The information master
Subtitle: Jean Baptiste Colbert's secret state intelligence system
By: Jacob Soll.
Series: Cultures of knowledge in the early modern world
Publisher: University of Michigan Press
Published: 2009
Place of publication: Ann Arbor
Language: eng
Number of pages: 277
ISBN-13: 9780472116904
Subjects: Colbert, Jean Baptiste, -- 1619-1683; Colbert, Jean Baptiste, -- 1619-1683 -- Political and social views; Public administration -- France -- History -- 17th century; Government information -- France -- History -- 17th century; Knowledge management -- France -- History -- 17th century; Records -- Political aspects -- France -- History -- 17th century; Archives -- Political aspects -- France -- History -- 17th century; Statesmen -- France -- Biography; France -- Politics and government -- 1643-1715; France -- Intellectual life -- 17th century
Genres: Biography.
Description: "Jean-Baptiste Colbert saw governance of the state not as the inherent ability of the king, but as a form of mechanical mastery of subjects such as medieval legal history, physics, navigation, and the price lists of nails, sails, and gunpowder. In The Information Master, Jacob Soll shows how the legacy of Colbert's encyclopedic tradition lies at the very center of the rise of the modern state. This innovative book argues that Colbert's practice of collecting knowledge originated in Renaissance Italy, where merchants recognized the power to be gained from merging scholarship and trade. By connecting historical literatures -- archives, libraries, merchant techniques, and humanist pedagogy -- that have usually remained separate, Soll has created an imaginative and refreshing work."--Jacket.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.