Member: diego-m

The individual authors that impressed me most in your library included: Tacitus, Polybius, Florus, and Appian. I wasnʻt sure if they included the original Latin or Greek, ,but they were impressive, even if just good Italian translations.

Then, in later times there was Petrarch and Ferrero, and even some very overlooked Americans, e.g. Gertrude Atherton and Walter Benton. In regard to Petrarchʻs [Chronica de le vite de PONTEFICI et IMERADORI...], I learned something just from seeing the title; I had not even known that he had done a work on those topics.

I do have an edition of Petrarch, not an Italian publilcation, but including the Italian text of his lyrics. For Tacitus, I have only a Modern Library English translation. It was 2nd hand, formerly owned by the late John Reinecke, a linguist and labor union activ ist here in Hawaiʻi, who died some years ago -- making it one of the few books I own that has an association with any writer other than the author.

posted by rolandperkins at 7:29 pm (EST) on Sep 18, 2009

A really good history of the book book is Five Hundred Years of Printing by S.H. Steinberg, and one of my favorites is the Book on the Bookshelf by Henry Petroski. It's more a history of bookshelves, but you pick up a lot of interesting things along the way about books. A good book about the history of libraries in Rome is Libraries in the Ancient World by Lionel Casson. Unfortunantly, they're all in English! Enjoy :)

posted by rarelibrarian at 7:03 pm (EST) on Apr 30, 2009

Thank you! I'm graduating from the rare book librarianship certification with my masters in library science next week, so most of those books come from my school work. I don't own most of them, but I've read them and used most of them for projects. I do love books about books - kind of a speciality for me.

posted by rarelibrarian at 5:21 pm (EST) on Apr 29, 2009

Hello Diego. I am from Teaneck, New Jersey about 10 Kilometers outside of New York CIty. I was born in Ragusa ( Sicilia) but have lived in USA Most of my life. I have been to Milano several times it is a beautiful city. Like you, I love antiquarian books. Many of the ones I have are in Italian. I studied Italian history of the "rinascimento" and the works of Antonio Gramsci. Ancient Rome is fascinating. I studied it many years ago. Are you astudent? or just interested in history ? stay well, Carmelo

posted by cbellia at 4:49 pm (EST) on Apr 18, 2009

Thank you for accepting my friends invitation. I hope my profile gave you some new insights into Volney, Jefferson and Franco-American history. I will be glad to answer any questions you might have regarding Volney, his views, or book purchases. All Zee Best, TCW

posted by ThomasCWilliams at 11:31 pm (EST) on Apr 11, 2009

You have an interesting library. some 16th Century!! nice work.

posted by cbellia at 11:53 pm (EST) on Mar 3, 2009