✨ Featured Offer
Used, Very Good
$9.99
List Price: $21.00
🚚
See all 5 offers from $7.63 FREE standard delivery by: 29 Mar 2026
Overview
Peter Ackroyd at his most magical and magisterial--a glittering, evocative, fascinating, story-filled portrait of Venice, the ultimate city.
The Venetians' language and way of thinking set them aside from the rest of Italy. They are an island people, linked to the sea and to the tides rather than the land. This latest work from the incomparable Peter Ackroyd, like a magic gondola, transports its readers to that sensual and surprising city.
His account embraces facts and romance, conjuring up the atmosphere of the canals, bridges, and sunlit squares, the churches and the markets, the festivals and the flowers. He leads us through the history of the city, from the first refugees arriving in the mists of the lagoon in the fourth century to the rise of a great mercantile state and its trading empire, the wars against Napoleon, and the tourist invasions of today. Everything is here: the merchants on the Rialto and the Jews in the ghetto; the glassblowers of Murano; the carnival masks and the sad colonies of lepers; the artists--Bellini, Titian, Tintoretto, Tiepolo. And the ever-present undertone of Venice's shadowy corners and dead ends, of prisons and punishment, wars and sieges, scandals and seductions.
Ackroyd's Venice: Pure City is a study of Venice much in the vein of his lauded London: The Biography. Like London, Venice is a fluid, writerly exploration organized around a number of themes. History and context are provided in each chapter, but Ackroyd's portrait of Venice is a particularly novelistic one, both beautiful and rapturous. We could have no better guide--reading Venice: Pure City is, in itself, a glorious journey to the ultimate city.
The Venetians' language and way of thinking set them aside from the rest of Italy. They are an island people, linked to the sea and to the tides rather than the land. This latest work from the incomparable Peter Ackroyd, like a magic gondola, transports its readers to that sensual and surprising city.
His account embraces facts and romance, conjuring up the atmosphere of the canals, bridges, and sunlit squares, the churches and the markets, the festivals and the flowers. He leads us through the history of the city, from the first refugees arriving in the mists of the lagoon in the fourth century to the rise of a great mercantile state and its trading empire, the wars against Napoleon, and the tourist invasions of today. Everything is here: the merchants on the Rialto and the Jews in the ghetto; the glassblowers of Murano; the carnival masks and the sad colonies of lepers; the artists--Bellini, Titian, Tintoretto, Tiepolo. And the ever-present undertone of Venice's shadowy corners and dead ends, of prisons and punishment, wars and sieges, scandals and seductions.
Ackroyd's Venice: Pure City is a study of Venice much in the vein of his lauded London: The Biography. Like London, Venice is a fluid, writerly exploration organized around a number of themes. History and context are provided in each chapter, but Ackroyd's portrait of Venice is a particularly novelistic one, both beautiful and rapturous. We could have no better guide--reading Venice: Pure City is, in itself, a glorious journey to the ultimate city.
| ISBN-13 | 9780307473790 |
|---|---|
| ISBN-10 | 0307473791 |
| Weight | 1.25 Pounds |
| Dimensions | 4.30 x 0.90 x 8.60 In |
| List Price | $21.00 |
| Format | Paperback |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Pages | 432 pages |
| Publisher | Anchor |
| Published On | 2011-10-25 |
View All Offers
Sort by:
Price
Condition
Seller
Seller Comments
Price
Used, Good
Seller details
newlegacybooks
Annandale, NJ, USA
Fast shipping and order satisfaction guaranteed. A portion of your purchase benefits Non-Profit Orga...
Free delivery by: 29 Mar 2026
✨ Used, Very Good
Seller details
HPB-Ruby
Dallas, TX, USA
Connecting readers with great books since 1972! Used books may not include companion materials, and ...
Free delivery by: 29 Mar 2026
Used, Very Good
Seller details
Half Price Books Inc
Dallas, TX, USA
Connecting readers with great books since 1972! Used books may not include companion materials, and ...
Free delivery by: 29 Mar 2026
Used, Good
Seller details
St. Vinnie's Books
Eugene, OR, USA
EXTERIOR PAGE EDGES HAVE SOME STAINING, SMUDGING AND/OR WRITING. Paperback 100% of proceeds go to ...
Free delivery by: 29 Mar 2026
Used, Very Good
Seller details
Foggypaws
Sonoma, CA, USA
Paperback in very good condition. All inside pages are in great shape. Minor shelf wear to the cover...
Free delivery by: 29 Mar 2026