Fifteenth-Century Authors' Books

06420Justinian_1000.jpg

JUSTINIAN I, Emperor of Byzantium (483–565 CE).
Novellae constitutiones et Codicis libri X-XII, with commentary by Accursius Florentinus (1184–1263). (06420)

The exhibition concludes with five remarkable books owned by noted fifteenth-century authors. Each of the books offers a view into its owner’s private library, providing rare evidence of how the author bought, read, and annotated his books, and marked them as his property. The individuals represented by these books were intimately acquainted with early printers and booksellers. As living authors, they were central figures in the fifteenth-century discovery of the incalculable potential of Gutenberg’s invention.

Fifteenth-Century Authors' Books