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Reviews
This will be the definitive study of the Venetian silk industry... One might not expect that such a dense, highly technical account would make for a good read, but it does. Molà's passion for his subject is palpable, and he soon convinced this reader not only that the subject matters intensely but that even the smallest details—especially the details, perhaps—are of urgent importance.
Luca Molá's book represents the first comprehensive study of the evolution of the silk industry of Renaissance Venice from a structural and technical perspective... Its far-reaching conclusions should be of interest to economic historians of late medieval and early modern Europe as well as to specialists in textile history.
Detailed, well-researched, and beautifully illustrated.
A magisterial book... while he satisfies the expert's desire for deep archival documentation, the author deserves further credit for having written a book that is accessible to the general reader... This study is sure to take its place among the classics of silk history and economic histories of the early modern period.
Mola's excellent study is based on formidable archival research... He effectively demolishes the received idea that the silk guilds stifled innovation.
Mola has changed the way in which the evolution of the silk industry of Renaissance Venice is perceived, and for this reason his text will no doubt come to be regarded as a classic work on the subject... In this excellent study, most aspects of the Venetian silk industry of the Renaissance are treated in greater depth than ever before, and the reader will emerge considerably enlightened.
Economic historians have produced surprisingly few works on the silk industry and even fewer in English. Luca Mola's book would be a welcome contribution to historical literature simply for filling this gap, but this excellent volume goes much further.
Mola's book makes a significant contribution to the study of Italian Renaissance history.
This fine study combines an exhaustive examination of the relevant Venetian archives with effective use of secondary literature. The result is fascinating, learned synthesis that is well organized and especially sound in explaining the more technical elements of the silk industry in clear lucid prose.
A very readable book... This is economic history at its best.
Molà's comprehensive synthesis of the secondary literature is itself an original contribution; but it is, of course, his thorough archival research in Venice and his mastery of the extraordinarily complex technical aspects of the industry that mark the high quality of his work. This is economic history at its very best, and it will set the standard for research on the industry anywhere in early modern Europe.
About
Book Details
Publication Date
Status
Available
Trim Size
6
x 9
Pages
480
ISBN
9780801876554
Illustration Description
20 figures
Subject
Table of Contents
List of Figures and Tables
Notes on Currency and Measures
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Part I: The Growth of International Competition
Chapter 1. A Changing Industrial Geography
Chapter 2. The
List of Figures and Tables
Notes on Currency and Measures
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Part I: The Growth of International Competition
Chapter 1. A Changing Industrial Geography
Chapter 2. The Dissemination of Techniques
Part II: The Venetian Industry
Chapter 3. Regulating Commerce in Basic Materials: Protectionism or Free Trade?
Chapter 4. The Strategy of Market Diversification
Chapter 5. Dyeing: The Expanding Palette
Chapter 6. Weaving: Threats to Traditional Standards
Chapter 7. A Sixteenth-Century Innovation: The "New Silk Draperies"
Chapter 8. Inventions: Patenting for the Silk Industry
Part III: The Mainland State
Chapter 9. Sericulture in the Terraferma
Chapter 10. Silk Thread: A Growing International Demand
Chapter 11. Cloth Production and the Territorial State
Appendixes
Notes
Glossary
Bibliography
Index
