Ac know ledg ments

Although this is a book about dissimulation, I profess the utmost sincerity in saying that there are many to whom I am most grateful for their assistance. My thanks go to the librarians of the University of California library system, the Huntington Library, the Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, the Berenson Library of the Villa I Tatti, the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze, the Biblioteca Marucelliana, the Biblioteca Nazionale Universitaria di Torino, the Biblioteca Angelica and the Bi blioteca Casanatense in Rome, the Biblioteca Nazionale di Napoli, the Biblioteca Comunale dell’Archiginnasio in Bologna, and the Bibliothèque Nationale de France. Although their contributions are often anonymous, I wish to acknowledge all those who have developed and maintained online scholarly databases, text repositories, digital archives and Web search engines over the past de cade, which have transformed research in the field of early modern Eu ro pe an studies. I am particularly grateful to those colleagues who invited me to speak in public about my research as it evolved: Albert Ascoli, the late JeanPierre Barricelli, Franca Bizzoni, Lina Bolzoni, JoAnn Cavallo, Massimo Ciavolella, JeanJacques Courtine, Nadeije Dagen, Francesco Erspamer, Marcello Fantoni, Maurizio Ferraris, Werner Gundersheimer, Manfred Hinz, Colin Jones, Mariapia Lamberti, Giuseppina Muzzarelli, Amedeo Quondam, and Carlo Vecce. The insight and encouragement that I received on these occasions were invaluable. Among those who provided me with research assistance or materials along the way, I wish to acknowledge the contributions of Monica Fintoni, Paul Kottman, Simona