Ledger Dedications
Francesco di Marco Datini in late 14th century Italy opened a new ledger with the dedication:
"In the name of God and of the Virgin Mary and all the Saints of Paradise, that they may give us grace to do right both for body and soul."
His factor, Monte d'Andrea, followed this with the ten command-ments—"not always to be observed, perhaps—but there at the head of the ledger they stood."
Origo, Iris, The Merchant of Prato: Francesco Di Marco Datini, Penguin Books, Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1963, p. 279.
