THE MAN or THE RENAISSANCE—Ralph Roeder—Viking ($3.50). History, defined politely as “the formal record of the past,” is really organized gossip; but among the historians who retail it there are ...

At crucial times in history, bookstores may serve as meeting places, where visitors gossip, share ideas, perhaps dispute pressing issues of the day. In “The Bookseller of Florence,” Ross King relates ...

The history of a home for abandoned children is unpacked against the backdrop of the Italian Renaissance in this beguiling study from Luzzi (Botticelli’s Secret), a literature professor at Bard.

The Renaissance is often considered a time of triumph for self-made individuals. One orphanage revealed the era’s darker side ...

As we’ve had to postpone our travels because of the pandemic, I believe a weekly dose of travel dreaming can be good medicine. Here’s one of my favorite European memories from Florence — a reminder of ...

Preface and acknowledgments -- Introduction -- Renaissance -- Humanism -- Independent portraits -- Perspective -- Narrative -- The human body -- Classicizing ...

The Bookseller of Florence. By Ross King. Atlantic Monthly Press; 496 pages; $30. Chatto & Windus; £25 VESPASIANO DA BISTICCI left school at the age of 11. A man of modest birth, he received his ...