The ancient Greeks, to whom a trained memory was of vital importance - as it was to everyone before the invention of printing - invented an elaborate memory system based on a technique of impressing "places" and "images" on the mind. Inherited and recorded by the Romans, this art of memory passed into the European tradition, to be revived, in occult form, during the Renaissance and particularly by the strange and remarkable genius, Giordano Bruno. This is a study of the art of memory. Frances A. Yates is the author of "Theatre of the World", "Astraea" and "The Valois Tapestries".

About the Author

Dame Frances Yates (1899-1981) achieved a world-wide reputation as an historian. Her close association with the Warburg Institute of the University of London began shortly after the Second World War, after the publication of her first two books. She was Reader in the History of the Renaissance there until 1967, when she became an Honorary Fellow. As well as gaining many academic honours, she was awarded the OBE in 1977 and was made DBE, in the same year. Her publications include Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition, Theatre of the World, The Rosicrucian Enlightenment, Astraea, Shakespeare's Last Plays and The Valois Tapestries.