| |
|||
Find Books
Search
Site |
Book
of the
Month -- August 2026
|
||
|
Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1463-1494) was a scholar and philosopher who stood at the cusp of the old mediaeval scholasticism and the new Renaissance humanism. Trained as one, he made himself into the other. His boundless energy and photographic memory made him one of the leading scholars of the age – he was said to have by heart the complete works of every known Greek and Latin writer, and was deeply immersed in the study of Hebrew, Arabic and Aramaic texts before his untimely death. In addition to numerous philosophical writings, he was the first Christian to study the Jewish Cabbala seriously, and translated a number of Cabbalistic classics into Latin. His biography was written by his nephew and heir (also Giovanni Pico della Mirandola) and came to prominence in England when it was translated, along with some of his writings, by Thomas More. This is the edition presented here; to which we have added an essay by the Victorian scholar Walter Pater. |
AboutUs
The Ex-Classics project was founded in 2000 to fill an unmet need. When reading the blurb etc. to a book by Charles Dickens or Charlotte Bronte, say, we would often come across sentences like "Favourite reading included . . ." If it's good enough for them, it's good enough for us. So off we go to the library or bookshop, to be met first with blank stares and then with the information that the book has been out of print for decades. Our first two books were Gil Blas and Hudibras, which are prime examples of this. This web site is dedicated to rescuing these works from obscurity and making them available online, both for reading directly, and for downloading.
What do you think?
Any comments about this site or its contents? E-mail us (Click
here)
We have an occasional newsletter - please say if you want to be added
to the mailing list. We never give out your details to spammers, or
anyone else, for that matter.
This
site and its contents are public domain and free to the world. Anything
in it may be copied and distributed free of charge or obligation.
[There are one or two exceptions to this,which are clearly marked where
they occur.] We expect this policy to be passed on - anyone who copies
our texts or web pages and tries to claim copyright for themselves is
stealing - not from us, but from you, and from everyone. An
example of what we mean.
