The Book in the Renaissance

Selected by New York Times Book Review as a Best Book Since 2000

“[Pettegree] offers a radically new understanding of printing in the years of its birth and youth.”—Robert Pinsky, New York Times Book Review

“[A] fine new study.”—Adam Gopnik, New Yorker

“Pettegree’s book has a clear and solid structure. . . . There is so much to enjoy here.”—Martin Davies, Times Literary Supplement

“[A] remarkable book.”—Christopher Hawtree, The Independent

“Its cornucopia of information is well managed and engagingly written up.”—Holly Kyte, Sunday Telegraph

“[A] splendid book . . . an engrossing and sure-footed story.”—Fernando Cervantes, The Tablet

“[A] lively work.”—Christopher Hirst, The Independent 

“Pettegree has written the perfect book for the bibliophile.”—Alistair Mabbott, The Herald (Glasgow)

“One of the most significant library-related books I have ever read in many a year; I cannot recommend it highly enough.”—Norman D. Stevens, RBM

“Pettegree . . . examines an earlier rocky transition in the history of the written word: not the transition from print to digital, but the transition from manuscript books to print.”—Heather Horn, TheAtlantic.com

“In this history of the pioneering publishers who transformed Gutenberg’s new technology into an epoch-making force, Pettegree recounts the fascinating story of how new books found their way into the hands of Renaissance readers. . . . A probing chronicle of crisis and change.”—Booklist (starred review)

“Thorough and engaging.”—Library Journal

“Historians in many fields and of many regions will find [Pettegree’s] suggestions valuable and well-founded. Like all great historical surveys, The Book in the Renaissance will provoke new rounds of questioning.”—Adrian Johns, Journal of Modern History

“Well written and . . . a useful introduction to readers unfamiliar with the subject.”—Renaissance Quarterly

“The text carefully navigates a balance between popular history and scholarly monograph.”—Timothy J. Dickey, College & Research Libraries

“[A] masterpiece. . . . Pettegree is a splendid storyteller.”—RBM: A Journal of Rare Books, Manuscripts, and Cultural Heritage

Selected as a Choice Outstanding Academic Title for 2011 in the General category

Winner of the 2011 Phyllis Goodhart Gordon Book Prize, presented by the Renaissance Society of America

“An authoritative, innovative and succinct account of one of the most fundamental issues in Renaissance history, the role of the printed book.”—Henry Kamen