Manuscript Hunters with Ross King
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‘All evil is born from ignorance. Yet writers have illuminated the world, chasing away the darkness.’ ~ Vespasiano da Bisticci.
This is a story about Florentine manuscript hunters. A group of people who travelled across Europe in the 14th and 15th centuries in search of lost ancient works of philosophy and literature. At the centre of this story is a man who is often referred to as ‘Michelangelo of bookselling’. His name is Vespasiano da Bisticci.
The most powerful figures across Europe came to him when they needed to find lost or rare editions of Aristotle, Plato, Quintilian or Cicero.
In this episode Vashik Armenikus speaks to Ross King, the author of a brilliant book ‘The Bookseller of Florence’ which illuminates the stories behind some of the greatest intellectuals who became manuscript hunters in Renaissance Italy.
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Vashik’s Notes.
This is one of my top reads this year.
I was always careful with my books: new or antique, paperback or hardback. This book, however, shed a new light on how easy it is to lose access to knowledge and enter the realms of ignorance.
Vespasiano da Bisticci
I own all the works written by Cicero in my library and Ross King’s book made me grateful to manuscript hunters such as Poggio Bracciolini and Vespasiano da Bisticci for preserving those books for me.
It is so easy to destroy a book, but so hard to appreciate and preserve it for the future generations.
I would like to thank Ross King for such a brilliant book and as he said in this interview ‘It was a labour of love for four years of my life’.
