A gripping story of ancient wisdom, new technology and 'the king of the world's booksellers', set in Renaissance Florence
Ross King is a renowned expert in the Italian Renaissance. He is the author of numerous bestselling and acclaimed books include Brunelleschi's Dome, Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling, Leonardo and the Last Supper and Mad Enchantment- Claude Monet and the Painting of the Water Lilies. His love of Renaissance Florence, which he has been studying, writing and lecturing about for over twenty years, made Vespasiano's long-forgotten story - never written about before - an irresistible next subject. He lives just outside Oxford.
If you want to celebrate the place that bookmaking and
bookselling still have in our lives . . . immerse yourself in Ross
King's rich history of Vespasiano da Bisticci, "the king of the
world's booksellers," in 15th-century Florence . . . wonderful
-- Simon Schama * New York Times *
Excellent . . . a fascinating read . . . Though ostensibly a
biography of Vespasiano, he is less the book's subject than its
method: a window on to the intellectual, political and
technological developments of a time in radical ferment . . .
entertaining, witty and expert -- Tim Smith-Laing * Daily
Telegraph *
A brilliant narrative that seamlessly weaves together
intellectual debate, technological exploration and the excitement
of new ways of thinking about ethics, politics and human
capability -- Rowan Williams
A terrific and utterly absorbing read, full of narrative pace
and remarkable breadth and depth of scholarship. It deserves to
make the bestseller lists . . . I haven't enjoyed a history
book as much for years -- John Guy
The Bookseller of Florence is a way of entering the world of
Renaissance humanism and its fascination with the writings of the
past at a time when these were still - but not for much longer -
handwritten -- Charles Saumarez Smith * Oldie *
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