Laurentian Library
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| - | :''[[Library of Alexandria]], [[Cemetery of Forgotten Books]], [[private case|hidden and secret libraries]]'' | + | The '''Laurentian Library''' ('''Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana''') in [[Florence]], [[Italy]], is famous as a repository of more than 11,000 [[manuscript]]s and 4,500 early printed books. Built in a cloister of the Medicean [[Basilica di San Lorenzo di Firenze]] under the patronage of the [[Medici]] pope, [[Clement VII]], the Library was built to emphasize that the [[Medici]] family were no longer mere merchants but members of intelligent and ecclesiastical society. It contains the manuscripts and books belonging to the private library of the Medici family. The library is renowned for the architecture planned and built by [[Michelangelo|Michelangelo Buonarroti]] and is an example of [[Mannerism]]. |
| - | A '''library''' is a collection of information, sources, resources and services, organized for use, and maintained by a public body, an [[institution]], or a private individual. In the more traditional sense, it means a collection of [[book]]s. Of particular importance are [[private case|hidden and secret libraries]]. | + | == Collection == |
| - | ===Early modern libraries=== | + | In 1571, [[Cosimo I]], Grand Duke of Tuscany, opened the still-incomplete Library to scholars. Notable additions to the collection were made by its most famous librarian, [[Angelo Maria Bandini]], who was appointed in 1757 and oversaw its printed catalogues. The Library conserves the [[Nahuatl]] [[Florentine Codex]], the major source of pre-Conquest Aztec life. Among other well-known manuscripts in the Laurentian Library are the sixth-century Syriac [[Rabula Gospels]]; the [[Codex Amiatinus]], which contains the earliest surviving manuscript of the [[Vulgate|Latin Vulgate Bible]]; the [[Squarcialupi Codex]], an important early musical manuscript; and the fragmentary [[Erinna]] papyrus containing poems of the friend of [[Sappho]]. |
| - | [[Johannes Gutenberg]]'s movable type innovation in the 15th century revolutionized bookmaking. From the 15th century in central and northern Italy, the assiduously assembled libraries of [[Renaissance humanism|humanists]] and their enlightened patrons provided a nucleus around which an "[[academy]]" of scholars congregated in each Italian city of consequence. [[Cosimo de Medici]] in [[Florence]] established his own collection, which formed the basis of the [[Laurentian Library]]. In Rome, the papal collections were brought together by [[Pope Nicholas V]], in separate Greek and Latin libraries, and housed by [[Pope Sixtus IV]], who consigned the [[Vatican Library|Bibliotheca Apostolica Vaticana]] to the care of his [[librarian]], the humanist [[Bartolomeo Platina]] in February 1475. In the 16th century [[Pope Sixtus V|Sixtus V]] bisected Bramante's [[Cortile del Belvedere]] with a cross-wing to house the Apostolic Library in suitable magnificence. The sixteenth and 17th centuries saw other privately endowed libraries assembled in Rome: the Vallicelliana, formed from the books of Saint [[Filippo Neri]], with other distinguished libraries such as that of [[Cesare Baronio]], the Biblioteca Angelica founded by the Augustinian [[Angelo Rocca]], which was the only truly public library in Counter-Reformation Rome; the Biblioteca Alessandrina with which [[Pope Alexander VII]] endowed the [[Sapienza University of Rome|University of Rome]]; the Biblioteca Casanatense of the Cardinal [[Girolamo Casanate]]; and finally the Biblioteca Corsiniana founded by the bibliophile [[Pope Clement XII|Clement XII Corsini]] and his nephew Cardinal Neri Corsini, still housed in Palazzo Corsini in via della Lungara. | + | |
| - | A lot of factors combined to create a "golden age of libraries" between 1600 and 1700: The quantity of books had gone up, as the cost had gone down, there was a renewal in the interest of classical literature and culture, nationalism was encouraging nations to build great libraries, universities were playing a more prominent role in education, and renaissance thinkers and writers were producing great works. Some of the more important libraries include the [[Bodleian Library]] at Oxford, the Library of the [[British Museum]], the [[Bibliothèque Mazarine|Mazarine Library]] in Paris, and the [[National Central Library (Florence)|National Central Library]] in Italy, the [[Prussian State Library]], the [[M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin State Public Library]] of St. Petersburg, and many more. | ||
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| - | ''Literature of Libraries in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries'' is a collection of nine short works from the period which was published by John Cotton Dana and Henry W. Kent in 1906-07. | ||
| == See also == | == See also == | ||
| - | *[[Imaginary library]] | + | |
| + | * [[Minuscule 619]] | ||
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The Laurentian Library (Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana) in Florence, Italy, is famous as a repository of more than 11,000 manuscripts and 4,500 early printed books. Built in a cloister of the Medicean Basilica di San Lorenzo di Firenze under the patronage of the Medici pope, Clement VII, the Library was built to emphasize that the Medici family were no longer mere merchants but members of intelligent and ecclesiastical society. It contains the manuscripts and books belonging to the private library of the Medici family. The library is renowned for the architecture planned and built by Michelangelo Buonarroti and is an example of Mannerism.
Collection
In 1571, Cosimo I, Grand Duke of Tuscany, opened the still-incomplete Library to scholars. Notable additions to the collection were made by its most famous librarian, Angelo Maria Bandini, who was appointed in 1757 and oversaw its printed catalogues. The Library conserves the Nahuatl Florentine Codex, the major source of pre-Conquest Aztec life. Among other well-known manuscripts in the Laurentian Library are the sixth-century Syriac Rabula Gospels; the Codex Amiatinus, which contains the earliest surviving manuscript of the Latin Vulgate Bible; the Squarcialupi Codex, an important early musical manuscript; and the fragmentary Erinna papyrus containing poems of the friend of Sappho.
See also
