Concerning Three Manuscripts of the Divine Comedy in Private Collections in New York and Milan, Part 1 of 3

When we thought that the first phase of work could be considered completed, we happened upon and entered into a world quite apart from that of academic research: private collecting. The existence of a rather large number of copies of the Commedia held in private hands does not come as a total surprise.[3] Some were already known in the past, and the owners of the manuscripts have given permission to examine and include them in catalogues; these were in any case only a small portion, the traces of which had never been lost. There also exist, however, manuscripts which have never been catalogued, and which at some point were considered to be lost. Three of these witnesses“Kraus 1, Kraus 2 (both in New York) and Vernon (in Milan)– will be the object of this and the following two notes.