Antonio Magliabechi
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Antonio di Marco Magliabechi (or Magliabecchi; 29 October 1633 - 4 July 1714) was an Italian
librarian A librarian is a person who professionally works managing information. Librarians' common activities include providing access to information, conducting research, creating and managing information systems, creating, leading, and evaluating educat ...
,
scholar A scholar is a person who is a researcher or has expertise in an academic discipline. A scholar can also be an academic, who works as a professor, teacher, or researcher at a university. An academic usually holds an advanced degree or a termina ...
and
bibliophile A bookworm or bibliophile is an individual who loves and frequently reads or collects books. Bibliophilia or bibliophilism is the love of books. Bibliophiles may have large, specialized book collections. They may highly value old editions, aut ...
.


Biography

He was born at
Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...
, the son of a burgher named Marco Magliabechi, and Ginevra Baldorietta. His father died when Antonio was a young man, and he worked briefly in the studio of Matteo Roselli, but was apprenticed to a
goldsmith A goldsmith is a Metalworking, metalworker who specializes in working with gold and other precious metals. Modern goldsmiths mainly specialize in jewelry-making but historically, they have also made cutlery, silverware, platter (dishware), plat ...
in Ponto Vecchio. There he worked in this capacity until his fortieth year, until Michele Ermini, librarian to Cardinal de' Medici, recognized his academic ability and taught him
Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
,
Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...
, and
Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...
. In 1673 he became librarian to
Cosimo III de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany Cosimo III de' Medici (14 August 1642 – 31 October 1723) was Grand Duke of Tuscany from 1670 until his death in 1723, the sixth and penultimate from the House of Medici. He reigned from 1670 to 1723, and was the elder son of Grand Duke Ferdina ...
. Magliabechi became the central figure of literary life in Florence, and scholars of every nation sought his acquaintance and corresponded with him. Whilst this eminent post gave him considerable prominence, he is remembered more for his personal characteristics and his vast store of self-acquired learning. He was nicknamed the Enciclopedic, the animated Library, a literary glutton (''Divoratore di Libri''), and the most rational of
bibliomania Bibliomania is the excessive collecting or even hoarding of books to the point where social relations or health are damaged, particularly as a symptom of obsessive–compulsive disorder. Bibliomania is not to be confused with bibliophilia, whi ...
cs, inasmuch as he read everything he bought. His own library consisted of 40,000 books and 10,000
manuscript A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand or typewritten, as opposed to mechanically printed or reproduced in some indirect or automated way. More recently, the term has ...
s. His house literally overflowed with books; the stairways were lined with them, and they even filled the front porch. Many stories are told of his marvellous memory that was "like
wax Waxes are a diverse class of organic compounds that are lipophilic, malleable solids near ambient temperatures. They include higher alkanes and lipids, typically with melting points above about 40 °C (104 °F), melting to give lo ...
to receive and
marble Marble is a metamorphic rock consisting of carbonate minerals (most commonly calcite (CaCO3) or Dolomite (mineral), dolomite (CaMg(CO3)2) that have recrystallized under the influence of heat and pressure. It has a crystalline texture, and is ty ...
to retain." In worldly matters Magliabechi was extremely negligent. Reputedly, he once even forgot to draw his salary for over a year. He wore his clothes until they fell from him, and thought it a great waste of time to undress at night, "life being so short and books so plentiful". He welcomed all inquiring scholars, provided they did not disturb him while at work. He had a hearty dislike for
Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...
s. The story goes that one day in pointing out the Palazzo Riccardi to a stranger he said, "Here the new birth of learning took place," and then turning to the college of the Jesuits, "There they have come back to bury it." Magliabecchi died at the age of 81, in 1714, at the monastery of Sta. Maria Novella. He left his books to the Grand Duke to be used as a
public library A public library is a library, most often a lending library, that is accessible by the general public and is usually funded from public sources, such as taxes. It is operated by librarians and library paraprofessionals, who are also Civil servic ...
; his fortune went to the poor. His library, known as the "Magliabechiana", was combined with the grand-ducal private library by
Victor Emmanuel II of Italy Victor Emmanuel II (; full name: ''Vittorio Emanuele Maria Alberto Eugenio Ferdinando Tommaso di House of Savoy, Savoia''; 14 March 1820 – 9 January 1878) was King of Sardinia (also informally known as Piedmont–Sardinia) from 23 March 1849 u ...
in 1861, the two forming the core of the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale Firenze.


Eccentricities

Magliabechi was known as an
eccentric Eccentricity or eccentric may refer to: * Eccentricity (behavior), odd behavior on the part of a person, as opposed to being "normal" Mathematics, science and technology Mathematics * Off- center, in geometry * Eccentricity (graph theory) of a ...
. He was a man of a most forbidding and savage aspect, and exceedingly negligent of his person. He refused to be waited upon. His diet was commonly three hard-
boiled egg Boiled eggs are typically from a chicken, and are cooked with their shells unbroken, usually by immersion in boiling water. Hard-boiled or hard-cooked eggs are cooked so that the egg white and egg yolk both solidify, while soft-boiled eggs may l ...
s, with a draught of water.Brewer, Ebenezer Cobham. (1880). ''The Reader's Handbook of Allusions, References, Plots and Stories: With Two Appendices''. Lippincott. p. 592 Magliabechi did not care about personal hygiene and slept in his clothes. He had a small window in his door, through which he could see all those who approached him; and if he did not wish for their company, he would not admit them. He spent some hours in each day at the palace library; but is said never in his life to have gone farther from
Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...
than to
Prato Prato ( ; ) is a city and municipality (''comune'') in Tuscany, Italy, and is the capital of the province of Prato. The city lies in the northeast of Tuscany, at an elevation of , at the foot of Monte Retaia (the last peak in the Calvana ch ...
, whither he once accompanied
Cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal most commonly refers to * Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of three species in the family Cardinalidae ***Northern cardinal, ''Cardinalis cardinalis'', the common cardinal of ...
Henry Noris Henry Noris (; 29 August 1631 – 23 February 1704) was an Italian Church historian, theologian and cardinal. Biography Noris was born at Verona, and was baptized with the name Hieronymus (Girolamo). His ancestors were Irish. His father, Al ...
, librarian at the Vatican, to see a manuscript.


References


Further reading


Library Juice 8:5
* * * A. Mirto, ''Lettere di Antonio Magliabechi a Leopoldo de' Medici'', Roma, Aracne, 2012. * A. Mirto, Pietro Paolo Bosca: ''Lettere ad Antonio Magliabechi'', "Studi secenteschi", LIV, 2013, pp. 260–333. * C. Viola, ''Vecchia e nuova erudizione: Muratori e Magliabechi'', "Studi secenteschi", LIV, 2013, pp. 97–115. {{DEFAULTSORT:Magliabechi, Anthony 1633 births 1714 deaths 17th-century Italian writers Italian bibliophiles Italian librarians People from Florence