number of richly ornamented codices of great beauty and costliness. The archives are apart from the library, and are accessible in part to the public under conditions. Leo XIII. appointed a committee to consider what documents of general interest might expediently be published.
The Biblioteca Vaticana is now open from October 1st to Easter every morning between 9 and 1 o’clock, and from Easter to June 29 from 8 o’clock to 12, with the exception of Sundays, Thursdays and the principal feast days.
Catalogues of special classes of MSS. have been published. The Oriental MSS. have been described by J. S. Assemani, Bibliotheca orientalis Clementino-Vaticana (Rome, 1719–1728, 4 vols. folio), and Bibl. Vat. codd. MSS. catalogus ab S. E. et J. S. Assemano redactus (ib., 1756–1759, 3 vols. folio), and by Cardinal Mai in Script. Vet. nova collectio. The Coptic MSS. have been specially treated by G. Zoega (Rome, 1810, folio) and by F. G. Bonjour (Rome, 1699, 4to). There are printed catalogues of the Capponi (1747) and the Cicognara (1820) libraries. The following catalogues have lately been printed: E. Stevenson, Codd. Palatini Graeci (1885), Codd. Gr. Reg. Sueciae et Pii II. (1888); Feron-Battaglini, Codd. Ottobon. Graeci (1893); C. Stornaiolo, Codd. Urbinates Gr. (1895); E. Stevenson, Codd. Palatini Lat. tom. 1 (1886); G. Salvo-Cozzo, Codici Capponiani (1897); M. Vattasso and P. Franchi de’ Cavalieri, Codd. Lat. Vaticani, tom. 1 (1902); C. Stornaiolo, Codices Urbinates Latini, tom. 1 (1902); E. Stevenson, Inventario dei libri stampati Palatino-Vaticani (1886–1891); and several volumes relating to Egyptian papyri by O. Marucchi. Some of the greatest treasures have been reproduced in facsimile.
The most important library in Italy for modern requirements is the Nazionale Centrale Vittorio Emanuele. From its foundation in 1875, incorporating the biblioteca maior o secreta of the Jesuits in the Collegio Romano, and all the cloister libraries of the Provincia Romana which had devolved to Other Roman libraries. the state through the suppression of the Religious Orders, it has now, by purchases, by donations, through the operation of the law of the press increased to about 850,000 printed vols., and is continually being ameliorated. It possesses about 1600 incunabula and 6200 MSS. Noteworthy among these are the Farfensi and the Sessoriani MSS. of Santa Croce in Jerusalem, and some of these last of the 6th to the 8th centuries are real treasures. The library has been recently reorganized. It is rich in the history of the renaissance, Italian and foreign reviews, and Roman topography. A monthly Bollettino is issued of modern foreign literature received by the libraries of Italy.
The Biblioteca Casanatense, founded by Cardinal Casanate in 1698, contains about 200,000 printed vols., over 2000 incunabula, with many Roman and Venetian editions, and more than 5000 MSS., among which are examples of the 8th, 9th and 10th centuries. They are arranged in eleven large rooms, the large central hall being one of the finest in Rome. It is rich in theology, the history of the middle ages, jurisprudence and the economic, social and political sciences. An incomplete catalogue of the printed books by A. Audiffredi still remains a model of its kind (Roma, 1761–1788, 4 vols. folio, and part of vol. v.).
The Biblioteca Angelica was founded in 1605 by Monsignor Angelo Rocca, an Augustinian, and was the first library in Rome to throw open its doors to the public. It contains about 90,000 vols., of which about 1000 are incunabula; 2570 MSS., of which 120 are Greek, and 91 Oriental. It includes all the authentic acts of the Congregatio de Auxiliis and the collections of Cardinal Passionei and Lucas Holstenius.
The Biblioteca Universitaria Alessandrina was founded by Pope Alexander VII., with the greater part of the printed books belonging to the dukes of Urbino, and was opened in 1676. In 1815 Pius VII. granted to it the right to receive a copy of every printed book in the States of the Church, which grant at the present time, by virtue of the laws of Italy, is continued, but limited to the province of Rome. The library possesses 130,000 printed books, 600 incunabula, 376 MSS.
The library of the Senate was established at Turin in 1848. It contains nearly 87,000 vols. and is rich in municipal history and the statutes of Italian cities, the last collection extending to 2639 statutes or vols. for 679 municipalities. The library of the Chamber of Deputies contains 120,000 vols. and pamphlets. It is rich in modern works, and especially in jurisprudence, native and foreign history, economics and administration.
The Biblioteca Vallicelliana was founded by Achille Stazio (1581), and contains some valuable manuscripts, including a Latin Bible of the 8th century attributed to Alcuin, and some inedited writings of Baronius. It now contains 28,000 vols. and 2315 MSS. Since 1884 it has been in the custody of the R. Società Romana di Storia Patria. The Biblioteca Lancisiana, founded in 1711 by G. M. Lancisi, is valuable for its medical collections.
In 1877 Professor A. Sarti presented to the city of Rome his collection of fine-art books, 10,000 vols., which was placed in charge of the Accademia di San Luca, which already possessed a good artistic library. The Biblioteca Centrale Militare (1893) includes 66,000 printed vols. and 72,000 maps and plans relating to military affairs; and the Biblioteca della R. Accad. di S. Cecilia (1875), a valuable musical collection of 40,000 volumes and 2300 MSS.
Among the private libraries accessible by permission, the Chigiana (1660) contains 25,000 vols. and 2877 MSS. The Corsiniana, founded by Clement XII. (Lorenzo Corsini) is rich in incunabula, and includes one of the most remarkable collections of prints, the series of Marc-Antonios being especially complete. It was added to the Accademia dei Lincei in 1884 and now extends to 43,000 vols. The library of the Collegium de Propaganda Fide was established by Urban VIII. in 1626. It owes its present richness almost entirely to testamentary gifts, among which may be mentioned those of Cardinals Borgia, Caleppi and Di Pietro. It is a private collection for the use of the congregation and of those who belong to it, but permission may be obtained from the superiors. There are at least thirty libraries in Subiaco. Rome which are more or less accessible to the public. At Subiaco, about 40 m. from Rome, the library of the Benedictine monastery of Santa Scolastica is not a very large one, comprising only 6000 printed vols. and 400 MSS., but the place is remarkable as having been the first seat of typography in Italy. It was in this celebrated Protocoenobium that Schweynheim and Pannartz, fresh from the dispersion of Fust and Schoeffer’s workmen in 1462, established their press and produced a series of very rare and important works which are highly prized throughout Europe. The Subiaco library, although open daily to readers, is only visited by students who are curious to behold the cradle of the press in Italy, and to inspect the series of original editions preserved in their first home.
The Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale of Florence, formed from the union of Magliabechi’s library with the Palatina, is the largest after the Vittorio Emanuele at Rome. The Magliabechi collection became public property in 1714, and with accessions from time to time, held an independent place until 1862, when the Florence. Palatina (formed by Ferdinand III., Grand Duke of Tuscany), was incorporated with it. An old statute by which a copy of every work printed in Tuscany was to be presented to the Magliabechi library was formerly much neglected, but has been maintained more rigorously in force since 1860. Since 1870 it receives by law a copy of every book published in the kingdom. A Bollettino is issued describing these accessions. There are many valuable autograph originals of famous works in this library, and the MSS. include the most important extant codici of Dante and later poets, as well as of the historians from Villani to Machiavelli and Guicciardini. Amongst the printed books is a very large assemblage of rare early impressions, a great number of the Rappresentazioni of the 16th century, at least 200 books printed on vellum, and a copious collection of municipal histories and statutes, of testi di lingua and of maps. The Galileo collection numbers 308 MSS. The MS. portolani, 25 in number, are for the most part of great importance; the oldest is dated 1417, and several seem to be the original charts executed for Sir Robert Dudley (duke of Northumberland) in the preparation of his Arcano del Mare. The library contains (1909) 571,698 printed vols., 20,222 MSS., 9037 engravings, 21,000 portraits, 3847 maps, and 3575 incunabula. In 1902 the Italian parliament voted the funds for a new building which is being erected on the Corso dei Tintori close to the Santa Croce Church.
The Biblioteca Nazionale of Milan, better known as the Braidense, founded in 1770 by Maria Theresa, consists of 243,000 printed vols. 1787 MSS. and over 3000 autographs. It comprises nearly 2300 books printed in the 15th century (including the rare Monte Santo di Dio of Bettini, 1477), 913 Aldine impressions, Milan. and a xylographic Biblia Pauperum. Amongst the MSS. are an early Dante and autograph letters of Galileo, some poems in Tasso’s autograph, and a fine series of illustrated service-books, with miniatures representing the advance of Italian art from the 12th to the 16th century. One room is devoted to the works of Manzoni.
The Biblioteca Nazionale at Naples, though only opened to the public in 1804, is the largest library of that city. The nucleus from which it developed was the collection of Cardinal Seripando, which comprised many MSS. and printed books of great value. Acquisitions came in from other sources, especially Naples. when in the year 1848 many private and conventual libraries were thrown on the Neapolitan market, and still more so in 1860. The Biblical section is rich in rarities, commencing with the Mainz Bible of 1462, printed on vellum. Other special features are the collection of testi di lingua, that of books on volcanoes, the best collection in existence of the publications of Italian literary and scientific societies and a nearly complete set of the works issued by the Bodoni press. The MSS. include a palimpsest containing writings of the 3rd, 5th and 6th centuries under a grammatical treatise of the 8th, 2 Latin papyri of the 6th century, over 50 Latin Bibles, many illuminated books with miniatures, and the autographs of G. Leopardi. There are more than 40 books printed on vellum in the 15th and 16th
