In his fifth volume in Assouline’s successful series, photographer Jean-Michel Berts turns his lens to Venice. For centuries, writers, artists, musicians, poets, and dreamers of all kinds have wandere
The rediscovery of Enochic Judaism as an ancient movement of dissent within Second Temple Judaism, a movement centered on neither temple nor torah, is a major achievement of contemporary research
By studying one of the oldest courts of the city this volume discusses the impact of Venice's unique brand of justice on its ordinary citizens. The criminal cases shed light on the black market econom
Christopher Thomas captures the streets and sights of Paris devoid of people in the photographer's signature, hauntingly beautiful style. Fans of Thomas' earlier books on New York and Venice, and anyo
Ken Howard (b. 1932) is one of Britain's best-loved painters. His cityscapes and coastal scenes reveal a deep connection with Venice, London, and Cornwall; his studio interiors are masterly evocations
For centuries Italy has fascinated travelers and artists. From the crumbling ruins of ancient Rome to the crystal-clear light of Venice, artists have found inspiration not only in the cities but also
These essays are concerned with aspects of dramatic form, such as plot construction and characterisation, in works by Shakespeare and his contemporaries. They focus in detail on the plays' texts, at the same time seeking to establish around them the dramatists' view of their world. Leo Salingar examines six plays by Shakespeare (The Merchant of Venice, Henry IV Parts 1 and 2, Twelfth Night, Hamlet and King Lear) and five leading works by other Jacobean playwrights (Volpone, The Silent Woman, Bartholomew Fair, The Revenger's Tragedy and The Changeling). There is also a study of Cervantes' Don Quixote, and two general essays on drama in the light of Elizabethan usage of the key words art and wit. Each study considers its subject from a perspective that takes account of social history, stage conditions, the history of ideas, or critical theory. The collection provides a coherent survey of the dramatic forms in Shakespeare's time.
Paolo Sarpi (1552–1623) is remembered as the defender of Venice against the Papal Interdict of 1606 and as the first, and greatest, historian of the Counter-Reformation. The sources of his undoubted hostility to clerical authority have always been a matter of controversy; many contemporaries claimed that Sarpi was an 'atheist', while to others his anticlericalism suggested that he was in secret a Protestant. In the present book David Wootton argues that Sarpi's public opinions must be assessed in the light of the views expressed in his private papers. Starting from the Pensiere, in which Sarpi formulated a series of philosophical and historical arguments against Christianity, Mr Wootton seeks to reinterpret Sarpi's life work as being the expression, not of a love of intellectual liberty, nor of a commitment to Protestantism, but of a carefully thought out hostility to doctrinal religion. This interpretation of Sarpi serves to cast new light on the man and his work. But it also throws n
The publication between 1887 and 1897 of these letters, which form part of the archive of the Dutch Church at Austin Friars in London, was a remarkable feat of bibliography. The archive had been deposited in 1866 with the Library Committee of the Corporation of the City of London, and in 1884 Jan Hendrick Hessels began to prepare them for the press. The letters, written in Dutch, French, English, Italian and Latin between 1524 and 1723, throw light on the religious, intellectual and political ferment of the period: among the writers are Erasmus and Dürer; among the destinations, London, Antwerp, Paris, Venice, Rome, Seville and Madrid. The first volume (reissued here in two parts) consists of the correspondence of the great Flemish map-maker Abraham Ortelius (1527–1598). Each letter is preceded by an English summary of its contents, and Hessels' preface provides a context for the volume.
