The Bookseller of Florence

Vespasiano da Bisticci and the Manuscripts that Illuminated the Renaissance

De: Ross King

Narrado por: James Cameron Stewart

Duración: 18 h y 20 m

Resumen del Editor

The best-selling author of Brunelleschi's Dome and Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling captures the excitement and spirit of the Renaissance in this chronicle of the life and work of "the king of the world's booksellers" and the technological disruption that forever changed the ways knowledge spread.

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 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 discussion and debate. Besides repositories of ancient wisdom by the likes of Plato, Aristotle, and Cicero, 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.

Vespasiano reached the summit of his powers as Europe's most prolific merchant of knowledge when a new invention appeared: the printed book. By 1480, the king of the world's booksellers was swept away by this epic technological disruption, whereby cheaply produced books reached readers who never could have afforded one of Vespasiano’s elegant manuscripts.

A thrilling chronicle of intellectual ferment set against the dramatic political and religious turmoil of the era, including the fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks, Ross King's The Bookseller of Florence is also an ode to books and bookmaking that charts the world-changing shift from script to print through the life of an extraordinary man long lost to history - one of the true titans of the Renaissance.

©2021 Ross King (P)2021 Penguin Random House Canada

Reseñas de la Crítica

"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.... The Bookseller of Florence doesn't pretend to wade into debates in the sociology of culture.... What you will find in abundance here is a historical celebration of the Greek humanist Cardinal Bessarion's belief that books 'live, they converse and speak with us, they teach us, educate us, console us.'" (The New York Times Book Review)

"A marvel of storytelling and a master class in the history of the book. The Bookseller of Florence is a dazzling, instructive and highly entertaining book, worthy of the great bookseller it celebrates." (The Wall Street Journal)

"Throughout, King deftly navigates Florence's rich cultural and political history, painting intimate portraits of Vespasiano and others involved in the book world during these incredible times, including the man who would revolutionize it all, Johannes Gutenberg.... A treat for book lovers." (Kirkus Reviews)

Amazing!

I learned so much and was never bored. Loved it, well done! Thanks for giving us such a complete understanding of how one man affected the literary world.