“Vedo profilarsi un contrasto con De Marinis”. Tammaro De Marinis, Anita Mondolfo and the liquidation of the Landau-Finaly library

Abstract

The contribution examines, on the basis of the epistolary documentation kept in the manuscripts archive of the National Library of Florence, the conflicting relationship regarding the transfer of the library collection that belonged to the banker and bibliophile Horace de Landau between the bibliographer and bookseller Tammaro de Marinis and the Director of the Library Anita Mondolfo. The documentation allows us to reconstruct the background of the complicated negotiation between the Landau heirs and the Italian State. The contrasts between De Marinis and Mondolfo concerned above all the transfer to the National Library of Florence of the entire collection of manuscripts and precious editions owned by Landau which were not present in the Florentine libraries. Mondolfo lobbied to get them all, while the heirs were willing to sell only a part. Another reason for contrast was the failure to sell a precious Dante manuscript.