Acknowledgements
This book is not only a translation but also an expanded and updated version of Come le armadure e l’armi. Per una storia delle antiche biblioteche della Compagnia di Gesù, con il caso di Perugia (Florence: Olschki, 2016). Over the years, conversations with colleagues, new discoveries, and many generous exchanges have helped me to revisit some of the ideas first developed in the Italian edition and to refine them within a wider historical and intellectual framework.
I owe special thanks to Andrew Pettegree, who graciously endorsed this work and welcomed it into the Library of the Written Word series. His support and example as a historian of the printed world have been a constant source of inspiration. I am also grateful to Arthur der Weduwen for his generous advice and encouragement. My heartfelt thanks also go to Edoardo Barbieri and Andrea Capaccioni, who have followed the evolution of this work from its very beginnings more than ten years ago, offering insightful counsel and steadfast support throughout its long trajectory. My gratitude extends to Idalia García, teacher, colleague, and dear friend. Since our first meeting within the walls of St Andrews, her insight and generosity have encouraged me to broaden the geographical and cultural scope of this book. I am equally indebted to Paul Grendler, whose scholarship has long been an essential point of reference; I am deeply grateful for all that I have learned from him about Jesuit institutions and the educational system of the Society. A special word of thanks goes to Ann Matter, who has encouraged me without pause since the very first day we met in Philadelphia. Her warmth and generosity have accompanied this work in ways words can scarcely express. The Archivum Romanum Societatis Iesu remains, as ever, a place of remarkable generosity and scholarly warmth. I am especially indebted to Mauro Brunello, whose help at key moments of research has always been accompanied by patience, kindness, and friendship.
I am also indebted to the many colleagues and friends who, over the years, have read, discussed, and enriched this work with their ideas, questions, and encouragement: Noël Golvers, Rosa Marisa Borraccini, Paul Begheyn, Angela Nuovo, Enrico Ardolino, Erminia Irace, Eva Del Soldato, Roger Chartier, Peter Stallybrass, John Pollack, Carlo Ginzburg, Amedeo Quondam, Lorenzo Mancini, Kathleen Comerford, Émile Thonar, and Hugo Daniel López. To all of them, I owe sincere gratitude for their generosity, curiosity, and sense of shared scholarly purpose. This new edition has also benefited from research made possible through fellowships from the Renaissance Society of America and the Willison Foundation. Their support has allowed me to extend and consolidate the foundations of this study.
Everything in these pages carries, in one way or another, the imprint of Lorena’s presence. The companion of my life, she bore with boundless kindness the many evenings in which her eccentric husband kept vigil before the computer, gently lulling our little Alexis to sleep. Her love has been the quiet centre around which this project has turned; without her strength, warmth, and unwavering faith in me, this work would never have come into being.
Finally, my deepest gratitude is reserved for John Sibbald, the first reader and meticulous reviser of this translation. Much of this book took its present shape while I was a guest in his Edinburgh home, where conversations flowed easily and friendship softened the labor of revision. His generosity, his humour, and his unfailing care have left their mark on every line. If these pages now speak with greater clarity, it is thanks to his steady eye (one that misses not even the most elusive full stop) and to the kindness behind each of his suggestions. It is therefore with heartfelt affection that I dedicate this book to him, for ubi amici, ibidem opes.