The importance of Marsilio Ficino, and the paucity of documentation regarding his early life and intellectual influences, gives special value to a brief but suggestive reference to him, made in October 1451. The reference is in the Libro creditori e debitori of Maestro Giovanni Chellini now owned by the Istituto di Storia Economica of the Università Commerciale Luigi Bocconi in Milan. During a search of the volume for indications of Chellini's ownership and use of books I came upon this entry:
I record that on the 28th of October 1451 I lent to Maestro Marsilio, son of Maestro Fecino, who is tutoring Piero de’ Pazzi, a Logic of Maestro Paul of Venice on rag paper, bound in boards covered with leather, in the presence of Maestro Piero di Antonio Dini, elected to read logic in the University of Florence. Returned.