10 
Introduction 
a labor of patience and skill. Even in public libraries the student is not al¬ 
ways welcome, and in particular, there is often found an unwillingness to 
allow the use of catalogues and inventories. In the state archives, on the 
other hand, courtesy and helpfulness seem universal. Permission to use these 
archives is not a matter of course, as in the case of the public libraries, but is 
readily granted upon proper introduction from an official representative of 
one’s government. Application must be made, upon a regularly prepared 
blank, to use certain classes of documents, and should be framed in as broad 
terms as possible. Special requests for particular volumes are afterward 
made as they are needed. 
Those using a library for any considerable time, should not neglect to fee 
the ushers who bring the books. Such fees should not be large; for a year 
during which I worked in many libraries and received universally the best 
of service, the total amounted to fifteen dollars and six cents. 
Arrangements as to Time. An important consideration is the division of 
time. The number of holidays is so great as to interfere seriously with con¬ 
tinuous work. In the year 1908-1909 the Archivio Vaticano was open on 
170 days, the Biblioteca on 172, and one or the other on 178. The holidays 
observed by the government libraries are almost as numerous, but are some¬ 
what different, allowing adjustment. Those observed by both are: Sundays, 
All Saints’ Day (November 1), the Immaculate Conception (December 8), 
at least a week between Christmas and New Year’s Day, the Epiphany (Jan¬ 
uary 6), the last Thursday and the last Tuesday before Ash Wednesday, 
Ash Wednesday, about a week at Easter, Ascension Day, Corpus Christi 
Day, SS. Peter and Paul (June 29), the Assumption of the Virgin (August 
15), and the Nativity of the Virgin (September 8). Ecclesiastical libraries 
are closed, in addition, on the last Thursday in October, the Purification 
of the Virgin (February 2), St. Joseph’s day (March 19), a few days 
longer at Easter, St. Philip Neri’s day (May 26), St. John’s day (June 24), 
and Thursdays when a consistory is held. On some of these festivals the 
government libraries are open for half time only, and they observe in addition 
the king’s birthday (November 11), the queen dowager’s birthday (Novem¬ 
ber 20), the queen’s birthday (January 8), and the anniversary of the death 
of King Umberto (March 14). Very few are open in the afternoon or even¬ 
ing, and distance makes it difficult to profit by slight differences in closing 
hours. By careful calculation, however, it is possible to be at some library 
nearly every morning between October 1 and July 1, except at Christmas time 
and Easter, nearly every afternoon for about an hour, and to go later to some 
reference library, as that of the Prussian Institute. During July, August and 
September the Vatican and most ecclesiastical libraries are closed, and it is 
scarcely profitable to be in Rome unless for some definitely arranged piece of 
work. In other Italian cities where the national archives (which are open 
throughout the year and observe the fewest possible holidays), are more im¬ 
portant, one is assured of as much work as the climate renders desirable. 
Condition of Material. For the most part the various collections of manu¬ 
scripts are well inventoried, though according to methods somewhat out of 
date, and are in good physical condition. Those of the fifteenth and first part 
of the sixteenth centuries are often somewhat difficult to read, as this was a 
period of transition from the medieval hands to the modern Italian script; 
the abbreviations are irregular, and the combination of characters sometimes 
singular. This is more true of documents of French or Spanish provenance 
than of the Italian, and on the whole there are fewer palaeographic difficulties 
