Marsili and his books

Marsili is familiar with books both in terms of training and profession, as a man of letters and Professor of the University of Padova, and out of passion, which leads him to become a collector of art. In the letters to his friend Gennari we read how – throughout his entire life – he buys books for himself and for others, such as Giandomenico Polcastro, Guglielmo Camposampiero, Apostolo Zeno, Giovanni Poleni, Antonio Vallisneri and Abbot Gennari himself.

Life in Venice and Padova and sojourns in Florence, Paris and London permit him to be at the centre of the book trade, even antique books, and he often receives works as gifts from his intellectual friends.

The shop of bookseller Pieter Meijer Warnars on Vijgendam Amsterdam, Johannes Jelgerhuis, 1820 (detail) (from: Rijksmuseum)

Thanks to this love of books which has accompanied him from youth he collects valuable editions of the most varied works, testifying to his vast culture and curiosity. In his library there were Greek and Latin classics, large illustrated herbals, works of medicine and anatomy, texts on zoology, geography, exploratory journeys and contemporary literature, books on antiquities, and on past and present customs and traditions. They are books from all over the world: alongside texts published in nearby Venice, there are volumes printed in diverse cities of Europe and even in China. It is the projection of the culture of an eighteenth-century man of science, between tradition and Enlightenment modernity.

He takes great care of his collection, which is a living and oft-consulted collection, as evidenced by the handwritten notes, but also by the indices of miscellaneous works written personally by Marsili and the bindings that are made at his request, as well as the list of volumes that, as early as 1759, he himself writes.

The manuscript catalogue, with notes on the value and quality of the volumes, testifies to the size and importance of this personal library, made up of 2520 printed volumes and 17 manuscripts. The testament written in 1792 also reveals that Marsili is well aware of the material value, not only cultural, of the collection: he offers it for sale to guarantee an income for his sister and the housekeeper.

The library was known to contemporaries: his brother Sebastiano in a letter of 1758 to Gennari writes that the quantity of volumes forms "one of the rarest and most abundant collections of Botanical books that can be found in Italy and perhaps even a little further on." Even some travellers visiting the Botanical Garden talk about it; in particular, Giovanni Battista Rossetti in his Description of the paintings, sculptures, and architecture of Padova... (1780) writes of "a beautiful and copious collection of books, mainly botanical, and classics, [which] is seen at the home of the illustrious Professor".