This collection of essays examines the operation of the market for learned books in Early Modern Europe through a series of case studies. After an overview of general market conditions, issues raised by the transmission of knowledge and the economics of the book trade are addressed. These include the selection of copy, the role of legal and religious controls in the production and diffusion of texts, the paths open to authors to achieve publication, the finances and interaction of publishing houses, the margins of the European book trade in England and Portugal, and the development of bibliographical tools to assist purchasers in their pursuit of scholarly works.

Beginning with one of the crucial technological breakthroughs of Western history - the development of moveable type by Johann Gutenberg - The History of the Book in the West 1455-1700 covers the period that saw the growth and consolidation of the printed book as a significant feature of Western European culture and society. The volume collects together seventeen key articles, written by leading scholars during the past five decades, that together survey a wide range of topics, such as typography, economics, regulation, bookselling, and reading practices. Books, whether printed or in manuscript, played a major role in the religious, political, and intellectual upheavals of the period, and understanding how books were made, distributed, and encountered provides valuable new insights into the history of Western Europe in the fifteenth, sixteenth, and seventeenth centuries.

William McCuaig explores the intellectual turbulence of the late Italian Renaissance through a full examination of the work of one scholar--the humanist Carlo Sigonio (1523-84), whose insistence on critical methods for reconstructing the past revolutionized the study of ancient Roman history and the Italian Middle Ages. An internationally published scholar caught in the political tension of the Counter-Reformation, Sigonio was harshly censored by ecclesiastical authorities in Rome, who opposed his application of critical methods to the history of the post-classical world. McCuaig traces Sigonio's interactions with his opponents and supporters, both academic and clerical, to provide a fascinating and detailed portrait of a cultural milieu. On a general level, this study of Sigonio's works helps explain how the republican ethos of the Italian Renaissance came to an end and how the modern study of ancient history evolved in Italy and France after 1550. Among many topics, this book emphasizes Sigonio's contributions to social history, and points to parallels between the changing social stratifications of ancient Rome and those of early modern Italy. Interdisciplinary in its approach, the work also touches upon the history of education, political theory, the book trade, and historiography. Originally published in 1989. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

In historical and cultural studies, the Early Modern Age has developed a profile of its own. The book series Frühe Neuzeit (Early Modern Age) publishes editions, monographs and collected volumes advancing fundamental research in the field. It does not seek to produce wide-ranging overviews, premature syntheses or pretentious constructions but takes the long route of detailed work and the exploration of submerged traditional linkages. Particular emphasis is placed on studies which transcend the boundaries of individual disciplines.

This collection of thirteen essays examines sixteenth-century type design in France. Typefaces developed during this period were to influence decisively the typography of the centuries which followed, and they continue to influence a great many contemporary typefaces. The papers' common goal is to establish the paternity of the typefaces described and critically to appraise their attributions, many of which have previously been inadequately ascribed. Such an approach will be of interest to type historians and type designers seeking better-documented attributions, and to historians, philologists, and bibliographers, whose study of historical imprints will benefit from more accurate type descriptions. The papers and illustrations focus on the most important letter-cutters of the French Renaissance, including Simon de Colines, Robert Estienne, Claude Garamont, Robert Granjon, Pierre Haultin, and also include a number of minor masters of the period.

This book examines the intersection between religious belief, dynastic ambitions, and late Renaissance court culture within the main branches of Germany's most storied ruling house, the Wittelsbach dynasty. Their influence touched many shores from the "coast" of Bohemia to Boston.