Anyone interested in grasping the origins and foundations of business economics or management science must contend with the fifteenth-century entrepreneur and humanist Benedetto Cotrugli and his work, The Book of the Art of Trade. Composed in 1458, the work remained in manuscript form for more than 100 years.
It has come down to us by means of three rather discordant copies: the first one is preserved at the Central National Library in Florence; a second, incomplete one is in the Marucelliana Library, also in Florence; and a third, transcribed by Marino Raffaelli in 1475, is at the National Library of Malta in Valletta.
