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Bibliothecae Selectae
The section entitled "Bibliotheca Selectae" includes classics of library science and contributions on book collections of particular interest or on important topics that involve more than one private collection. The title refers to a volume by the same name (Bibliothecae Selectae. Da Cusano a Leopardi, ed. Eugenio Canone, Florence: Olschki, 1993, vol. 58 of the "Lessico Intelletuale Europeo" series) which contains fifteen essays and fourteen brief contributions that analyze and reconstruct some of the most important private libraries belonging to men-of-letters, philosophers and scientists, beginning with the humanist period and ending in the nineteenth century. The figures discussed include Erasmus of Rotterdam, Ulisse Aldrovandi, Francesco Patrizi, Hugo Grotius, Gabriel Naudé, Cassiano dal Pozzo, Joachim Jungius, Pierre Bayle, John Locke, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, Georg Christoph Lichtenberg, and Antoine Laurent Lavoisier, among others. The title of the volume itself, taken from what was one of the first systematic bibliographies composed in the Early Modern Period, suggests one of the possible ways of reading this long excursus of catalogues and inventories of illustrious private libraries. Though it is true that it is impossible to consider a philosopher's library the direct source of his or her works or as clear evidence of what he or she read, it is nevertheless possible to identify within them patterns that can help to better understand the intellectual development and priorities of their possessors.
We thank Eugenio Canone for having allowed the publication of this volume on the website and for his collaboration with the "Biblioteche filosofiche private in eta' moderna e contemporanea" project in general.
