Remembering Dennis E. Rhodes (1923-2020)

Dennis E. Rhodes at the Acropolis in April 2019. Photo by Stephen Parkin.

Today our intended post dedicated to Dante is replaced with a shorter and woefully unexpected one which we mourn ever having to write: yesterday, on the evening of April 7th, we received the very sad news from London that Dennis E. Rhodes, one of the greatest scholars and lovers of the Italian Book, has passed away.

This is not the appropriate place to peruse his extraordinary career, or to mention his countless works. Suffice to say it would be difficult to find an area, theme or even a minute, esoteric topic on which it was not possible to rely on the authoritativeness of one of his attributions, or to the brilliance of one of his hypotheses. From the incunables of Florence to those of Treviso, from early Greek typography to the introduction of printing in Mantua or Viterbo, and to the exceedingly rare fifteenth-century editions produced in Turin or Bologna: Rhodes had and shared an incredible breadth of knowledge that was not restricted to the Quattrocento, but broadened to subsequent centuries as he traced new itineraries through printing presses, libraries, and private collections. Through his work he also unveiled the identity of numerous ‘silent printers’, and was the first to pay attention to many still unknown collectors.

There is no doubt that as soon as circumstances are more favorable and personal encounters are revived many initiatives will be undertaken to commemorate Rhodes and his essential contribution to the history of the book, especially that of the Italian book. As many of you know, a large exhibition dedicated to the Italian Book was scheduled for June 2020, at the National Library of Rome. We are sure that Rhodes would have lent his support to the exhibition and would have been an honoured participant at the associated international conference dedicated to the collecting of Italian books. Both exhibition and conference are of course now postponed, but we already hope the initiative will be dedicated to the great English scholar whose name will no doubt be frequently invoked throughout the accompanying catalogue to describe the masterpieces on show, many of which Rhodes knew so well. 

In April 2019, Rhodes participated in the colloquium “One book, six centuries of history. Editions from the dawn of printing in the libraries of Athens,” which was indeed held in Athens and organized by the Aikaterini Laskaridis Foundation. The invitation was hardly a surprise, given his significant contribution to the topic with his 1980 publication of Incunabula in Greece: A First Census. This morning we went through a series of images available on the web which show him in front of incunables exhibited on that occasion by the Gennadius Library; he was examining the volumes, explaining their importance, and arousing curiosity, because curiosity, in the full and deep sense of the word, was one of his essential qualities. In Athens, Rhodes was not only attending a colloquium or visiting libraries. As Stephen Parkin, one of his closest friends, told us yesterday evening, Rhodes had used the opportunity for climbing up to the Acropolis, his steps uncertain but determined and supported by his trusty stick. Why does this not surprise us either? 

We had the privilege of meeting Rhodes once again in Venice in October 2019, on the occasion of the conference dedicated by the Fondazione Giorgio Cini to the great scholar, book dealer and collector Tammaro De Marinis (1878-1969), whom Rhodes – born in 1923 – had known personally. The conference opened with Rhodes’ own paper, in which he recalled, with his well-known liveliness, his meeting with De Marinis. By the closing of the conference Rhodes had transformed into one of its protagonists, as it was announced he was being appointed Honourary Librarian of the Fondazione Cini. The announcement was met with long-lasting, heart-felt applause, a moving ovation with which we all hoped to thank him for what – in both his personal and professional life – he had taught, suggested, and invited us to discover, his legacy presenting a formidable path forged by preparation, study, and accuracy combined with modesty, spirit of collaboration, and inexhaustible curiosity.

For all this, we continue to be grateful to Dennis E. Rhodes.

A view toward the Fondazione Cini taken from the Vaporetto on 14 October 2019. Photo by Margherita Palumbo.