Page:The library a magazine of bibliography and library literature, Volume 6.djvu/394

 382 The Library. was immediately answered by the return of the 900 volumes of MSS., nine-tenths of which were German, and among the rest the famous Palatine Anthology. 1 Evelyn, in his diary, devotes a considerable passage to the Vatican Library. He visited it on Jan. 18, i645. 2 In 1658, under Alexander VII., who erected the large colon- nade in front of St. Peter's, the Vatican received the library of Urbino, founded by Duke Federigo da Montefeltro, whose passion for books was so great that at the taking of Volterra in 1472, he reserved nothing but a Hebrew Bible for his own share of the spoil. The collection contains 1711 Greek and Latin MSS. The years 1678-1688 are rather black ones in the history of the papal book treasures. At the death of Cardinal Rospigliosi, in the latter year, it was found that numberless title pages and other parts of the finest MSS. which formed part of the library of the Sistine Choir had been stolen for the sake of the miniatures and illuminations. 8 In 1690 the collection of Queen Christina, of Sweden, was added; 4 consisting of all the literary treasures taken by Gustavus Adolphus, her father, at Prague, Wurtzburg, and Bremen ; amounting to 2,291 MSS. (2,101 Latin and 190 Greek). 5 Further damage in the way of so-called " restoration " of the Sistine Choir books took place between 1721-4, by order of Innocent XIII. Clement XII. (1730-1740), added the library of Pius. II (^Eneas Sylvius), and the Oriental MSS. collected by the Assemani. These caused the addition in 1732 of more rooms to the right. Benedict XIV., founder of the Museo Sacro, added in 1749, 3,300 MSS. Under Benedict XIV., in 1746, came also the library of the Ottobuoni family, containing 3,862 MSS. (3,391 Latin, and 474 Greek). Mai printed Rugghieri's account of it in 1825. About the same time came the collection of the Marquis Capponi. De Brosses in his letters upon Italy, 6 towards the end of the 1 Wilken, Gesch. der Bildung u.s.w. der Heidelberg. Buchersammlungen (Heidelberg, 1817). 2 For the visit of another Englishman at this time, see An Itinarary Con- tayning A Voyage made through Italy in the yeare 1646 and 1647. By Jo. Raymond, gent., 8vo, Lond., 1648. 3 Grove, op. cit. 4 An interesting account of the Queen of Sweden and her books, from the pen of Mr. C. I. Elton, was published in Bibliographica, pt. i. (Lond., 1894). 5 P>r the catalogue of her Greek MSS., vide infra, p. 372 n. I. Lettres historiques et critiques sur I' Italic. Ed. Paris, An. 7, torn, iii., pp. I37-I43-