THE BOOKSELLER OF FLORENCE The Story of the Manuscripts That Illuminated the Renaissance

Narrator James Cameron Stewart's precise diction and cool tone illuminate Ross King's detailed introduction to bookmaking, ink production, parchment and papermaking, and the various methods for distributing books in Renaissance Florence in this engrossing biography of Vespasiano da Bisticci. Fifteenth-century Florence was a city in political turmoil. Vespasiano, born in 1422, grew up to be a man obsessed by books who became known as "the king of the world's booksellers." Stewart's tone is scholarly as he delivers an informative look at the reasons for the shift from handwritten manuscripts, with their elegantly bound volumes, to the printing press of Johannes Gutenberg, which eventually led to the mass production of books. King's exhaustive research and Stewart's accessible narration make this a must for bibliophiles. S.J.H. © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine [Published: JUNE 2021]