The Floating Book

by Michelle Lovric

  But modern scholarship has restored to the Speyer brothers the historical honour of being the first printers to set to type and print a book in Venice.

  And there is no doubt at all that it was Wendelin von Speyer who first published the poems of Gaius Valerius Catullus.

  Also by Michelle Lovric

  The Book of Human Skin

  Carnevale

  The Remedy

  Praise

  Michelle Lovric is the author of the historical novel Carnevale, which is set in eighteenth-century Venice, and a compiler of bestselling anthologies. She lives in London and Venice.

  ‘[Lovric] reveal[s] herself as a gifted and individual phrasemaker – always revealing, never anachronistic … Add to this writing talent the many other virtues Lovric brings to The Floating Book – a command of her subject that is so intimate that it is almost indecent; a similarly intimate facility with Catullus’s poetry, which she translates herself; her thorough and (more important) judicious use of her prodigious research – and you can see how rewarding The Floating Book can be … it is refreshing and heartening to read a book by a writer who is genuinely interested in words’ Edward Docx, Washington Post

  ‘Meticulous historical detail and a splendid, complex story make this portrait of Venice and its denizens memorable and moving’ Booklist

  ‘Lovric thrusts out her story like a great bolt of ravishing, red Venetian velvet, the truths and the fables in it woven smooth, the very texture of it breathtaking Marlena de Blasi, author of A Thousand Days in Venice

  ‘An enthralling tale of love, obsession and religious fervour. Lovric’s narrative, featuring many historical figures, convincingly recreates a fascinating time in history’ Big Issue

  ‘A lusty, atmospheric book, skilfully constructed’ Historical Novels Review

  ‘Lush, exotic and dripping with sensuality … A fantastic novel of epic proportions’ Good Book Guide

  ‘Lovric spins an intrigue-laden tale of destructive lusts and mixed-up loves in the early days of the printing press. She has an eye for sensual detail, conveying the sights and smells of the city’s markets and palazzo’ Publisher’s Weekly

  Bloomsbury Publishing, London, New Delhi, New York and Sydney

  Copyright © Michelle Lovric 2003

  First published in Great Britain in 2003 by Virago Press

  This electronic edition published in 2013 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

  50 Bedford Square

  London WC1B 3DP

  www.bloomsbury.com

  The moral right of the author has been asserted.

  All rights reserved

  You may not copy, distribute, transmit, reproduce or otherwise make available this publication (or any part of it) in any form, or by any means (including without limitation electronic, digital, optical, mechanical, photocopying, printing, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages

  A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

  eISBN 978-1-4088-4284-3

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