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jheher's review against another edition
3.0
The history of every manuscript from the beginning of time until the death of Vespasiano da Bisticci - the bookseller of Florence. I'm sure there are folks who are going to eat up the detailed history surrounding the production of manuscripts through the adoption of the printing press. I'm just not one of them.
I feel I should get credit for 3 books - one for the book itself, one for the sheer length of the text, and another for the density of the writing.
If you're into this sort of thing, I'm sure you'll love it.
I feel I should get credit for 3 books - one for the book itself, one for the sheer length of the text, and another for the density of the writing.
If you're into this sort of thing, I'm sure you'll love it.
mephistosa's review against another edition
3.0
This is an instructive read but far too dense on details so if you like to train your skip reading skills give this one a try.
abeanbg's review against another edition
4.0
Very fine biography of both a man and his political and intellectual times.
alexandrapierce's review against another edition
5.0
I received this as an advance copy via NetGalley.
This is one of the best history books I've read in years.
It's written superbly. The language is a delight - but not so clever or lyrical that it gets hard to read. The pace is just right, and the level of detail is an absolute delight: the right balance of fascinating without getting into ridiculous minutiae.
It's wonderfully historical: it uses primary sources and historians to make arguments and illustrate points, and they're all woven within the story seamlessly. It uses endnotes, so you don't have footnotes cluttering the page but you still have the reassurance that the author has done the research!
It illuminates (heh) the context magnificently. The Renaissance, Italy, and Florence are really not my scene, beyond knowing a few names (Medici, Borgia. - and Sforza for some reason?). The author sets the general scene for all three so that I felt completely comfortable going in. The book is ostensibly about Vespasiona, the "king of booksellers", who started as a fairly uneducated boy working in a book binder's in Florence and became the man who could either track down a manuscript or have a beautiful new one made for you - where "you" could be a wealthy-enough person in Florence or, like, the Pope (a few of whom he knew by name, hello). Beyond being a biography, though (which would have been fascinating but not that long because info about his early life is lacking) this is almost a biography of TEXTS, as objects and sources of knowledge, in this crucial moment - the 15th century. Why was it crucial? Well, a bunch of ancient Greek texts were being rediscovered and translated - especially Plato, who was being brought into the Christian fold as Aristotle was two centuries before. There were changes in the way knowledge itself was perceived, and an increase in the number of people (let's be honest, basically men, but still) who were chatting/arguing/ getting fiery about various bits of knowledge. OH, and THEN, Gutenberg and his crazy weird moveable type (NOT first invented by him, of course, that was happening over in Asia already, and the author acknowledges that) comes along. The way the author contextualises that, and discusses the stats about book publication (mss numbers rose when print came along - probably because of increasing literacy) - it's all just an absolute delight.
The book balances political history, social history, and a bit of economic history to make a thoroughly well-rounded examination of the period. And it still manages to revolve around this one man, Vespasiano, who coordinated the production of beautiful books and magnificent libraries, who became an author himself in old age, and was probably a bit of a cranky old man about those new-fangled print books.
Gosh I loved this book.
This is one of the best history books I've read in years.
It's written superbly. The language is a delight - but not so clever or lyrical that it gets hard to read. The pace is just right, and the level of detail is an absolute delight: the right balance of fascinating without getting into ridiculous minutiae.
It's wonderfully historical: it uses primary sources and historians to make arguments and illustrate points, and they're all woven within the story seamlessly. It uses endnotes, so you don't have footnotes cluttering the page but you still have the reassurance that the author has done the research!
It illuminates (heh) the context magnificently. The Renaissance, Italy, and Florence are really not my scene, beyond knowing a few names (Medici, Borgia. - and Sforza for some reason?). The author sets the general scene for all three so that I felt completely comfortable going in. The book is ostensibly about Vespasiona, the "king of booksellers", who started as a fairly uneducated boy working in a book binder's in Florence and became the man who could either track down a manuscript or have a beautiful new one made for you - where "you" could be a wealthy-enough person in Florence or, like, the Pope (a few of whom he knew by name, hello). Beyond being a biography, though (which would have been fascinating but not that long because info about his early life is lacking) this is almost a biography of TEXTS, as objects and sources of knowledge, in this crucial moment - the 15th century. Why was it crucial? Well, a bunch of ancient Greek texts were being rediscovered and translated - especially Plato, who was being brought into the Christian fold as Aristotle was two centuries before. There were changes in the way knowledge itself was perceived, and an increase in the number of people (let's be honest, basically men, but still) who were chatting/arguing/ getting fiery about various bits of knowledge. OH, and THEN, Gutenberg and his crazy weird moveable type (NOT first invented by him, of course, that was happening over in Asia already, and the author acknowledges that) comes along. The way the author contextualises that, and discusses the stats about book publication (mss numbers rose when print came along - probably because of increasing literacy) - it's all just an absolute delight.
The book balances political history, social history, and a bit of economic history to make a thoroughly well-rounded examination of the period. And it still manages to revolve around this one man, Vespasiano, who coordinated the production of beautiful books and magnificent libraries, who became an author himself in old age, and was probably a bit of a cranky old man about those new-fangled print books.
Gosh I loved this book.
martin_ridgway's review against another edition
4.0
Vespasiano is the very thin thread holding this all together.
Everyone else gets their own little pen-portrait, together with all the events around Florence, and the wider Italian peninsula.
There's a lot on the sheer physical effort, organisation, and materials that go into creating manuscripts. Compare and contrast with the upcoming rival technology of printing, which occupies whole chapters.
Just for once the most illustrious artists, sculptors, and architects barely get a look in - so we're approaching the Renaissance from the humanist, classical revival point of view which is worth it for the contrasts.
Certainly worth the time to read.
Everyone else gets their own little pen-portrait, together with all the events around Florence, and the wider Italian peninsula.
There's a lot on the sheer physical effort, organisation, and materials that go into creating manuscripts. Compare and contrast with the upcoming rival technology of printing, which occupies whole chapters.
Just for once the most illustrious artists, sculptors, and architects barely get a look in - so we're approaching the Renaissance from the humanist, classical revival point of view which is worth it for the contrasts.
Certainly worth the time to read.
orestesfasting's review against another edition
informative
medium-paced
3.75
A fascinating look at the history of manuscripts and printing, managing to intertwine it with Florentine history without making the links too tenuous or the text overly dense. It is surprising how little this book feels as though it is about Vespasiano; really, it feels like a social history of reading in Florence and the forms it took, and its impact on politics and vice-versa - Vespasiano is hardly even our way in, and is no more important than many of the other players. But as a social history of the written word in a particular period, it is more interesting than a biography of a man we know relatively little about.