Page:On the Vatican Library of Sixtus IV.djvu/16

 division is also commemorated by Brandolim (Epigram ). After alluding to the founders of some of the famous libraries of antiquity, he says in conclusion:

Thanks to the care with which Platina set down his expenditure, we are able to follow step by step the gradual transformation of the rooms. His account-books, begun 30 June 1475, record, with a minuteness as rare as it is valuable, his transactions with the different artists and workmen whom he thought proper to employ. It was evidently intended that the Library should be beautiful as well as useful, and some of the most celebrated artists of the day were set to work upon it.

These precious volumes—now in the State Archives at Rome—are unique documents for the history of libraries. We can gather from them the whole process of fitting up a library in the fifteenth century; and further, the sort of establishment required for its proper maintenance and organisation.

The Librarian prudently began by ordering the bookcases, being evidently well aware that many months would elapse before any of them could be delivered. A carpenter (faber lignarius) signed a contract for the first part of the work 15 July, 1475; but in this place I shall say no more about the furniture. Soon afterwards (9 August) masons were set to work on the fabric; but unfortunately no particulars of the work are given. The most important item is the insertion of a window "on the side next the court." The name of an architect, Donatus, is mentioned once in the course of the