Editing Gabriel Naudé (section)

==Biography==
Naudé was born in [[Paris]] in early 1600 to a family of modest means. His father was a lowly official and his mother a young illiterate woman.<ref>Jack A. Clarke, ''Gabriel Naudé 1600–1653'' (Hamden, Connecticut: Archon Books, 1970), 3. https://archive.org/details/gabrielnaude16000000clar/page/n5/mode/2up</ref> He was described by his teachers as tenacious and passionate about his education. Naudé entered college at a young age where he studied philosophy and grammar.<ref>Clarke, 3.</ref> Later he studied medicine at Paris and [[Padua]] (where he attended [[Cesare Cremonini (philosopher)|Cesare Cremonini]]'s lessons), and became physician to [[Louis XIII of France|Louis XIII]].

At the age of twenty, Naudé published his first book ''Le Marfore ou Discours Contre les Lisbelles''.<ref>Clarke, 4.</ref> The work would bring him to the attention of Henri de Mesme, ''[[président à mortier]]'' of the [[Parlement of Paris]]. Mesme offered Naudé the job of librarian to his personal collection. Mesmes had a large library for the period (about 8,000 volumes) and it was open to scholars who had the appropriate references.<ref>Clarke, 8.</ref> Naudé's service in Mesme's library would give him experience which he would use later to write the book ''Advice on Establishing a Library''. Naudé wrote ''Advice'' for Mesme as a guide for building and maintaining his library. <ref name="Mesme ref">{{cite web |last1=Naudé |first1=Gabriel |title=Instructions concerning erecting of a library presented to my lord, the President De Mesme |url=http://name.umdl.umich.edu/A52671.0001.001 |website=EEBO-TCP |access-date=22 October 2023}}</ref> In 1629 he became librarian to Cardinal [[Giovanni Francesco Guidi di Bagno|Guidi di Bagno]] in Rome, and on Bagni's death in 1641 librarian to Cardinal [[Francesco Barberini (seniore)|Francesco Barberini]].{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

At the desire of [[Cardinal Richelieu]] he began a controversy with the [[Benedictines]], denying [[Jean Gerson]]'s authorship of ''[[De Imitatione Christi]]''. Richelieu intended to make Naudé his librarian, and on his death Naudé accepted a similar offer from [[Cardinal Mazarin]]. For the next ten years he devoted himself to bringing together from all parts of Europe the assemblage of books known as the ''[[Bibliothèque Mazarine]]''.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}} Mazarin had brought with him to Paris a collection numbering over 5,000 volumes.<ref name="ReferenceA">''World Encyclopedia of Library and Information Services'', 3rd Ed., s.v. "Gabriel Naude".</ref> Like Naudé, he believed in an open library to be used by the public for the public good. In 1642 he purchased a building to house his library and he instructed Naudé to build up the finest collection possible.

The fastest way was to absorb entire libraries into the collection, advice that Naudé included in his book. Naudé plundered secondhand book sellers, and Mazarin instructed his ambassadors, government officials and generals to collect books for him. Naudé was able to travel Europe, and during one trip that lasted several months he collected more than 14,000 volumes.<ref>Clarke, 76.</ref> By 1648 the library had built up to an estimated at 40,000 volumes.<ref name="ReferenceA"/><ref name="Anderson2020">{{cite Q|Q104663387}}</ref>{{rp|17}} It was open on a regular basis and had built up a sizable number (almost 100) of regular patrons, and several staff members to keep it functioning properly. It became the first in France to be open for all, without references.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Pettegree |first1=Andrew |title=The Library: A Fragile History |last2=Weduwen |first2=Arthur der |publisher=Basic Books |year=2021 |isbn=9781541600775 |location=New York |pages=201–207 |language=en-UK}}</ref>

Mazarin's library was sold by the Parlement of Paris during the troubles of the [[Fronde]], and [[Christina of Sweden|Queen Christina]] invited Naudé to [[Stockholm]].<ref name="Anderson2020"/>{{rp|17}} He was not happy in [[Sweden]], and on Mazarin's appeal that he should re-form his scattered library, Naudé returned at once. His health was broken, however, and he died on the return journey, in [[Abbeville]] on 10 July 1653.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}

The friend of [[Gui Patin]], of [[Pierre Gassendi]] and all the liberal thinkers of his time, Naudé was no mere bookworm; his books show traces of the critical spirit which made him a worthy colleague of the humorists and scholars who prepared the way for the better known writers of the ''siècle de [[Louis XIV]]''.{{sfn|Chisholm|1911}}