128. MS.: Reproducing Books before the Days of Printing.
129. Symonds: Italian Societies for studying the Classics.
130. Vespasiano: Founding of the Medicean Library at Florence.
131. Vespasiano: Founding of the Ducal Library at Urbino.
132. Vespasiano: Founding of the Vatican Library at Rome.
133. Green: The New Learning at Oxford.
134. Green: The New Taste for Books.


QUESTIONS ON THE READINGS

1. Is it probable that Petrarch's explanation (125) of why many of the
older Latin books were copied so infrequently, psalters being preferred
instead, is correct?

2. How do you explain the later neglect of so valuable a library as that
at Monte Cassino (126) or Saint Gall (127 a)?

3. Was Lionardo Bruni's letter to Poggio (127 b) overdrawn?

4. Was there anything unnatural about the work and customs of the Italian
societies for studying the classics (129)? Compare with a modern literary
or scientific society, or with the National Dante Society.

5. What does the extract from Vespasiano, telling how he got books for
Cosimo de' Medici (130), indicate as to the scarcity of books in Italy
toward the middle of the fifteenth century?

6. The library of the Duke of Urbino (131) was the most complete collected
up to that time. List the larger classifications of the books copied, as