At Leoni's death his collection
was bought by Galeazzo Arcanati, the illustrious owner of an artistic and
literary museum. He resisted the proposals of purchase that poured in
from foreign Courts; our James I. is said to have offered three thousand
gold doubloons for the great volume of designs; and on Arcanati's death
the whole collection was transferred by his widow to the Ambrosiana. Some
changes had been made in the distribution of the papers since Mazenta so
easily acquired his thirteen books. The French took the same number away
in 1796; but none of them ever returned, except the famous _Codice
Atlantico_.
In Spain there were but few persons interested in books before the
foundation of the Escorial towards the end of the sixteenth century. We
learn from Mariana that soon after the year 1580 a vast gallery in the
palace was filled with books, mostly Greek MSS., which had been assembled
from all parts of Europe; 'its stores,' he said, 'are more precious than
gold: but it would be well if learned men had greater facilities for
reading them; for what profit is there from learning if she is treated
like a captive and traitor?' Arias Montanus, the first Orientalist of his
age, was appointed librarian by the founder; he was the owner of an
immense quantity of MSS. in Greek, Hebrew, and Arabic, many of which were
used in his edition of the Antwerp Polyglott Bible, and these he
bequeathed to the Escorial, while his printed books were left to the
University of Seville.
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