December of that year the windows of the Bibliotheca secreta were begun; but during 1478 and 1479 nothing was done. In 1480 work was resumed, and the last payment to painters was made in 1481.
IV. The furniture.
Let us now consider how these rooms were fitted up for the reception of books. I will first collect the notices in the Accounts respecting desks, or banchi, as they are called, and then compare them with the rooms themselves, and with the descriptions in the catalogues, which are fortunately extremely full; and I think that it will be possible to give a clear and consistent picture of the arrangements. As mentioned above, Platina's first care on entering office was to order the desks for the Latin Library. This is set down in the following terms:
The full name of this carpenter is known, from his receipts, to have been Francesco de Gyovane di Boxi da Milano. He received in all 300 ducats instead of the 130 mentioned in the first agreement, and when the last payment was made to him, 7 June, 1476, the following explanatory note is given:
- ↑ Enumeravi, præsente Clemente synescalcho familiæ s. d. n., Salvato librario, et Demetrio lectore, ducatos XLV Francischo fabro lignario mediolanensi habitatori piscinæ urbis Romæ pro banchis Bibliothecæ conficiendis, maxime vero decem quæ ad sinistram jacent, quorum longitudo est xxxviii palmorum, vel circa, et ita accepta parte pecuniarum, cujus summa est centum et xxx ducatorum, facturum se debitum promittit et obligat, die xv Julii 1475. Müntz, p. 121.