The Bookseller of Florence, Ross King
The Bookseller of Florence, Ross King
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The Bookseller of Florence
The Story of the Manuscripts That Illuminated the Renaissance

Author: Ross King

Narrator: James Cameron Stewart

Unabridged: 18 hr 20 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 06/08/2021


Synopsis

The Renaissance in Florence conjures images of beautiful frescoes and elegant buildings—the dazzling handiwork of the city's skilled artists and architects. But equally important for the centuries to follow were geniuses of a different sort: Florence's manuscript hunters, scribes, scholars, and booksellers, who blew the dust off a thousand years of history and, through the discovery and diffusion of ancient knowledge, imagined a new and enlightened world.

At the heart of this activity, which bestselling author Ross King relates in his exhilarating new book, was a remarkable man: Vespasiano da Bisticci. Born in 1422, he became what a friend called "the king of the world’s booksellers." At a time when all books were made by hand, over four decades Vespasiano produced and sold many hundreds of volumes from his bookshop, which also became a gathering spot for debate and discussion. Besides repositories of ancient wisdom by the likes of Plato, Aristotle, and Quintilian, his books were works of art in their own right, copied by talented scribes and illuminated by the finest miniaturists. His clients included a roll-call of popes, kings, and princes across Europe who wished to burnish their reputations by founding magnificent libraries.

About Ross King

Ross King is the author of many bestselling books on Italian history and art, including Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling and Brunelleschi's Dome. He lectures widely on Renaissance art at museums, including the Art Institute of Chicago, the Frick Collection, and the National Gallery, and is a regular participant in Italian Renaissance seminars at the Aspen Institute. He lives in the historic town of Woodstock, near Oxford, England.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Valeriu

Am început cartea în engleză, am continuat-o în română și m-am întors (aproape) imediat la original. Am confruntat uimit cele două texte. Și nu mi-a venit să cred ochilor. Prefer să nu vă spun de ce... E vorba de o poveste despre librari, scribi, legători și iubitori de cărți care și-au trăit ilustre......more

Goodreads review by Blaine

Ross King, just his name tells us this is going to be a well-researched book, and one about the Renaissance period in Italy - he has written about some non-Renaissance topics, but the Renaissance is his wheelhouse! And for the first time he has turned his eyes to the lost art of bookmaking, and prin......more

Goodreads review by Titi

Ceea ce mi-a adus nou cartea asta putea fi scris în mai puțin de 100 de pagini. Povestea manuscriselor și a copiștilor, a tipurilor de caractere și a miniaturilor, a vopselelor și a pensulelor, a librarilor și bibliotecarilor, in nuce, despre asta-i vorba în cartea asta. Cum viața lui Vespasiano da......more