L’Abrégé du monde. Une histoire sociale de la bibliothèque Ambrosienne

Abstract

In 1609, the inauguration of the Ambrosiana library had a European-wide impact : its founder, Federico Borromeo, intended to create a place dedicated to scholarly invention as much as preservation of knowledge. This book relates half a century in the history of the scholars of the library, divided between involvement in the world and refuge in reading, in a capital of the Catholic Reformation