Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. Contents v
3. List of Illustrations vii
4. Introduction 1
5. 1 Petrarch and the Magical Space of the Library 13
6. 2 The Text as a Body and the Resurrection of the Ancients 35
7. 3 Portraits, or The Desire to See the Author 64
8. 4 Reading, Writing, and the Construction of the Self 129
9. 5 Machiavelli’s Letter to Vettori 143
10. 6 Montaigne’s Tower 161
11. 7 Tasso and the Dangers of Reading 179
12. Epilogue: Ruskin, Proust, and the “Miracle of Reading” 193
13. Notes 201
14. Index 243