Rome Reborn: The Vatican Library and Renaissance Culture.

Anthony Grafton, ed. New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1993. (Published in association with the Library of Congress and the Vatican Library.) 216 colt pls. + xxvi + 323 pp. $55.

Written to accompany a Library of Congress exhibition of rare manuscripts and books on loan for the first time from the Vatican, this splendid volume offers eloquent commentaries on the cultural significance of displayed items, and sumptuous color reproductions (now available, incidentally, for computer viewing in "MOSAIC"). Taken together, its eight essays demonstrate the range of cultural pursuits of Renaissance Roman intellectuals. Originally conceived by Pope Nicholas V (1447-1455), the Vatican Library was established as a public library for the common convenience of the learned by Sixtus IV (1471-1484). It has since grown to 75,000 manuscripts and approximately two million books and periodicals.

Two opening essays, by Anthony Grafton and James Hankins respectively, are models of concision and cogent synthesis. Grafton explains the Renaissance popes' commitment of scarce resources to collecting as an investment in cultural capital intended to help counterbalance the papacy's loss of political centrality. Yet humanists' classical scholarship and textual criticism would ultimately threaten papal prerogatives by subverting official assumptions about the cosmos, ecclesiastical history, and the stability and reliability of sacred texts. Hankins elaborates upon these themes: he details curial humanists' articulation of the "golden age" topos in which they lauded papal Rome as cultural arbiter, but he also points to the disruptive implications of their treatment of previously unchallengeable texts as desacralized sources rather than as authorities.

The remaining chapters address specific subjects. A second Grafton essay traces the humanist integration of archaeological evidence (including inscriptions) with textual study. The resulting images of classical Rome, if fanciful in parts, were nonetheless more comprehensive than earlier evocations, and through their splendor they inspired further scholarly reflection and methodological advances. Nancy Siraisi's chapter on the life sciences and medicine shows how papal collecting of ancient texts helped lay the groundwork for later scientific advances. Good editions and translations of Galen and of Aristotle's biological works, for example, provided the detail of argument necessary for the effective rebuttal of their conclusions. In another essay, Alastair Hamilton outlines the growth of the Vatican's Near Eastern collection, claiming that if the Council of Florence (1438-1445) failed politically, at least delegates such as Isidore of Kiev brought valuable manuscripts to Italy. A century later, Ottoman imperialism would cause fluctuations in cultural interaction, despite the achievements of the Medici Press, founded under Gregory XIII in 1584, which would make a particularly important contribution to Near Eastern scholarship.

Howard Goodman's elegant chapter on "East Asia in the Vatican Vaults" describes how Jesuit missionaries in China transmitted Eastern learning back to Europe, where linguists such as Athanasius Kircher would explore its connections with European civilization. Goodman demonstrates convincingly the extensive efforts of Jesuits and the consequent influence of Chinese publications upon Western university offerings, book-collecting, and even the organization of knowledge -- as evidenced in the Vatican Library's own categorization of its East Asian holdings.

Rome Reborn contains very few significant factual errors (although Julius II convoked the Fifth Lateran Council, not the Second, 27). Two essays are pitched inappropriately: N.M. Swerdlow's careful explanation of scholarship in the exact sciences becomes in places too intricate for non-specialists, and Richard Sherr's informative essay on the papacy and music lacks any thesis connecting it with the rest of the book. As a whole, however, Rome Reborn compellingly drives home its central point: beyond facilitating the survival of classical texts, the Renaissance Papacy's sponsorship of literary collecting, copying, and production contributed greatly to scholarly advances in a variety of fields. Profound yet accessible, beautifully produced yet affordably priced, this authoritative volume makes an excellent investment for institutions and individuals alike.