The poet Petrarch arranged to leave his personal library to the city of Venice; but it never arrived. The Venetian tradition that this was the founding of the Biblotheca Marciana is an anachronism; it was founded a century later.
When Petrarch broke up his personal collections at Parma and Vaucluse he had formed the habit of traveling with large bales of manuscripts in a long cavalcade. In his middle age he became tired of carrying his large coll...
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The poet Petrarch arranged to leave his personal library to the city of Venice; but it never arrived. The Venetian tradition that this was the founding of the Biblotheca Marciana is an anachronism; it was founded a century later.
When Petrarch broke up his personal collections at Parma and Vaucluse he had formed the habit of traveling with large bales of manuscripts in a long cavalcade. In his middle age he became tired of carrying his large collection of manuscripts and books around in his extensive travels. He came to the conclusion that he would offer his collection of manuscripts to the Republic of Venice, on condition that it should be properly housed, and should never be sold or divided. This was in exchange for a permanent residence that he and his daughter's family could live in. He decided he wanted to have his valuable collection of manuscripts and ancient books put into a public library on the concept of those of classical antiquity like Ptolemy II of Egypt who built the...
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