Cosimo Medici (1389-1464) was one of the wealthiest men of his time, a generous patron of the Arts, and a collector of books and rare manuscripts. In addition he was arguably the most well known bibliophile of his day. With the help of his agents, both he and his grandson Lorenzo the Magnificent brought back books from Europe and the Near East to Florence where they were studied and translated by those in his humanist circle. These books were added to the collection of Niccoli Niccolo, that Cosimo had deposited at San Marco in 1444. Niccolo was indebted to his friend Cosimo, who followed through on Niccoli's dream to found a public library. It wasn't however until much later and after other acquisitions and library mergers that the dream of a more public library became a reality. The library, the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana opened in 1571 and is housed in the cloisters of the San Lorenzo Basilica in Florence.

Recommended Links
History of the Medici Family
Online Renaissance Encyclopedia
Library of Congress Vatican Exhibit
Historical View of Libraries
Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana

Bibliography
Bottasso, E. (1990). The network of libraries in the old Italian states. Conturbia, S. (Trans.), Libraries and Cultures, 25:3, 334-344.
Clark, J. W.,Jr. (1968). Libraries in the Medieval and Renaissance periods. Reprint of 1894 lecture. Chicago: Argonaut, Inc.
Clement, R. W. (1994). Renaissance libraries. In W. A. Wiegand & D. G. Davis (Eds.) Encyclopedia of library history (pp. 546-553). New York: Garland.
Da Conturbia, S. (1994). Italy. In W. A. Wiegand & D. G. Davis (Eds.) Encyclopedia of library history (pp. 309-315). New York: Garland.
Freemantle, R. (1992). God and money: Florence and the Medici in the Renaissance. Firenza: Leo S. Olschki Editore.
Hibbert, C. (1975). The house of Medici: its rise and fall. New York: William Morrow & Company.
Jurdjevic, M. (Winter 1999). Civic humanism and the rise of the Medici. Renaissance Quarterly, 52:4, 994-1020.
Mapp, A. J. (1998). Three golden ages: discovering the creative secrets of Renaissance Florence, Elizabethan England, and America's founding. New York:Madison Books.
Petrucci, A. (1995). Writers and readers in Medieval Italy: studies in the histroy of written culture. C. M. Radding (Ed. and Trans.). New Haven: Yale University Press.
Richardson, B. (1999). Printing, writers and readers in Renaissance Italy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Steele, Colin. (1976). Major libraries of the world: a selective guide. New York: Bowker.
Ullman, B. L., & Stadtler, P. A. (1972). The public library of Renaissance Florence: Niccolo Niccoli, Cosimo de'Medici and the library of San Marco. Padova: Antenore.
Wallerstein, I. M., & Stephens, J. F. (1978). Libraries and our civilizations: a report prepared for the Governor of the state of New York. New York: Governor's Conference on Libraries.
Watkins, R. N. (1978). Humanism & liberty: writings on freedom from fifteenth-century Florence. Columbia, SC: South Carolina Press.

Picto-ography Links to pictures used
Art History Class - Michelozzo - World Art Treasures - Early Library History - Italian Digital Library - Ficino & Platonic Academy - Bracciolini & Vatican Exhibit - Petrarch - Medici Shield Pictures from San Lorenzo - San Marco

Last Updated 7/10/02 Jana Borchardt
(borchardtjana@hotmail.com)
MLS Student Emporia State University