Gaetano Melzi ( Milan, December 28, 1786 - Milan, September 9, 1851) was an Italian bibliographer and bibliophile.

Biography

Son of Giuseppe dei Melzi Malingegni and Teresa dei Conti Prata, he was educated in the Collegio dei Nobili of Parma, where he met the Jesuit Juan Andrés, author of ''Dell'origine, progressi e stato attuale d'ogni letteratura''.Marica Roda,'' op. cit.'' His career as a bibliophile began with the collection of

incunabula In the history of printing, an incunable or incunabulum (plural incunables or incunabula, respectively), is a book, pamphlet, or broadside that was printed in the earliest stages of printing in Europe, up to the year 1500. Incunabula were pro ...

and Greek and Latin classics, which were then dispersed and sold to libraries, such as the

Biblioteca Nazionale Braidense The or Braidense National Library, usually known as the Biblioteca di Brera, is a public library in Milan, in northern Italy. It is one of the largest libraries in Italy. Initially it contained large historical and scientific collections before i ...

, or to private individuals. The part purchased by

Frank Hall Standish Frank Hall Standish (born Frank Hall, 2 October 1799 – 1840) was an English landowner and an art and book collector. He was born in 1799 at Darlington, County Durham to Charlotte Key and her husband Anthony Hall, the latter dying later t ...

, a wealthy English collector, including 3500 rare volumes and 250 incunabula, subsequently passed to Louis-Philippe of France, to his son Henri d'Orléans, Duke of Aumale, and after his death became part of the

Condé Museum Condé is a French place name and personal name. It is ultimately derived from a Celtic word, "Condate", meaning "confluence" (of two rivers) - from which was derived the Romanised form "Condatum", in use during the Roman period, and thence to t ...

in Chantilly. Gaetano Melzi later produced two works that have become a working tool for librarians: the "''Bibliography of Italian novels and poems of chivalry''", and the three volumes of the "''Dictionary of anonymous and pseudonymous works of Italian writers''",Gaetano Melzi, ''Dizionario di opere anonime e pseudonime di scrittori italiani o come che sia aventi relazione all'Italia'', Milano : L. di G. Pirola, 1848-1859, 3 volumi: used for the identification of anonymous authors of the past. His library of over 30,000 volumes, inherited in the thirties of the twentieth century by the Meli-Lupi family of Soragna, was gradually dismembered.Marica Roda,'' op. cit.'' Gaetano Melzi was also a passionate music lover: he corresponded with many musicians of his time (including:

Rossini Gioachino Antonio Rossini (29 February 1792 – 13 November 1868) was an Italian composer who gained fame for his 39 operas, although he also wrote many songs, some chamber music and piano pieces, and some sacred music. He set new standards f ...

, Donizetti,

Bellini Bellini is an Italian name, Italian surname, formed as a patronymic or plural form of Bellino (surname), Bellino. People *Family of Italian painters: **Jacopo Bellini (c. 1396–c. 1470), father of Gentile and Giovanni **Gentile Bellini (c. 1429� ...

, Verdi), and left a voluminous correspondence, of considerable interest, currently kept at the

Museo Teatrale alla Scala The Museo Teatrale alla Scala is a theatrical museum and library attached to the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, Italy. Although it has a particular focus on the history of opera and of that opera house, its scope extends to Italian theatrical history ...

in Milan.

References

Bibliography

* Marica Roda
«MELZI, Gaetano»
In: '' Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani'', Vol. LXXIII, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia italiana, 2009 * Tammaro De Marinis, MELZI, Gaetano, in Enciclopedia Italiana, Roma, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana, 1934. URL consultato il 25 dicembre 2018.

* Melzi (Malingegni)

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Biography

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