Andrew Pettegree

Rich, authoritative and highly readable, Andrew Pettegree's tour de force will appeal to anyone for whom, whatever the circumstances, books are an abiding, indispensable part of life. David Kynaston Chairman Mao was a librarian. Stalin was a published poet. Evelyn Waugh served as a commando - before leaving to write Brideshead Revisited. Since the advent of modern warfare, books have...

A groundbreaking study of the fascinating, yet largely unknown world of books in the first great age of print, 1450–1600 The dawn of print was a major turning point in the early modern world. It rescued ancient learning from obscurity, transformed knowledge of the natural and physical world, and brought the thrill of book ownership to the masses. However, as...

The untold story of how the Dutch conquered the European book market and became the world's greatest bibliophiles—“an instant classic on Dutch book history” (BMGN - Low Countries Historical Review) "[An] excellent contribution to book history."—Robert Darnton, New York Review of Books The Dutch Golden Age has long been seen as the age of Rembrandt and Vermeer, whose paintings captured...

'Rich, authoritative, and highly readable ... a tour de force' - David Kynaston Chairman Mao was a librarian. Stalin was a published poet. Evelyn Waugh served as a commando - before leaving to write Brideshead Revisited. Since the advent of modern warfare, books have all too often found themselves on the frontline. In The Book at War, acclaimed historian Andrew...

Bookshops are a comforting sight on our high streets, warm and welcoming spaces in which to browse, meet friends and occasionally buy books. They may feel timeless, yet their history is a restless and turbulent one, filled with as many entrepreneurial street hawkers and illicit trades as with beloved institutions. The Bookshop, from the celebrated author of The Library and...

A sweeping, absorbing history, deeply researched, of that extraordinary and enduring phenomenon: the library - Richard Ovenden, author of Burning the Books: A History of Knowledge under Attack Famed across the known world, jealously guarded by private collectors, built up over centuries, destroyed in a single day, ornamented with gold leaf and frescoes or filled with bean bags and children's...