The catalogue

A manuscript is kept at Padova's Botanical Garden Library entitled "Catalogo de’ libri Marsilj A.B.C." It is a small volume of 112 unnumbered cards with writing on both sides and with a cardboard binding.

It contains 2537 items of bibliographic information, arranged in alphabetical order by author and title, corresponding to the volumes of the Marsili library, with antiquarian notes relating to the value and rarity of the pieces, written by two different hands and perhaps also in two different periods.

There is no definite information on the author of the catalogue, but with all probability it is Marsili himself, whose writing seems very similar to that of the catalogue. Some think, instead, of Antonio Bonato, perhaps at the time of his acquisition of the Marsili collection.

The three letters "A.B.C." which close the title are difficult to interpret. Could they mean "Antonius Bonatus collegit" (Antonio Bonato collected), meaning that he is the author of the catalogue? Or be read as "Antonius Bonatus correpsit" (Antonio Bonato corrected), thus leaving to Marsili the authorship of the work and attributing to Bonato the annotations of a different hand?

What is certain is that the catalogue, which proved to be indispensable in order to reconstruct Marsili's library, shows us a lively and constantly changing book collection: there are deleted entries, added notes, changes to values, and annotations written in different ink, of a reddish colour.