The Bookseller of Florence

The Bookseller of Florence: The Story of the Manuscripts That Illuminated the Renaissance

by Ross King      

Against the backdrop of Renaissance Florence, this book brings to light an extraordinary story about the city and its culture--that of Vespasiano da Bisticci, the 'king of the world's booksellers,' Florence's most indispensable and prolific merchant of knowledge. His bookshop in the heart of Florence was a gathering place for the city's most prominent poets and philosophers, and it was there that Vespasiano and his team of scribes created beautiful illuminated manuscripts for their clients, a cast of powerful popes and wealthy European princes. But in 1476, as Vespasiano began working on one of his most famed and gorgeous works--the Urbino Bible--the printing press came to Florence and threatened his life's work.

Ross King is the award-winning and bestselling author of Brunelleschi's Dome, Michelangelo and the Pope's Ceiling, The Judgment of Paris, Mad Enchantment, Leonardo and the Last Supper, and Machiavelli: Philosopher of Power, among other books.

 "King has made a career elucidating crucial episodes in the history of art and architecture."--TIME

"Ross King has a track record when it comes to turning such art stories into gripping narratives . . . His method is expansive, including personal, political, social and cultural context."--Sunday Times (UK)

"King has the gift of clear, unpretentious exposition, and an instinctive narrative flair."--Guardian

Hardcover, 496 pages.

Published April 2021