This is Not the End of the Book by Jean-Claude Carrière

Author:Jean-Claude Carrière
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781446468203
Publisher: Random House

U. E.

Some books have only survived thanks to thieves. This reminds me of Girolamo Libri, a nineteenth-century Florentine count and great mathematician who became a French citizen. This highly respected, erudite scholar was made Special Commissioner for the recovery of manuscripts belonging to the national heritage. He travelled all over France, from monastery to municipal library, saving valuable documents and many precious books from a sad fate. The country that had given him citizenship celebrated this work, until the day they discovered that he had taken thousands of priceless documents and books for his own use. He was threatened with legal proceedings. The entire French intelligentsia of the time, from Guizot to Mérimée, signed a petition defending poor Girolamo Libri and insisting fervently on his integrity. Italian intellectuals protested too. There was unwavering support for this poor, unjustly accused man. They continued to defend him even when the thousands of documents he was accused of having stolen were found at his home. He was probably rather like those Europeans who, having discovered objects in Egypt, thought it quite normal to take them home. Unless of course he was keeping the documents at home until he had categorised them. Girolamo Libri went into exile in England to avoid prosecution, and died there with his reputation in tatters. But no information has come to light since to prove whether or not he was guilty.

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