Galileo’s Idol: Gianfrancesco Sagredo and the Republic of Knowledge offers new approaches to the scientific revolution by positioning it within an open and dynamic Mediterranean world, rather than the closed, autonomous Europe of most accounts. Within that space, the book pays special attention to the role of anonymously and pseudonymously authored texts in making natural philosophical knowledge, by addressing early modern scientific print and scribal culture within larger textual economies of government, diplomacy, and espionage. It casts new light on the strategies deployed by natural philosophers in the early modern world by analyzing, for the first time, the activities and identities of Gianfrancesco Sagredo, a student, patron, and friend of Galileo Galilei (1564–1642). The book is under advance contract from the University of Chicago Press.