[Ansteorra-textiles] Hello! and Libraries

[HL Darcy]

Rhiannon queried:
Where did you get the _The Merchant of Prato_ ? Is it worth tracking
down? It seems like a really fascinating read.

InterLibrary Loan.  I think it was from the Austin Public Library.
Actually, it really is quite fascinating.  The Merchant of the Title was an
upper middleclass merchant in Northern Italy.  He had an obsession with
saving all his paper work.  He even told all his partners and agents to save
copies of all letters and contracts.  When he died he left the bulk of his
estate to his home town of Prato for the benefit of the poor providing all
his papers were preserved.  The townspeople said, "wonderful!"; took the
money and shut up his house with all his papers in it.  This treasure trove
(a veritable snapshot of the life of a Renaissance merchant) was
rediscovered after the turn of the last century.  The money from the bequest
he left the city is still being distributed to the poor.

Darcy