The Rise and Fall of the House of Medici is the achievement of a polished historian who is blessed with an unusual gift for pleasing narrative. Divided into four parts, none of which seems overcrowded in spite of their variety of characters and events, the book is beautifully balanced and proportioned.

This edition is made more enjoyable a read, simply by its artistic binding and physical appearance. It is specially published by the Folio Society London, which was founded in 1947, with the single intention of producing 'editions of the world's great literature in a format worthy of the contents, at a price within the reach of everyman.'

The book is typeset at The Folio Society in Centaur with Arabesque ornaments, and printed on Ibis Wove paper at St. Edmundsbury Press, Bury St Edmunds. It is bound by Hunter & Foulis, Edinburgh, in full Jacquard cloth woven by Van Heek-Scholco, Holland.

Christopher Hibbert, MC, (born 1924) is an English writer and popular historian and biographer.

Born in Leicestershire in 1924, Hibbert was educated at Radley College, before going up to Oriel College at the University of Oxford. He served as an infantry officer in the London Irish Rifles during World War Two, was wounded twice and awarded the Military Cross in 1945.

Christopher Hibbert is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. He is married with two sons and a daughter and lives in Henley-on-Thames.