The Renaissance Reform of the Book and Britain

Before Shakespeare, during the Renaissance: John Tiptoft, Earl of Worcester (d. 1470) and the uses of Padua

“…50 Moreover, despite Carbone's words, not all of Tiptoft's newly minted library returned to England with him; it is clear that a part stayed in Padua until the mid-sixteenth century. 51 That city, however, did have a special significance for both Tiptoft's book collecting and, through that, for England's engagement with the Renaissance. A substantial number of his manuscripts were made there for him, including some avant-garde humanist productions.…”

“…Among these, Tiptoft's Juvenal was bought in London in 1491 by a Brescian who had settled in England, Pietro Carmeliano, a secretary to Henry VII and responsible for introducing italic script into royal diplomatic correspondence. 53 Carmeliano was no means the first Italian Quattrocento scribe active in England. There had, in fact, been a fairly continuous presence since the 1430s.…”