The price of books in Italy (XV-XVI centuries)

The prices of printed books are the result of a series of social relations which exist between the various agents who operate in the world of books and the book trade. This article focuses therefore, rather than on prices themselves, on the processes that were put in motion for the pricing of books for sales by publishers or wholesalers, and then by retail booksellers. I will go on to analyse the prices actually paid by purchasers, on the basis of documentation relating to some of the great book collectors, and explore whether and how the various authorities, religious and governmental, intervened in the establishment of book prices and for what purpose. Finally, I will present a project on book prices in early modern Europe, which will be carried out in the years 2016-2020 thanks to the recent award of an ERC Grant.