'De educandis ingeniis' by Federico Borromeo

De educandiis ingeniis by Federico Borromeo
Nomos Edizioni, 2008
[There is also a limited edition in 135 copies hand-bound for the Veneranda Biblioteca Ambrosiana, Milan.]

"Federico Borromeo was the founder of the first public library in the world - the Biblioteca Ambrosiana -, and his De educandis ingeniis, placed around 1624 and unpublished until now, is a little treatise about selection and collection of volumes intended for the great Milanese institution. This manuscript reflects the patron's attitude of the Cardinal and belongs to a small group of writings that offer advice, norms and methods to men charged with the functioning of the 'Ambrosiana': the nine Dottori del Collegio and the six Conservatori. The latter, in charge of the administration and management of the Library, are in fact the intended addressees of this short work. Federico was author of a project displaying his great abilities - in addition to those of bishop - of 'cultural organizer' and comprising the Library with the other institutes connected to it (Collegio dei Dottori, Collegio Trilingue, Collegio degli Alunni, Accademia artistica, Pinacoteca): a project which imposed itself as a novelty in the Milanese environment of the early 17th century and which remained, rightly, fixed in both collective memory and the esteem of scholars. The book is now accessible thanks to an accurate reproduction of the original codex, enriched by a complete transcription of manuscript and a commentary realized by a group of scholars working in the Ambrosiana Library itself." [Publisher]

* an interesting article by Massimo Donaddio