Treasures from the Italian libraries

Illuminated manuscripts and illustrated books lie hidden in many of Italy's libraries. Because of their fragility, these treasures are available only to accredited scholars and denied to the general public. This volume contains works from 15 of Italy's libraries, including masterpieces from renowned collections at the Vatican in Rome, the Laurentian Library in Florence - the repository of the Medici collections - and Venice's Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana. Subjects range from botanical drawings to scenes from the Old Testament, from Dante's Divine Comedy illustrated by Botticelli to the scientific treatises of Leonardo.