The Vatican Library contains the richest collection of western manuscripts and early printed books in the world, and its holdings have both reflected and helped to shape the intellectual development of Europe. One of the central institutions of Italian Renaissance culture, it has served since its origin in the mid-15th century as a centre of research for topics as diverse as the early history of the city of Rome and the structure of the universe. This book, which contains over 200 colour illustrations, introduces the reader to the Vatican Library and examines in particular its development during the Renaissance. Distinguished scholars discuss the Library's holdings and the historical circumstances of its growth, presenting a fascinating cast of characters - popes, artists, collectors, scholars, and scientists - who influenced how the Library evolved. The authors examine subjects ranging from Renaissance humanism to Church relations with China and the Islamic world to the status of medicine and the life sciences in antiquity and during the Renaissance. Their essays are supported by maps, books, prints and other examples of the Library's collection, including the Palatine Virgil (a fifth-century manuscript), a letter from King Henry VIII to Anne Boleyn, and an autographed poem by Petrarch. The book serves as the catalogue for a major exhibition at the Library of Congress in Washington that presents a selection of the Vatican Library's magnificent treasures. The exhibition opens in January and the exhibits return to the Vatican at the end of April.
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Editorial Reviews
From Library Journal
This impressive catalog of the exhibit currently at the Library of Congress (January-April) portrays the Vatican Library as repository, reflection, patron, and artifact of Roman Renaissance culture. The readable text provides context and explication of the library's development. The opening essays present an enlightening survey of the Vatican's role in supporting humanist scholarship, while later articles explore Vatican collections in the sciences, medicine, music, and Asian studies. All the essays are heavily illustrated with images of the exhibited treasures. However, the typeface is too small, and a concise chronology of the library's history is needed. Despite these minor flaws, this book is highly recommended for informed readers.
- Elizabeth Brice, Miami Univ. Libs., Oxford, Ohio
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
- Elizabeth Brice, Miami Univ. Libs., Oxford, Ohio
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
The Rebirth of modern scholarship in the Renaissance,
By A Customer
This review is from: Rome Reborn: The Vatican Library and Renaissance Culture (Hardcover)
Anthony Grafton's "Rome Reborn" is not just a simple and well done 'exhibition catalogue' intended to be a luxurious appendix to the famous exhibition of 1993 held in the Library of Congress. On the contrary, his 'magnum opus' not only exceeds by far the boundaries of this genre, but also laid the new foundations of modern scholarship in the field of Renaissance studies focusing on Rome and its cultural rebirth in the Renaissance. In combining several methodologies which have been used separately in various disciplines before, Grafton showed himself once more the absolute master of contemporary Renaissance Studies in its broadest sense. His "Rome Reborn" should therefore be on the desk of everyone occupied (professionaly or in another way) with the cultural history of the Renaissance.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Splendid, magisterial and inspiring...,
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This review is from: Rome Reborn: The Vatican Library and Renaissance Culture (Hardcover)
Anyone interested in Ancient Rome and its magnificent history in later ages, but also anyone attracted to the rich treasures of the Vatican Library, is recommended to have this book on his or her table!It is a superb work, written by great specialists in Renaissance Italy, and richly illustrated. The very top! Jan Papy
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