Description: The first biography in English of the Zurich polymath Conrad Gessner (1516-1565).
Review Quotes: "This new book about Gessner will undoubtedly serve the learned public well and inspire further research. Thanks to Urs Leu, future researchers will stand on solid biographical and bibliographical ground."
Mikhail Sergeyev in New Literary Observer 2024 (translated from Russian)
DOI: 10.53953/08696365_2024_187_3_380
Praise for the German edition:
"Beyond the claim of being an "intellectual biography," the book offers rich and detailed insights into sixteenth-century Zurich, a city Gessner only left for a few years when he was a student. One appreciates not only Leu's local knowledge and embedding in today's intellectual discourse of the city, but also his extensive familiarity with Zurich's treasure of old books published in the time of Gessner."
Tilmann Walter, University of Würzburg. In: Gesnerus, Vol. 74, No. 1 (2017), pp. 141-143.
"With his comprehensive description of the diverse interests and activities of the Zurich scholar Conrad Gessner, Urs B. Leu has succeeded in writing an appealing biography. [...] The book is a very valuable contribution to the (re)discovery of an important Swiss scholar of the European Renaissance, and invites readers to discover the figure of Conrad Gessner."
Simona Boscani Leoni, University of Bern. In: H-Soz-Kult, 13.04.2017.