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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from Enemies of Books by William Blades: the vessel having foundered in a storm.
In 1785 died the famous Maffei Pinelli, whose library was
celebrated throughout the world. It had been collected
by the Pinelli family for many generations and comprised
an extraordinary number of Greek, Latin, and Italian works,
many of them first editions, beautifully illuminated, together with
numerous MSS. dating from the 11th to the 16th century.
The whole library was sold by the Executors to Mr. Edwards,
bookseller, of Pall Mall, who placed the volumes in three vessels
for transport from Venice to London. Pursued by Corsairs,
one of the vessels was captured, but the pirate, disgusted at
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