Renaissance and Revolution is a collection of fifteen essays which opens up alternative perspectives on some of the problems seen to be associated with the Scientific Revolution of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The topics treated include the dissemination of Greek science, medical empiricism, natural history, the relations of scholars and craftsmen in various walks of life from the fifteenth to the sixteenth centuries, the so-called 'mechanical philosophy' in France and England, the work of Isaac Newton, and the difficulties encountered by proponents of Newtonianism in Italy in the early eighteenth century. Figures discussed include Leonardo Fioravanti, Jan Swammerdam, Piero Della Francesca, Johannes Hevelius, Jonas Moore, Robert Boyle, Isaac Newton, Christiaan Huygens, Francesco Algarotti, and Luigi Ferdinando Marsigli. There is an introduction by the editors and an afterword by A. Rupert Hall.

This is the first comprehensive History of Renaissance Rhetoric. Rhetoric, a training in writing and delivering speeches, was a fundamental part of renaissance culture and education. It is concerned with a wide range of issues, connected with style, argument, self-presentation, the arousal of emotion, voice and gesture. More than 3,500 works on rhetoric were published in a total of over 15,000 editions between 1460 and 1700. The renaissance was a great age of innovation in rhetorical theory. This book shows how renaissance scholars recovered and circulated classical rhetoric texts, how they absorbed new doctrines from Greek rhetoric, and how they adapted classical rhetorical teaching to fit modern conditions. It traces the development of specialised manuals in letter-writing, sermon composition and style, alongside accounts of the major Latin treatises in the field by Lorenzo Valla, George Trapezuntius, Rudolph Agricola, Erasmus, Philip Melanchthon, Johann Sturm, Juan Luis Vives, Peter Ramus, Cyprien Soarez, Justus Lipsius, Gerard Vossius and many others.

Although the importance of the advent of printing for the Western world has long been recognized, it was Elizabeth Eisenstein, in her monumental, two-volume work, The Printing Revolution in Early Modern Europe, who provided the first full-scale treatment of the subject. This illustrated and abridged edition gives a stimulating survey of the communications revolution of the fifteenth century. After summarizing the initial changes introduced by the establishment of printing shops, it goes on to discuss how printing affected three major cultural movements: the Renaissance, the Reformation, and the rise of modern science. This new edition includes a new essay discussing recent controversies provoked by the first edition and reaffirms the thesis that the advent of printing entailed a communications revolution. Fully-illustrated and annotated, the book argues that the cumulative processes set in motion with the advent of printing are likely to persist despite the recent development of new communications technologies.

The Tragicall History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus, commonly referred to simply as Doctor Faustus, is a play by Christopher Marlowe, based on the Faust story, in which a man sells his soul to the devil for power and knowledge. Doctor Faustus was first published in 1604, eleven years after Marlowe's death and at least twelve years after the first performance of the play.
"No Elizabethan play outside the Shakespeare canon has raised more controversy than Doctor Faustus. There is no agreement concerning the nature of the text and the date of composition... and the centrality of the Faust legend in the history of the Western world precludes any definitive agreement on the interpretation of the play..."

Serving as both an introduction to fifteenth-century Italian painting and as a text on how to interpret social history from the style of pictures in a given historical period, this new edition to Baxandall's pre-eminent scholarly volume examines early Renaissance painting, and explains how the style of painting in any society reflects the visual skills and habits that evolve out of daily life. Renaissance painting, for example, mirrors the experience of such activities as preaching, dancing, and gauging barrels. The volume includes discussions of a wide variety of painters, including Filippo Lippi, Fra Angelico, Stefano di Giovanni, Sandro Botticelli, Masaccio, Luca Signorelli, Boccaccio, and countless others. Baxandall also defines and illustrates sixteen concepts used by a contemporary critic of painting, thereby assembling the basic equipment needed to explore fifteenth-century art.
This new second edition includes an appendix that lists the original Latin and Italian texts referred to throughout the book, providing the reader with all the relevant, authentic sources. It also contains an updated bibliography and a new reproduction of a recently restored painting which replaces the original.

这是一个来自15世纪意大利佛罗伦斯的家族。美第齐家族通过各种方式在欧洲崛起。通过自身的魅力、技巧、欺诈、他们搜刮了大量的财富并拥有了前所未有的权利。是他们点燃了西方世界最重要的文化和艺术的革命――欧洲文艺复兴。但是由美第齐家族促成的这种变化终有一天会颠覆以他们的规则所统治的世界。
美第奇家族（Medici family），或译为梅第奇家族、梅迪契家族，是佛罗伦萨13世纪到17世纪时期拥有强大势力的家族。在这个家族里产生了三位教皇、佛罗伦萨众多的统治者，并且也成为了法国皇族的最新成员。
美第奇家族的家徽最初这个家族并不起眼（名字的起源是不定的，虽然它大概反应了医疗贸易的词汇 - medico），家庭通过银行业务积累起最初的力量。美第奇银行是欧洲最兴旺和最尊敬的银行之一。以此为基础，家庭开始在佛罗伦萨获取政治力量, 并且以后将势力扩张到了意大利和欧洲。
乔凡尼·德·美第奇是第一个进入银行业务的美第奇人，并且当他开始在佛罗伦萨政府有一定影响力。到他的儿子柯西莫·德·美第奇在1434年时，美第奇家族已成为非官方的佛罗伦萨的共和国的国家首脑（当选为正义旗手）。柯西莫家族分支一直统治佛罗伦萨，直到第一代佛罗伦萨公爵亚历山大·德·美第奇在1537年被刺杀。 权势转移到乔凡尼小儿子洛伦佐·德·美第奇的分支，由乔凡尼的玄孙柯西莫一世执掌。
艺术和建筑
美第奇家族的最重大的成就在于艺术和建筑方面，在文艺复兴时期起了很大的促进作用。乔凡尼是这个家族中第一个赞助艺术的。援助马萨其奥并且定货重建圣洛伦佐教堂。柯西莫·德·美第奇著名的艺术性的合作者是多那太罗和菲利波·利比修士。那段时期里最灿烂的一笔就是米开朗基罗，从洛伦佐开始他为几代美第奇效劳。除了委任艺术和建筑方面的工作外, 美第奇也进行大量收藏，现在他们的收藏是佛罗伦萨的乌菲兹美术馆的核心展品。
在建筑方面，美第奇家族给佛罗伦萨留下了许多著名的景点，其中包括乌菲兹美术馆，碧提宫，波波里庭院和贝尔维德勒别墅。
乔凡尼委任布鲁内勒斯基 重建圣洛伦佐教堂 1419年。
柯西莫委任布鲁内勒斯基继续未完成的圆顶花之圣母教堂。1436年 当时世界最大的圆顶完工 。
托莱多的埃利诺，柯西莫一世的妻子，向Buonaccorso Pitti购买碧提宫 1550年 。
柯西莫一世资助创建乌菲兹美术馆的乔治·瓦萨里（1560年）并且建立设计学院 1562年 。
玛丽·德·美第奇，法国国王亨利四世的遗孀，路易十三的母亲，表现在彼得·保罗·鲁本斯的油画《法国王后玛丽·德·美第奇在马赛登陆》中（1622年-23年）。
著名家族成员
沙威特·德·美第奇 (1331年–1388年)，带领了攻击反叛的佛罗伦萨的人民党(Ciompi)，成为佛罗伦萨僭主，在1382年被驱逐
乔凡尼·德·美第奇 (1360年–1429年)，恢复了家庭时运和使美第奇家庭成为欧洲最富裕的家族
柯西莫·德·美第奇 (1389年–1464年)，美第奇政治朝代的创建者
洛伦佐·德·美第奇 (1449年–1492年)，在文艺复兴时期的黄金时代里的期间领导佛罗伦萨
乔凡尼·德·美第奇 (1475年–1523年)，教皇利奥十世
朱利奥·德·美第奇(1478年–1534年)，教皇克莱门特七世
柯西莫一世·德·美第奇 (1519年–1574年)，第一代托斯卡纳大公，复兴美第奇家族
凯瑟琳·德·美第奇 (1519年–1589年)，法国王后
亚利桑德罗·德·美第奇(1535年–1605年)，教皇利奥十一世
斐迪南一世·德·美第奇(1549年–1609年)第三代托斯卡纳大公
斐迪南二世·德·美第奇(1610年–1670年)第五代托斯卡纳大公
玛丽·德·美第奇 (1573年–1642年)，法国王后和摄政王

《文艺复兴:西方艺术的伟大时代》主要内容为：作为艺术赞助人的早期梅迪奇家族、水与空气中运动的形式、寻找解开莱奥纳尔多奥秘的钥匙等。在这卷由我的中国挚友汇编的文集中，各篇论文皆以在西方文明的发展中起过关键性作用的文化艺术运动即著名的“文艺复兴”为题。那场运动主要发源于意大利佛罗伦萨城，时为公元十四至十五世纪，亦即所谓的“中世纪”末期。当时，欧洲的大部分地区处于封建制度之下，政权掌握在帝王手中；他们分封土地，作为对贵族成员服役的奖赏。然而，意大利诸城在很大程度上抵制了这些统治者的干预，力求独立。这样，帝王的拥护者吉伯林派跟其对手教皇派的斗争便构成了佛罗伦萨早期历史的主要内容。不过，他们最终达成了和解，以使富商可以跨越阿尔卑斯山南北，横渡重洋，经营贸易。