New Worlds, Ancient Texts: The Power of Tradition and the Shock of Discovery

by Anthony Grafton, April Shelford (With), Nancy Siraisi (With)

Overview

Describing an era of exploration during the Renaissance that went far beyond geographic bounds, this book shows how the evidence of the New World shook the foundations of the old, upsetting the authority of the ancient texts that had guided Europeans so far afield. What Anthony Grafton recounts is a war of ideas fought by mariners, scientists, publishers, and rulers over a period of 150 years. In colorful vignettes, published debates, and copious illustrations, we see these men and their contemporaries trying to make sense of their discoveries as they sometimes confirm, sometimes contest, and finally displace traditional notions of the world beyond Europe.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780674254121
Publisher:	Harvard University Press
Publication date:	03/15/1995
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	296
File size:	13 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Anthony Grafton is the author of The Footnote, Defenders of the Text, Forgers and Critics, and Inky Fingers, among other books. The Henry Putnam University Professor of History and the Humanities at Princeton University, he writes regularly for the New York Review of Books.

April Shelford is a graduate student in history at Princeton University.

Nancy Siraisi is Distinguished Professor of History at Hunter College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York.

Table of Contents

Foreword by Timothy Healy

Introduction

1. A Bound World: The Scholar's Cosmos

2. Navigators and Conquerors: The Universe of the Practical Man

3. All Coherence Gone

4. Drugs and Diseases: New World Biology and Old World Learning

5. A New World of Learning

Epilogue

Notes

Bibliography

Illustration Sources

Acknowledgments

Index

Editorial Reviews

As part of its commemoration of the quincentenary of Columbus' voyage, the New York Public Library invited Grafton (history, Princeton) to explore its extensive archives on 16th- and 17th-century European thought, and to organize an exhibition and write a book tracing the transforming effects of the voyages of exploration upon European scholarship, learning, and culture from 1450 to 1700. Elegantly produced in an 8.25 x 9.5" format, with wide margins and black & white reproductions of book illustrations. Indexed by name only, which seems a deficiency. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews

Grafton is massively erudite and scrupulous as a scholar; at the same time he has command of a relaxed narrative style: his book about the reconfiguration of knowledge in Renaissance Europe is aimed at the general reader and no doubt finds its mark.

Arion - Mary Baine Campbell

Grafton’s book is about the identity of the Americas—an identity hewn out of intellectual conflict, just as much as military or political conflict.

David McKitterick

Beautifully presented and delightful to read. Grafton’s prose has a rare combination of qualities, smooth-flowing and hard-hitting… The concentrated power, the broad erudition, the impeccable aim which characterize Grafton’s vignettes are enviable.

London Review of Books - Felipe Fernández-Armesto

In his eloquent disquisition…Grafton demonstrates his mastery of the world of the Renaissance text and his skills as a historian of scholarship, scholarly processes, and intellectual debates.

Los Angeles Times Book Review - Larry Ceplair

Beautifully presented and delightful to read. Grafton's prose has a rare combination of qualities, smooth-flowing and hard-hitting... The concentrated power, the broad erudition, the impeccable aim which characterize Grafton's vignettes are enviable.--Felipe Fernández-Armesto "London Review of Books"

Grafton is massively erudite and scrupulous as a scholar; at the same time he has command of a relaxed narrative style: his book about the reconfiguration of knowledge in Renaissance Europe is aimed at the general reader and no doubt finds its mark.--Mary Baine Campbell "Arion"

Grafton's book is about the identity of the Americas--an identity hewn out of intellectual conflict, just as much as military or political conflict.--David McKitterick "New York Times Book Review"

In his eloquent disquisition...Grafton demonstrates his mastery of the world of the Renaissance text and his skills as a historian of scholarship, scholarly processes, and intellectual debates.--Larry Ceplair "Los Angeles Times Book Review"

From the Publisher

Beautifully presented and delightful to read. Grafton’s prose has a rare combination of qualities, smooth-flowing and hard-hitting… The concentrated power, the broad erudition, the impeccable aim which characterize Grafton’s vignettes are enviable.

London Review of Books - Felipe Fernández-Armesto

Beautifully presented and delightful to read. Grafton’s prose has a rare combination of qualities, smooth-flowing and hard-hitting…The concentrated power, the broad erudition, the impeccable aim which characterize Grafton’s vignettes are enviable.

Felipe Fernandez-Armesto

Grafton is massively erudite and scrupulous as a scholar; at the same time he has command of a relaxed narrative style: his book about the reconfiguration of knowledge in Renaissance Europe is aimed at the general reader and no doubt finds its mark.
— Mary Baine Campbell

Arion

Beautifully presented and delightful to read. Grafton's prose has a rare combination of qualities, smooth-flowing and hard-hitting...The concentrated power, the broad erudition, the impeccable aim which characterize Grafton's vignettes are enviable.
— Felipe Fernández-Armesto

London Review of Books

In his eloquent disquisition...Grafton demonstrates his mastery of the world of the Renaissance text and his skills as a historian of scholarship, scholarly processes, and intellectual debates.
— Larry Ceplair

Los Angeles Times Book Review

Grafton's book is about the identity of the Americas--an identity hewn out of intellectual conflict, just as much as military or political conflict.
— David McKitterick

New York Times Book Review