Biographical overview
1734: Gian Battista Recanati (216 manuscripts, including the “Franco-Venetian” codices of the Gonzaga family)
Giambattista Recanati (Venice, 1687–1734), bibliophile and collector, belonged—by culture and social milieu—to the Venetian literary world of the early eighteenth century, whose most prominent representative was Apostolo Zeno.
A refined scholar, he owed his reputation above all to the collection of manuscript books that he assembled, acquired, as he himself declared in his will, “at great expense and after many journeys.”
The bequest
In his will, dated 12 November 1734, Recanati designated the Public Library of St Mark as the heir to his library. The books were delivered to the Procurator Piero Foscarini on 10 April 1735 by Recanati’s widow, Fiorenza Ravagnin.
Extent and composition
The list preserved in the State Archives of Venice records 216 codices, divided as follows: 48 Greek, 110 Latin, 34 Italian, 23 French, and 1 Illyrian.
Of particular significance are the Franco-Venetian manuscripts—some illuminated—originating from the Gonzaga family of Mantua and acquired in 1708.
Among the Greek manuscripts, particularly noteworthy are several liturgical codices with miniatures dating from the eleventh and twelfth centuries, as well as the Lexicon of Hesychius of Alexandria (Gr. Z. 622 = 851), which is of exceptional importance, being the only manuscript to transmit the work in its entirety.
Among the Latin codices are a collection of Lombard and feudal laws (Lat. Z. 210 = 1823) and the Historia Florentina by Poggio Bracciolini (Lat. Z. 392 = 1684), whose first edition was prepared by Recanati himself. Among the Italian manuscripts are a copy of Giovanni Villani’s Cronaca (It. Z. 33 = 4771) and Dante’s Commedia (It. Z. 53 = 4779).
Inventories and catalogues
The catalogue of the Recanati collection is Marciana codex Lat. XIII, 77 (= 4541). Two further inventories, both compiled by Apostolo Zeno, document the development of the collection over time: one dating from 1722, listing 300 codices (Marciana, It. XI, 63 = 6794); another from 1729, recording 314 codices (Marciana, It. XI, 59 = 7324).
Further reading
- Marino Zorzi, La Libreria di San Marco, Milan, 1987, pp. 250–252.
- Lugato, “Alla ricerca del codice pliniano di Giambattista Recanati (1687–1734), bibliofilo veneziano,” Studi umanistici piceni, 19 (1999), pp. 54–67.
- Lugato, “‘…Breve, fugitiva relazione…’ Una lettera di Giambattista Recanati ad Apostolo Zeno,” in Humanistica Marciana: saggi offerti a Marino Zorzi, Milan, 2008, pp. 165–173.
