This historical research starts from the books of Ambrósio Fernández Merino and explores the figure of their owner, a mysterious Spanish lawyer who lived in Florence. The result is the discovery of a little-known intellectual and of a woman who was, on the contrary, very well-known and present in the social chronicles of her time: Marie Louise La Farge. A wealthy American of French origins, divorced and married four times, she lived in London, Paris, Rome and died in Florence in 1899. After her will gave rise to a legal battle that reignited public interest on her life, she fell into oblivion. Her story resurfaced from some ownership notes found on several books of Merino’s library, books owned by Louise’s ex-husbands. The library was given to the University of Florence by the La Farge’s heirs.
University of Florence, Italy
Book Title
Quattro matrimoni e una biblioteca
Book Subtitle
Storia di una raccolta libraria e delle vite nascoste tra le sue pieghe
Authors
Giovanna Grifoni
Peer Reviewed
Number of Pages
194
Publication Year
2023
Copyright Information
© 2023 Author(s)
Content License
Metadata License
Publisher Name
Firenze University Press
DOI
10.36253/979-12-215-0219-0
ISBN Print
979-12-215-0218-3
eISBN (pdf)
979-12-215-0219-0
eISBN (epub)
979-12-215-0220-6
Series Title
Fonti storiche e letterarie – Edizioni cartacee e digitali
Series ISSN
2704-5994
Series E-ISSN
2704-6001