Aims to bring together essays that explore how knowledge was obtained and demonstrated in Europe during an intellectually explosive four centuries, when standar

An Open Letters Review Best Book of the Year “Grafton presents largely unfamiliar material...in a clear, even breezy style...Erudite.” —Michael Dirda, Was

"This book focuses on how literate artisans began to write about their discoveries starting around 1400: in other words, it explores the origins of technical wr

It is often assumed that natural philosophy was the forerunner of early modern natural sciences. But where did these sciences’ systematic observation and expe

The book looks at how people, things, and new forms of knowledge created "publics" in early modern Europe, and how publics changed the shape of early modern soc