Renaissance Book Collecting

This 1999 book studies and compares the famous sixteenth-century libraries of Jean Grolier and Diego Hurtado de Mendoza.

This 1999 book studies and compares two sixteenth-century libraries. Grolier's was a bibliophilic 'cabinet' of fine books. Hurtado de Mendoza's was a larger and more scholarly collection; a full catalogue is provided for the first time. Contains ninety-one half-tones of original bookbindings, several thematic indexes, eleven appendices and a bibliography.This book, first published in 1999, studies and compares two sixteenth-century libraries. Jean Grolier's was a bibliophilic 'cabinet' of fine books; Diego Hurtado de Mendoza's was a much larger and more scholarly collection; a full catalogue is provided for the first time. Both men were greatly influenced by experience of Italy. Grolier has been called 'the Prince of Bibliophiles'; the books he commissioned have long been famous. This is the first full account of his life for eighty years. Hurtado de Mendoza was a poet, historian, Greek scholar and Arabist. He served as the Emperor's Ambassador in Venice (1540–6), to the Council of Trent (1545–6), and to the Pope (1547–52). In Venice he set out to form for Spain a collection of Greek manuscripts to rival that being formed for France by Francis I's agents. Anthony Hobson's text is complemented by ninety-one illustrations, several thematic indexes, eleven appendices and a bibliography.