I knew writing this part would turn out to be a challenge. The fact is, I am a lucky man: I owe much to many, and it would be impossible for me to express properly the extent of my gratitude to all those who deserve it, and in just a few lines. Nevertheless, I will try—and I ask forgiveness in advance for any inadvertent omissions or negligences in this effort.
Thanks to Kerry Magruder and Stephen Weldon, the prime movers of it all, who believed in me since the very beginning of my postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Oklahoma Libraries. This book simply would not be without their unwavering guidance, support, and encouragement throughout the past three years. We walked a long distance together, and together we faced and overcame countless struggles and challenges. I hope my work could serve as a sincere, though inadequate, tribute to their friendship and to the trust they placed in me.
Thanks to Dario Generali, Benedino Gemelli, and Ken Taylor, who devoted their precious time and scholarly competence to read and comment on the manuscript in its various stages. They provided me with invaluable advice on historical, philosophical, and philological topics, and their friendly support was crucial in improving the quality of my work. I am honored to consider them my mentors: may this book be up to their expectations.
Thanks to Ronald Watkins, who copy-edited my manuscript with admirable patience and immeasurable care for the many linguistic, stylistic, and philological issues in the text. I wish to express my heartfelt gratitude to him for all the great work he has done.
Thanks to Logan Cox and Klaus Thoden, who made the impossible possible by pouring some of their IT knowledge and skills into this knucklehead of mine, and braved my innumerable questions and my desperate cries for help with steadfast kindness and stoic patience.
Thanks to Rick Luce (OU Libraries) and Jürgen Renn (MPIWG, Department I), and thanks to the institutions they lead and represent, the promoters and sponsors of the Edition Open Sources Fellowship Program. Thank you for the generous financial, logistical, and technical support you have provided throughout these years. Thank you—above all—for allowing me to continue my professional and human path, and for keeping my dream alive.
Thanks to all the scholars and collaborators involved in the Edition Open Sources project (and thanks in particular to Angela Axworthy, Lindy Divarci, Urs Schoepflin, Matteo Valleriani), who supported and enriched my research with their experience and advice.
Thanks to all the wonderful people I met at the University of Oklahoma and in Norman (Kraig Bartel, Bruce and Serafina Boggs, Kristal Boulden, Sonya Bowen, James Burnes, Tara Carlisle, Katherine Chinn, Sarah Clayton, Caitlin Corbett, David Corbly, Kathleen Crowther, Cassondra Darling, Meredith Eldridge, Charles Gilbert, Carl Grant, Stella Graves Stuart, Piers Hale, Andrea L’afflitto, Mark and Barbara Laufersweiler, Steven Livesey, Younes Mahdavi, Jenna McDonald, Barbara Niccum, John Norris, Francesca Novello, JoAnn Palmeri, Katherine Pandora, Jackson Pope, Brent Purkaple, Randall and Robert (the guys at the front desk), Melissa Rickman, Fred Reiss, Cari Roberts, Stefano Selenu, Karen Rupp-Serrano, Gabriel Serrano, Jason Sherman, Joas Van der Schoot, Rienk Vermij, Tao Zhao, Eric Zemke). Thank you for the countless coffees, for the work we did together, for the cheers, the beers, the unexpected (but most welcome) apple-pies, the thirsty Thursdays at Jax and at the Library (the other one, I mean). Thanks for all the chocolate and the cakes we had down at the DSL and up there at the HOS Collections. Thanks for sharing your lives with me, and for making me feel part of the group.
Thanks, too, to the wonderful people I met on the other side of the pond (Senthil Babu, Antonio Becchi, Luisa Bonolis and her husband Angelo, Daniel Burton-Rose, Esther Chen, Mònica Colominas, Montserrat De Pablo, Meghan Fidler, Roberto Lalli, Pietro Daniel Omodeo, Giulia Rispoli, Elena Serrano, Helge Wendt), who crossed my path at the Max Planck Institute in Berlin and honored me with their friendship, support, and encouragement along the way.
Thanks to my beloved Linda Hall Library in my beloved Kansas City, and thanks to all the friends who live and work (or worked) there: Bruce Bradley, Angela Brincefield, Lisa Browar, Nancy Green, Louis Imperiale, Tanya Kelley, Michelle Lahey, Ali Modarres, Tania Munz, Scott Reiter, Donna Swischer, Martin Stack, Walker Tippit, Massimiliano and Joanna Vitiello, Eric Wade, and many, many others. Your support meant a lot to me: I am so happy to know that I still have a place in the Heart of America.
Thanks to my friends in Italy (Luca Annoni, Libera Paola Arena, Beatrice Borghi, Ileana Bortolomai, Alberto Caglio, Bruno Cavalchi, Giorgio Corbacella, Marco De Stefani, Roberto De Zen, my mentors Dario Generali and Maria Teresa Monti, Maurizio Maggioni, Stefano Meloni, Oscar Poli, Pietro Rocchi, Valter Sanvito, Michela Triacca), who accompanied me throughout this long journey with unconditional affection.
My family has been there with me every single day, through every single moment, no matter how hard or easy. They were there as they have always been, and as they always will. Nothing would have been possible without their love.
I hope Jackson is sitting somewhere, reading these clumsy lines in front of a good beer. And I like to imagine that he now raises his pint in a toast, with his usual gentle grin on his face.
Wherever he is, I hope my hug can reach him.
