The Vatican Library. 1 PART I. "AD DECOREM MILITANTIS ECCLESLE, FIDEI CATHOLICS AUGMENTUM, ERUDITORUM QUOQUE AC LITERARUM STUDIIS INSISTENTIUM VIRORUM COM- MODUM ET HONOREM." BULL OF I477- 2 /"ORIGINALITY can be claimed for this essay in no sense ^-^ of the word. It had been for some years my wish to put into a presentable form the history of the great Vatican collec- tion, and when in Rome at Easter, 1892, I made considerable enquiries in the matter. The Preface of the late Commendatore de Rossi to the Catalogue of the Vatican Latin MSS. 8 seemed to me previous to that visit to be so exhaustive, that I had at first determined simply to translate his account. Permission was sought, and readily obtained, from the Vatican, and from the Commendatore himself. Subsequently, however, it was found that the particular re- searches of other writers upon the history of the Library, during the later periods, were so important, that they could not be overlooked ; and I determined to modify my original plan to the extent of incorporating the chief results of these. I have even, where it has been possible, adopted the actual words of my various authorities, giving full acknowledgment in footnotes, but not using inverted commas, which would in a short time have proved wearisome, and distracting to the eye ; judging that with such writers, each of whom had devoted a 1 Communicated to the Sixteenth Annual Meeting of the Library Association, at Aberdeen, September, 1893. 2 See Miintz et Fabre, La Bibliothtque du Vatican au xv. Sttcl Paris, 1887, p. 300. 3 De origine, historia, indicibus scrinii, et bibliothecse Sedis Apostolicse com- mentatio. Romse, typ. Vat., 1886. Cf. La biblioteca della Sede Apostolica edi catalogi dei suoi manoscritti. Roma, 1884. 24
