Bidspirit auction | [HISTORY] - Bibliophile’s Honor: Galletti’s

[HISTORY] - Bibliophile’s Honor: Galletti’s Canon Law Degree - GALLETTI Gustavo - GALLETTI, GUSTAVO - Printed diploma conveying honours for the university degree in ‘Jure pontificio’ (so canon law) on the celebrated Italian bibliophile and collector, Gustavo Galletti, with manuscript additions in gold ink, in Latin, document on parchment. [Siena], 8 July 1828. Large single sheet document, with printed address of Archbishop Joseph Mancini of Siena and his arms as a cardinal above 32 lines of printed text and 5 lines of manuscript (adding in the name of ””Gustavus Galetti, Florentinum”” in gold ink in a fine cursive hand, and the signature of Mancini at the base in brown ink), paper and red wax seal of archbishop embossed in lower left corner, folded, else outstanding condition, 355 by 412 mm. This item is a fine example of a late mixed printed and manuscript document, issued for the noted Florentine antiquarian, Count Gustavo Camillo Galletti (1805-1868), who possessed a large collection of medieval manuscripts, incunables and other books (now widely dispersed with volumes in many great public libraries). He published numerous Renaissance texts, such as the De civitatis Florentiae famosis civibus of Filippo Villani in 1847 (for full list of works see DBI, 51, 1998). His entire library and papers were purchased by Baron Horace de Landau (1824-1903), who lived in Florence and whose library was partly given to the national library in Florence and partly sold at Sotheby's in 1948. (1)