Catalogo dei manoscritti posseduti dal Marchese Gino Capponi

Firenze: Tipi della Galileiana, 1845. 8vo. 232 x 152 mm. (9 x 6 inches). vii, [1], 268 pp. Bound in modern calf over marbled paper boards. Text uncut and unopened; some light foxed throughout, and one tiny wormhole affected the upper corner of pages 163-268. First edition of the Marchese Capponi's collection of early manuscripts documenting the political and economic history of Italy. The compiler Carlo Milanesi writes in the introduction that the catalogue was written for the use of scholars with the intention of highlighting historical manuscripts from various Italian cities, especially Florence, Milan, Rome and Venice, but also lesser locations like Bologna, Brindisi, Ferrara, Genoa, Livorno, and Padoa to name only a few. The catalogue also includes important documents that relate to political relations with England, France, Ireland, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain. In total the collection includes over 2000 manuscripts, each described with notes and citations. In 1854 the collection was given to the Biblioteca Magliabechiana and is now in the Biblioteca Nationale di Florence. Gino Capponi (1792-1876) was decendent of an important Florentine family, who used his advantages to help modernize the Florentine state and ultimately contributed to the unification of his country in the 1860's and 1870's. As a young man he traveled to the capital cities of Europe studying their economies, educational systems, politics, and jurisprudence and through his hard work influenced Tuscany's rise to leadership within the Italian political landscape. His love of country was the prime motivation for building his collection of manuscripts and is a testament to his work as a historian who used original documents to write his history of Florence that was published a year before his death to great acclaim. ICCU 64/592. For biographical information see Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani at http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/gino-capponi.