I rise in the middle of the night, go outdoors at sunrise, but both in the fields and at home I study, think, read, and write … Every day I wander over the rocky mountains, through the dewy valleys and caverns … Meanwhile here I have established my Rome, my Athens, and my spiritual fatherland; here I gather all the friends I now have or did have … I marvel at their accomplishments and their spirits … conversing with them more willingly than with those who think they are alive …  I thus wander free and unconcerned, alone with such companions, I am where I wish to be.  

This passage comes from a 1353 letter to a friend by the poet Francesco Petrarch explaining why he has remained in his small house near Avignon rather than make a planned trip to Italy and describing the pleasures of daily life in the countryside. His “friends” are his books; Rome and Athens are his private library. Petrarch told another friend that “I am unable to satisfy my thirst for books.” He amassed a sizable library and sought to donate it to the Basilica of San Marco in Venice toward the end of his life in exchange for a house. This proved unsuccessful, and his collection was split up and sold after his death.