The most successful book hunter of the period was a brilliant papal secretary, Poggio Bracciolini (1380–1459), who took his explorations for manuscripts beyond the Alps into the monastic heartlands of France, Germany and Switzerland. Here Bracciolini was responsible for the rediscovery of lost works of Lucretius, Cicero, Vitruvius, Quintilian and many other authors.

Andrew Pettegree, Arthur der Weduwen, The Library- A Fragile Hist…, loc. 117