Manuscript Collections of Galileo and his Disciples Braccio Manetti and Vincenzo Viviani
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Galileo Galilei: a folder with manuscripts pertaining to motion
It is very likely that Galileo himself gathered the writings of Codex72 in a sort of folder. It was indeed not an unusual practice for him tocollect his studies together according to their subject. Thus, for example,Ms. Gal. 42, which holds the papers dealing with the controversy concerninghydrostatics of the years 1611-1615, has a folio bearing what probablywas the title of the gathered papers: "Several fragments pertainingto the treatise on bodies in water" ("Diversi fragmenti attenential trattato delle cose che stanno su l'acqua"); see Biblioteca Nazionaledi Firenze, Ms. 42, folio 19v. Similarly, the present Ms. Gal. 71 was probablydesignated by the (now lost) title "De motu antiquiora," seeVIVIANI1674, p. 104; Biblioteca Nazionale di Firenze, Ms. Gal. 11, f. 144v;NELLI1793, II, p. 759. The same perhaps occurred in the case of Ms. 72,whose f. 61r displays the autograph entry: "Attinentia ad motum"("Things pertaining to motion").
Most probably, the folder of the studies on motion was among those Galileanpapers and books which, in 1633, were temporarily entrusted to NiccolòAggiunti and Geri Bocchineri, for fear that they could fall into thehands of the Florentine Inquisition. From a letter written by Aggiunti,we learn that, after the return of the volumes, Galileo complained of theloss of a manuscript, so that, as Aggiunti tells us, he felt "an unbearablesorrow and affliction." ("un dolore e afflizione intollerabile."Letter of Aggiunti to Galileo, December 27, 1633, in Opere, XV, 364-365.)In a later letter, Aggiunti communicated that the manuscript was readilyfound; see letter of Aggiunti to Galileo, January 4, 1634, in Opere, XVI,pp. 13-14.
According to Antonio Favaro, the manuscript contained "writingspertaining to the Discorsi." FAVARO1886-87, p. 46. It is impossible to say if the original folder heldmore papers than the present codex. Favaro thought so, claiming that thefolios in the manuscript "should have been originally of a much largernumber." ("...in origine devono essere stati in molto maggiorenumero." FAVARO Avvertimento, in Opere, VIII, p. 35.) The loss ofseveral Galilean autographs, whose copies by Arrighetti and Guiducci arepresently included in the codex, seems to support this thesis, since insome cases both copy and original are still existent. Favaro noted : "whenwe have a given fragment only in the hand of the disciples, we are allowedto surmise that they limited themselves to transcribing from a Galileanoriginal which now is lost. ("...quando possediamo un dato frammentosoltanto per mano dei discepoli, [è] lecito congetturare che essisi siano limitati a trascrivere da un originale di Galileo oggi smarrito.",Avvertimento, in Opere, VIII, p. 34.)
Braccio Manetti: the first owner after Galileo
After Galileo's death in 1642, the writings on motion now preservedin the Ms. 72 were possibly first owned by BraccioManetti, a Florentine nobleman whom Viviani (in his Galilean biography)numbered among Galileo's disciples; see VIVIANI, Racconto istorico dellavita di Galileo, in Opere, XIX, 628. This fact is suggested by an autographednote of Viviani´s.
Vincenzo Viviani: the first collector of Galileo's manuscripts
Most of Galileo's manuscripts eventually came into the possession ofVincenzoViviani, Galileo's last disciple, see Avvertimento, in Opere, VIII,35. He probably also collected manuscripts from other disciples and friends,such as Braccio Manetti. Although, unfortunately, we do not have any catalogueof the Galilean autographs owned by Viviani, nevertheless, according toAntonioFavaro, the present Ms. Gal. 72 must have been, at some point, in thelibrary of Viviani. In his testament, Viviani left two inventaries of hislibrary, but none of them reports a list of Galileo's manuscripts in hispossesion.
The vicissitudes of Galileo's notes on motion and mechanics after Viviani'sdeath are told in the historyof the manuscript in the 18th century. Back to the overview of thehistoryof the manuscript.
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