Vettori, Piero.

Autograph Letter, signed. [Incipit:] Petrus Victorius Joanni Cratori S[alute]. Redet tibi hanc epistolam Riccardus Riccardius.

Florence, P. Vettori 1 September 1581.

Folio (280 x 210 mm.). [1], [2 blank], [1]p. In a single cursive hand, 24 lines of text and address.

A bifolium now separated at the fold, remnants of a red wax seal; in a 19th-century paper folder.

            THIS UNPUBLISHED LETTER OF INTRODUCTION CONNECTS THREE BOOK COLLECTORS. The young Florentine banker Riccardo Romolo Riccardi (1558-1612) gathered the nucleus — books, antiquities, paintings and statuary — of the Biblioteca Riccardiana.
            His former teacher, the Florentine philologist and prolific classical text editor, Piero Vettori (1499-1585), wrote this recommendation to Johannes Crato von Craftheim (1519-85), the famous imperial physician. He owned a fine professional library and was the clearing house for Vettori’s correspondence with Protestant intellectuals across northern Europe. In 1581, Crato retired to his estate at Rückerts (Szczytna, Poland), where he likely received Riccardi and this letter.
           Though Vettori asks Crato to welcome the young Florentine and support his intellectual pursuits, Riccardi was likely traveling to build contacts for the family business. In modest condition (browned, minor marginal tears).
¶Cesarini Martinelli, “Pier Vettori e gli umanisti tedeschi” in Firenze e la Toscana dei Medici nell’Europa del ‘500 II: 707-26.

Item #01223

Price: $3,850.00