Since you want "scholarly" and "pre-industrial", here are some that I've enjoyed and found interesting through the years:
*
Byzantium (3 volumes:
The Early Centuries, The Apogee, The Decline and Fall) and
Absolute Monarchs: A History of the Papacy by John Julius Norwich
*
A History of Venice and
The Middle Sea: A History of the Mediterranean by John Julius Norwich
* The Civil War: A Narrative by Shelby Foote (3 volumes:
Fort Sumter to Perryville,
Fredericksburg to Meridian and
Red River to Appomattox)
*
The Ottoman Centuries by Lord Kinross
*
Istanbul: The Imperial City by John Freely
*
A History of Scotland by J. D. Mackie
*
The Lion in the North: One Thousand Years of Scotland's History by John Prebble
*
Kosovo: A Short History and
Bosnia: A Short History by Noel Malcolm
*
The Spartans: An Epic History and
Sparta and Lakonia: A Regional History 1300 to 362 BC by Paul Cartledge
*
Thermopylae: The Battle That Changed the World and
Alexander the Great by Paul Cartledge
*
On Sparta by Plutarch
*
The Enemy at the Gate: Habsburgs, Ottomans, and the Battle for Europe by Andrew Wheatcroft
*
Lords of the Horizons: A History of the Ottoman Empire by Jason Goodwin
*
The Ottoman Empire: The Classical Age 1300-1600 by Halil Inalcik
*
Inside Central Asia: A Political and Cultural History of Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkey, and Iran by Dilip Hiro
*
The Arabs: A History by Eugene Rogan
*
A History of Iran: Empire of the Mind by Michael Axworthy
*
The Crusades Through Arab Eyes by Amin Maalouf
*
The Baburnama: Memoirs of Babur, Prince and Emperor by W.M. Thackston Jr.
*
A History of Inner Asia by Svat Soucek
*
The Empire of the Steppes: A History of Central Asia by René Grousset
*
Carnage and Culture: Landmark Battles in the Rise to Western Power by Victor Hanson
*
The Histories by Herodotus and George Rawlinson
I'm sure several of these lack ebook editions; I didn't really pay any attention to that when collecting the links. Many or most will have them though. These are mainly "short" and readable works, rather than monumental, comprehensive, multi-volume works spanning multiple feet of shelf space (mine are mainly paper editions), but if you want tips on those you can always return later.
Edit: typo