Res aut res publica: The Evidence from Italian Renaissance Manuscripts and Their Owners
John M. McManamon
This paper examines a key tension in Renaissance culture as reflected the origin and provenance of manuscript books. Were manuscripts private property individual owners or common wealth lettered public? Even an officially public library could not escape that tension, whether through abuse borrowing privileges plundering vulnerable holdings. Market forces encouraged theft, while impoverished scholars used their knowledge to supplement meager incomes. Alternatively, sense is ex-libris indicating codex belonged “and his friends.” Book collecting, finally, becomes helpful clue discerning what scholar committed. Some clergymen way promote ecclesiastical careers, others collected shared tolerance.
Religions