LATER COLLECTORS: FRANCE--ITALY--SPAIN.
We have still to notice one or two of Grolier's contemporaries, who may
be classed as great book-collectors of an old-fashioned type. They knew
the whole history of 'the Book,' and were themselves the owners of
exquisite treasures, which are now hoarded up as the choicest remains of
antiquity. But their function was not so much to collect books as rare
and curious objects as to undertake the duty of saving the records of
past history from destruction. They did the work in their day which has
now devolved upon the guardians of public and national libraries. No
private person could now take their place; but the interests of
literature could hardly have been protected in a former age without the
personal labour and enthusiasm of Orsini and Pétau.
Fulvio Orsini was born in 1529. He began life as a beggar, though for
many years before his death he was the leader of Italian learning. A poor
girl had been abandoned with her child and was forced to beg her bread in
the streets of Rome. The boy obtained a place in the Lateran when he was
only seven years old: the Canon Delfini recognised his precocious talents
and undertook to find him a classical education. The student obtained
some small preferment, and succeeded to his patron's appointment. His
marvellous acquaintance with ancient books secured him a place as
librarian to the Cardinal Farnese, and he received many offers of more
lucrative employment: but he found that if he accepted he would have to
live away from Rome; and he refused everything that could cause
inconvenience to his mother, whose comfort was his constant care. On his
death, in the year 1600, he bequeathed his vast collections to the
Vatican, and the gift can only be compared to such important events as
the arrival of the spoils of Urbino, or the great purchase of MSS. from
the Queen of Sweden.
Orsini has been ridiculed for having more books than he could read, and
for an excessive devotion to the antique. 'Here is a library like an
arsenal,' said the satirist, 'stored with all the requisites for any
campaign. The owner buys all the books that come in his way: it is true
that he will not read them; but he will have them magnificently bound,
and ranged on the shelves with a mighty show, and there he will salute
them several times a day, and will bring his friends and servants to make
their acquaintance.' Orsini is rebuked for his admiration of a dusty
manuscript. 'When one of these old parchments falls into his hands, he
makes you examine the decayed leaves on which the eye can hardly trace
any marks of an ancient pen. 'What is this treasure that we have here?'
he cries, 'and oh! what joy, here we have the delight of mankind, and
the world's desire, and pleasures not to be matched in Paradise!'
'There,' says our satirist, 'you have the very portrait of Fulvio Orsini.
Why, he once took a manuscript _Terence_, full of holes and mistakes, in
writing to Cardinal Toletus, and told him that it was worth all the gold
in the world'; and, to convince his Spanish Eminence, he said that the
book was a thousand years' old. '_Est-il possible?_' replies the
Cardinal, 'you don't say so. I can only say, my friend, I would rather
have a book hot from the press than all the old parchments that the Sibyl
had for sale.'
Jacques Bongars, the faithful councillor and ambassador of Henri Quatre,
was the owner of a remarkable library, consisting to a great extent of
State papers and historical documents, which Bongars had special
facilities for collecting during his official visits to Germany. He had
studied law at Bourges under the learned Cujacius, of whom it is recorded
that when his name was mentioned in the German lecture-rooms, every one
present took off his hat. Bongars has described his excitement at
purchasing the great lawyer's library. 'My chief care has been to seek
out the books belonging to Cujas. I expect that you will have a fine
laugh when you think of all that crowd that goes to Court as if it were a
fair, to do their business together, and to try to get money out of the
King, while a regular courtier like myself rushes off to this lonely spot
to spend his fortune on books and papers, all in disorder and half eaten
by the book-worms. You will be able to judge if I am an avaricious man.
No trouble or expense is anything to me where books are concerned. Would
to God that I were free, and had time to read them. I should not feel any
envy then of M. de Rosny's wealth or the Persian's mountain of gold.'
While residing at Strasburg he bought the manuscripts belonging to the
Cathedral from some of the soldiers by whom the city was more than once
pillaged during the wars of religion.
About the year 1603 Bongars arranged with Paul Pétau for the joint
purchase of a large collection of manuscripts, which had belonged to the
Abbey of St. Bénoit-sur-Loire, and had been saved by the bailiff Pierre
Daniel when the Abbey was plundered. The share of Bongars in this
collection was transferred to Strasburg, and passed eventually with the
rest of his books to the public library of the city of Berne.
Paul Pétau was a man of universal accomplishments. He was the rival of
Scaliger in the science of chronology; his doctrinal works are praised as
'a monument of useful labour'; 'he solaced his leisure hours with Greek
and Hebrew, as well as Latin verse,' and, according to Hallam's judgment,
obtained in the last subject the general approbation of the critics. He
formed a valuable museum of Greek, Roman, and Gaulish antiquities, with a
cabinet of Frankish coins, to which Peiresc was a generous contributor.
His library contained several books that had belonged to Grolier; but it
was chiefly remarkable for its MSS., of which several were published by
Sirmond and Du Chesne among other materials for the history of France.
Many of them had been acquired from the collection of Greek and Hebrew
books formed by Jean de Saint André, or out of the mass of chronicles,
romances, and old French poems belonging to Claude Fauchet, and a large
portion came, as we have seen, out of an ancient Benedictine Abbey. Paul
Pétau's books of all kinds were left to his son Alexander. The printed
books, comprising a number of finely illustrated works on archæology,
were sold at the Hague in 1722; the sale included the old library
inherited by Francis Mansard, and the MSS. relating to Roman antiquities
that had been the property of Lipsius. A thousand splendid volumes on
parchment, the pride of the elder Pétau, described by all who saw them in
terms of glowing admiration, were sold in his son's lifetime to Queen
Christina of Sweden. She had always intended to buy some great
collection, and had thought among others of buying up those of Henri de
Mesmes, of De Béthune, and the Cardinal Mazarin. She was delighted with
her new acquisition, and carried it off to Rome, where she made a
triumphal entry with her books amidst the popular rejoicings.
Something may be learned about the Italian collectors in the age that
followed Grolier's death, from the story of the strange wanderings of the
manuscripts of Leonardo da Vinci. Very little was known upon this subject
until M. Arsène Houssaye found an account of what had happened among the
papers of the Barnabite Mazenta, who died in the year 1635. 'It was
about fifty years ago,' says the memorandum, written shortly before the
old monk's death, 'that thirteen volumes of Leonardo's papers, all
written backwards in his own way, fell into my hands. I was then studying
law at Pisa, and one of my companions in the class-room was Aldus
Manutius, renowned as a book-collector. We received a visit from one of
his relations called Lelio Gavardi; he had been tutor in the household of
Francesco Melzi, who was the pupil and also the heir of Leonardo.' Melzi
treasured up every line and scrap of the great man's works at his
country-house in Vaprio; but his sons did not care for art, and left the
papers lying about in a lumber-room, so that Gavardi was able to help
himself as he pleased. He brought thirteen volumes, well-known in the
history of literature, as far as Florence at first, and then to Aldus at
Pisa. 'I cried shame on him,' said Mazenta, 'and as I was going to Milan
I undertook to return them to the Melzi family. There I saw Doctor
Horatio Melzi, who was quite astonished at my taking so much trouble, and
gave me the books for myself, saying that he had plenty more of the same
sort in his garrets at home.' When Mazenta became a monk the thirteen
volumes passed to his brothers, who talked so much about the matter that
there was a rush of amateurs to Vaprio, and the Doctor was overwhelmed
with offers for the great man's books and drawings. 'One of these
rascals,' said Mazenta, 'was the sculptor Pompeo Leoni, who used to make
the bronzes for the Escorial, and he pretended that he would obtain an
appointment for Melzi at Milan, if he would get back the thirteen volumes
for King Philip's new library in Spain. Leoni got possession of most of
the books and kept them in his own cabinet. One of the volumes was
presented by Mazenta's brother to the Ambrosian Library and may still be
seen there, in company with the huge _Codice Atlantico_, which Leoni made
up out of hundreds of separate fragments. At Leoni's death his collection
was bought by Galeazzo Arcanati, the illustrious owner of an artistic and
literary museum. He resisted the proposals of purchase that poured in
from foreign Courts; our James I. is said to have offered three thousand
gold doubloons for the great volume of designs; and on Arcanati's death
the whole collection was transferred by his widow to the Ambrosiana. Some
changes had been made in the distribution of the papers since Mazenta so
easily acquired his thirteen books. The French took the same number away
in 1796; but none of them ever returned, except the famous _Codice
Atlantico_.
In Spain there were but few persons interested in books before the
foundation of the Escorial towards the end of the sixteenth century. We
learn from Mariana that soon after the year 1580 a vast gallery in the
palace was filled with books, mostly Greek MSS., which had been assembled
from all parts of Europe; 'its stores,' he said, 'are more precious than
gold: but it would be well if learned men had greater facilities for
reading them; for what profit is there from learning if she is treated
like a captive and traitor?' Arias Montanus, the first Orientalist of his
age, was appointed librarian by the founder; he was the owner of an
immense quantity of MSS. in Greek, Hebrew, and Arabic, many of which were
used in his edition of the Antwerp Polyglott Bible, and these he
bequeathed to the Escorial, while his printed books were left to the
University of Seville.
The first book was printed in Valencia as early as the year 1474; but the
prospects of literature remained dark until the termination of the
Moorish wars. On the capture of Granada it was thought necessary to
obliterate the memory of the Koran, and scores of thousands of volumes,
or a million as some say, were destroyed by Cardinal Ximènes in a
celebrated _auto-da-fé_. About three hundred Arabic works on medicine
were preserved for the new library which the Cardinal was founding in his
University of Alcalà. The Cardinal spent vast sums in gathering materials
for his Mozarabic Missal and the great Complutensian Polyglott. It is
said that to avoid future criticism he gave his Hebrew originals to be
used in the making of fireworks, just as Polydore Vergil was accused in
our country of burning the monastic chronicles out of which he composed
his history, and as many Italian writers were believed to have destroyed
their classical authorities. When Petrarch lost his Cicero, it was
thought that Alcionio might have stolen it for his treatise upon exile;
but we should probably be right in rejecting all these stories together
as mere calumnies and 'forgeries of jealousy.'
Antonio Lebrixa, who worked under the Cardinal till his death in 1522,
had done much to revive a knowledge of books, and may be regarded as the
principal agent in the introduction of the new Italian learning. His
pupil Ferdinand Nuñez, or Nonnius as he is often called, carried on the
good work at Salamanca, and left his great library to the University.
Diego Hurtado de Mendoza was one of the most distinguished students who
ever followed the lectures there. As a poet he has been called the
Spanish Sallust: as the author of the adventures of Lazarillo de Tormes
he takes a high place among the lighter authors of romance; and as a
patron of learning he will always be remembered for having enriched the
Escorial with his transcripts from Mount Athos, and six chests of
valuable MSS. which he received in return for ransoming from his
captivity at Venice the son of Soliman the Magnificent. Great credit must
also be given to Don Ferdinand Columbus for his good work at Seville. The
son of the great Admiral and Donna Beatrix Enriquez was one of the most
celebrated bibliophiles in Europe. He began making his collections very
soon after his father's death. Between 1510 and 1537 he had visited Italy
several times, and had travelled besides in England and France, in the
Low Countries and in Germany, buying books wherever he went. His great
object was to procure illuminated MSS. and early editions of romances and
miracle-plays; but he was also fond of the classics, and his library at
Seville is still possessed of many copies of Latin poets and orators
which are full of his marginal notes. At Louvain he became acquainted
with Nicholas Clénard, who was lecturing there on Greek and Hebrew, and
was just commencing the Arabic studies by which his name became famous.
Don Ferdinand had a commission to bring back professors for the
University of Salamanca, where learning was beginning to revive; and
Clénard was easily induced to visit a country which might contain the
relics of Moorish culture. Ferrari, as we know, was very successful in
the next generation in finding rare books in Spain for Borromeo's
Ambrosian library. At Bruges, Don Ferdinand met Jean Vasée, a man just
suited for an appointment as librarian, and he too was persuaded to
accompany the traveller on his return. Don Ferdinand established a large
library in his house at Seville. Clénard helped to arrange the books, and
Vasée became librarian. The volumes amounted at least to fifteen thousand
in number, though the exact amount remains unknown owing to discrepancies
in the earliest catalogues.
Don Ferdinand hoped that the library would be kept up by the family of
Columbus. With that object he left it to his great-nephew Don Luis, with
an annuity to provide for the expenses; if the legacy were refused, it
was to pass to the Chapter of the Cathedral at Seville, with alternative
provisions in favour of the Monastery of San Pablo. As events turned out,
the succession was not taken up on behalf of his young kinsman, and after
some litigation the Fernandina, or 'La Colombina' as it was afterwards
called, was adjudged to the Chapter of Seville and placed in a room by
the Moorish Aisle at the Giralda. Owing chiefly to the generosity of
Queen Isabella and the Duc de Montpensier the library of 'La Colombina'
has been restored to prosperity, although according to Mr. Ford it was
long abandoned to 'the canons and book-worms.' It appears that in the
middle of the last century three-quarters of the MSS. had been destroyed
by rough usage or by the water dripping in from the gutters; the books
were in charge of the men who swept the Church, and they allowed the
school-children to play with the illustrated volumes and to tear out the
miniatures and woodcuts. Mr. Harrisse has described with much detail the
grandeur and the decline of this celebrated institution, and he gives
reasons for supposing that it may have suffered even in recent years from
the negligence of its guardians. It is satisfactory, however, to find
that its most precious contents have passed safely through every period
of danger; the library still contains some of the books of Christopher
Columbus, and especially the _Imago Mundi_ with his marginal notes about
the Portuguese discoveries, 'in all which things,' he writes 'I had my
share.'
[Illustration: J. A. DE THOU.]