The centrality of Basel to sixteenth-century European culture is an accepted historical fact, as is testified in studies by scholars such as H. R. Guggisberg, C. Gilly, P. Bietenholz and M. Welti, by A. Berchtold's Bâle et l'Europe (Lausanne 1990) and by the monumental edition of the Amerbachkorrespondenz (1942–2010). Until the late sixteenth century Basel was a lively and cosmopolitan city, the home of scholars, students, exiles and merchants who were attracted by its religious tolerance, the thriving printing industry, the prestigious university, international trade and Erasmusstiftung. It was an open and culturally vibrant city, its Erasmian heritage protected by its political and ecclesiastical authorities. This changed only gradually with the advent of the Protestant Reformation and the hardening of religious sensibilities that characterised Europe from the middle of the sixteenth century. Significantly, after the execution of Miguel Servetus in 1553, Basel became the locus of debate on toleration and religious freedom. Twenty years later, the philosopher Pierre de la Ramé, fleeing the French wars of religion, was still celebrating it as the ‘portus omnium gentium’ in his oration Basel. At the same time Basel played a central role in the pan-European République des lettres, a centre for the circulation of books and letters and and a network of personal relationships

The essays included in the book under review, a result of a conference held in Basel on 8–9 June 2012, consolidate this image of the city. Bernd Hamm, in his introductory essay, describes it as the key locus in what was the ‘leading intellectual region’ – the area of the Upper Rhine between Basel and Heidelberg – in the century before the Reformation (p. 10). By ‘intellectual region’ is meant a dynamic and active centre of cultural and social initiatives which cross political boundaries. This particular area manifested all these attributes, with its economic and professional versatility, the circulation of people and goods, a high level of urbanisation (as in both Tuscany and the Netherlands), a favourable geographical location, relative tolerance toward Jews and a high level of humanist-inspired cultural development among the laity. These elements combined to create an intellectual and spiritual ferment which was in turn stimulated by a significant printing industry publishing across the whole range of theology, literature and the classics, and accompanied by the strong irenic trend of the via media. The legacy of Enea Silvio Piccolomini, who founded the universities of Freiburg in 1457 and Basel in 1460, should also be noted.

The nineteen contributions to this volume, divided into six sections of differing lengths, are dedicated to an in-depth analysis of publishing activity in the city from the period of late humanism to the beginning of the Reformation. In the first section, ‘The Press and the Humanists’, U. B. Leu demonstrates how the new bibliographic resource <www.e-rara.ch> and Conrad Gessner's Pandectae (1548–9) confirm the importance of Basel in sixteenth-century publishing. This owed much to the collaboration between humanists and publishers, both from a technical point of view and with regard to editorial choices. The improvement in the quality of printing and publishing techniques was due, as shown by V. Sebastiani, to Johannes Amerbach who arrived in the city in 1470, and to his relationahip with the humanist and publisher Johannes Heylin von Stein. M. Kooistra demonstrates, by means of four case studies, the influence of humanistic networks in the promotion (or otherwise) of publications in Basel printing houses, while J. Hirstein reconstructs the cooperation between Ulrich von Hutten and Beatus Rhenaus in the 1520 edition of Lorenzo Valla's De donatione Constantini, the former in writing the preface, the latter as editor. Sometimes disagreements between associates were also observed, as in the case of Leo Jud, discussed by C. Christ-von Wedel, who did not share his teacher Erasmus’ historical conception of the holy Scripture and of the history of the Church nor the same eschatological vision. In a further essay by the same contributor, the influence of Erasmus in the development of sacred music at the practical and theoretical level is discussed.

The second section of the book includes essays on the relationship between reformers, reconstructed through two fundamental mediums of communication, the press and correspondence. The close links between the press and the Reformation is explored by S. Grosse, who reconstructs, in his contribution, the first edition of Luther's works, edited in 1518 by the future Strasbourg reformer Wolfgang Capito using Froben's typography. The letters of Martin Bucer, Johannes Oecolampadius and Wolfgang Capito shed new light on the role of Strasbourg and Basel in the difficult initial phase of the Reformation. In particular, M. Arnold examines the attempts undertaken in 1524–31 by the antistes of the two Churches, Bucer and Oecolampadius, to resolve the eucharistic controversy between Zwingli and Luther. As revealed by Zwingli's correspondence, posthumously published by Theodor Bibliander in 1536 and discussed here by A. Mühling, the reformer was at a distance on the issue from both Wittenberg and Strasbourg. A. Nelson Burnett's welcome contribution analyses the significant, but so far little investigated, stance of Oecolampadius. R. Friederich deals with another important issue, that of ecclesiastical discipline (and specifically excommunication), on which Bucer had an exchange of letters with Basel ministers in 1532. According to R. Henrich, publisher of the Myconius correspondence, Bucer's influence on the Basel reformer was extremely strong on the issue of irenicism. W. Simon detects a discrepancy between Bucer and the Basel ministers led by the scholar of Greek, Simon Grynaeus, on the resolution of the marital situation of Henry viii: Bucer favoured bigamy; the ministers divorce.

In the later, shorter sections, the topic of Basel publishing in relation to the promotion of religious nonconformity, and European culture more generally is tackled. According to H. Jecke, the contribution of Basel printing houses was crucial in the initial development of Anabaptism. An interesting element in the reconstruction of this is represented by an unpublished letter of 1526 written by an Anabaptist leader and discovered by C. Scheidegger in the Zurich Zentralbibliothek. Albeit with a view towards Eastern Europe, the essays by J.-B. Bernhard, Ádám Hegyi and A. Verok give an idea of the role of Basel as a centre of innovative ideas. The former's contribution is focused on the role of the city as a refuge and place of transit for Italians heretics travelling to the East (especially thanks to the activity of the printer Pietro Perna), the other two on the circulation of books and ideas between Basel and Hungary, in particular through Hungarian university students.

Overall, this volume enriches our knowledge of Basel and the surrounding area: new research and interpretations provide a more detailed and multifaceted framework to the spread of the Reformation across Europe.