Broval, Dr.

Broval was apparently a confident of Guglielmo Bruto Icilio Timoleone, Conte Libri Carucci della Sommaia. Known in France as "Baron Guillaume Libri," he was born in Florence and studied law and the natural sciences in Holland. Coming to France as a political refugee, Libri became a naturalized French subject in 1833. In addition to publishing on the history of mathematics, he had a second career as a dealer in books and manuscripts. As secretary of a commission set up in 1841 to oversee the publication of a union catalogo of manuscripts in French public collections, Libri gained entrée to many collections and is alleged to have systematically stolen complete books as well as leaves and quires of manuscripts which he then resold to collectors in England.