cambrica, a veteribus scripta (Frankfurt: Claude I de Marne & Johann I Aubry Erben, 1603) (USTC 2135819); Rerum Anglicarum scriptores post Bedam praecipui, ex vetustissimis codicibus manuscriptis nunc primum in lucem editi (Frankfurt: Andreas Wechel Erben & Claude I de Marne & Johann I Aubry Erben, 1601) (USTC 2134610).
The shelfmark of the copy preserved in the Biblioteca Vallicelliana is S. Borr. G VII 32; Finocchiaro, âAntonio Gallonioâ, p. 114.
Marino Zorzi, La libreria di San Marco. Libri, lettori, società nella Venezia dei Dogi (Venezia: Arnoldo Mondadori, 1987).
Archivio di Stato di Venezia, Procuratori di San Marco de supra, Chiesa, Atti, busta 68; Zorzi, La Libreria di San Marco, pp. 182â184.