35. Workbook of writing exercises by Piero di Ser Lapo Mazzei

This small notebook of eight sheets was written by Piero di Ser Lapo Mazzei – son of the notary and trusted friend of Francesco Datini – during the period he spent in Prato in 1399 for his apprenticeship. At the time, Piero was about ten years old. The boy would later continue his apprenticeship at the Ricci bank in Florence and then, in 1403, at the age of fourteen, he left for Barcelona, where he was employed by the Datini company until its closure in 1411. The notebook has dry-ruled sheets made by Piero himself, and each sheet of paper shows line after line of verse by Dante, Petrarch, Francesco Landini and Giovanni Dominici, as well as accounting records and self-presentation formulas. The purpose of it all was to acquire a fluent writing pattern for each sentence as well as a neat mise-en-page.

(Chiara Marcheschi)