Francesco Cancellieri
Italian writer and librarian (1751–1826)

Francesco Girolamo Cancellieri (10 October 1751 – 29 December 1826) was an Italian writer, librarian, and erudite bibliophile.
Biography
Thomas Adolphus Trollope wrote a summary of his biography, which had been extracted were published by a Giuseppe Baraldi in a series called Memorie di religione, di morale, e di letteratura. Francesco's paternal family was from Pistoia originally; his father had been a secretary to Cardinal Paolucci. Francesco was dispatched to be educated by the Jesuits at the Roman College, though he never took vows as a priest. He was employed as secretary for various diplomats in Rome. However, in 1773, he lost important backers when the Suppression of the Jesuits was declared by Pope Clement XIV.
In 1775, Cancellieri was appointed librarian for Cardinal Antonelli, whose library was located in the Palazzo Pamphili in Piazza Navona; this post Cancellieri held till the latter's death in 1811. He lived on No. 63, Via del Mascherone, in a small house adjacent to the church of San Petronio dei Bolognesi. In addition to librarian position, Cancellieri was also Superintendent of the Propaganda printing press, and for a time, Prosigillatore for the Vatican, (Deputy Sealer of Briefs). But the income from these positions was paltry, and for years he was close to insolvency, specially after his protector, Antonelli, died.
The public source identifies “Francesco Cancellieri” as italian writer and librarian (1751–1826). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Francesco, Cancellieri and Italian.
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Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 1, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3612445. VIAF identifies the subject as 17213238. The Library of Congress control number is n85126181. 1 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1751, 1826, 1773 and 1775.
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This entry incorporates text from “Francesco Cancellieri” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.