Petrarch on the love of books
Richard de Bury's Philobiblon has echoes of Petrarch's Epistolae familiares. The two men had indeed met and, according to Ernest Thomas, were 'kindred spirits', united in their love for books and the celebration of learning. In book 3 of his Epistles, the Italian humanist observes that
'gold, silver, jewels, purple garments, houses built of marble, groom…