Set contains Bronze Age In Europe, Search For Ancient Egypt, Facts, Pyramids Of Giza: Facts, Legends & Mysteries and Cathedral Builders of the Middle Ages. Buy all four Thames & Hudson quality publications and save even more. Paperbacks.

How much do we really know about Ancient Egypt? What about the farmers, the soldiers, the labourers and the families that made up the vast majority of this much mythologized civilisation? Chapters include A Gift of the Nile, The Art of Writing, Artisan Ship, Egyptian Art, Free Women In Pharaoh's Land?, The Pleasures of the Heart, Survival Techniques - Mummies, A Guide Through the Underworld, Gods, Goddesses and Magic, Temples, Tomb Robbers and Curses and Egypt and the Western World. With explanations of hieroglyphs alongside hundreds and hundreds of stunning colour photographs, diagrams and plans, we peep at underground passages, up close to marvellous relics, at amazing artworks and lithographs, reliefs and carvings, even fashions and hairstyles, a dancer doing a back bend to more contemporary photographs of Howard Carter and colleagues handling a statue of Tutankhamun, garments and other items of discovery. Will full list of Egyptian collections and museums, 296 very large pages. 9.4" x 12.4", 296 pages.
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'This is the day on which many eminent authors will probably publish their last words' - said Joseph Addison, one of the originators of The Spectator, following the 1712 Stamp Act which introduced a tax on paper used for newspapers and journals. Love it or loathe it, in these days of fake news, the British press is still a remarkable institution. Accused of wielding power without responsibility, it has often been a channel for the dissemination of information that those at the top of the pyramid of power would rather stay hidden. The press has also delighted in scraping the bottom of the barrel of public interest, deliberately manipulating facts and revelling in gossip and scandal to sell more newspapers. Ruth Herman takes readers back to the early days and unsuccessful attempts of the government to strangle it at birth and looks at how an army of journalists found their feet and honed their craft. It considers the personalities who wrote fearlessly, and the role played by some of English literature's most famous names like Jonathan Swift and Dr Johnson. There are wayward printers and booksellers who played a big part in the development of the press, and they are given their own share of the limelight. The book looks at the variety of content in early periodicals, writing targeted at women, downright astonishing advertising, wayward text and wayward printers. Along with stories of sedition and insider trading, the book looks at two sides of the press - one that serves the greater good with noble intent, and the other preoccupied with profit, scandal, and circulation. A hugely entertaining read, 16 pages of photos.

Derek J. Taylor embarks on a mission to uncover the 'golden thread of truth' travelling to palaces and villages of medieval England, through the castles and towns of France and the Middle East, to the United States of the 21st century. We go to the Fens, Clarendon Palace in Wiltshire, Lionheart's legacy, Chateau Gaillard in Normandy, Temple Ewell in Kent, Bouvines in Northern France, and of course Runnymede in Surrey plus the British Library, the Wash, Worcester Cathedral and the Palace of Westminster, Jamestown Virginia and Washington DC and back to Runnymede. In some senses, Magna Carta itself back in 1215 was a business deal. When hostilities had broken out between King John and the rebel barons earlier that year, the City of London, already a thriving trade centre, saw a commercial opportunity and pitched their support behind the barons. It was a game-changer, which tipped the balance away from John and a neat little clause was inserted into Magna Carta saying that the City of London should 'enjoy all its ancient liberties and free customs, both by land and by water'. For 800 years, Magna Carta has inspired those prepared to face torture and even death in the fight against tyranny. But the belief that the Great Charter gave us such freedoms as democracy, trial by jury and equality beneath the law has its roots in myth. When King John was forced to issue it, Magna Carta was regarded as little more than a stalling tactic in the bloody conflict between monarch and barons. With maps and illus., and eight pages of colour photos. 403pp, paperback.

A combination of easy reference and good writing makes this book ideal for any tourist or student of Greek culture. It covers many facets of Greek history including the conflicts with Persia, conquests by the Romans, the Byzantine age and occupation by the Turks and later the struggle for independence, the turbulent 20th century, up to the recent troubled economic waters of the 21st. It covers the Persian Wars, Athenian Empire, Peloponnesian War, Alexander the Great, the Hellenistic world, Roman Greece and Byzantian and maps cover Alexander's route and the expansion of Greece since 1832 among them. The book questions how it is possible to reconcile the Greek genius for trading with the vigorous Communist and Socialist stance of so many citizens of Greece. With chronology of major events, heads of state since independence and historical gazetteer, pen and ink illustrations and maps. 338pp, paperback.

Prehistoric Anatolia, the Hittite Age 2000-1250BC, the Dark Ages to the Persian Conquest 1250-494BC, the Persian Empire at war with the Greeks 494-334BC, Alexander the Great and his legacy 334-133BC, the impact of Rome 193BC to AD330, the Byzantine Empire from the foundation of Constantinople to the Battle of Manzikert 330-1071, the Byzantine Empire and the Turks 1071-1461, the Ottoman Empires, the Ataturk Years 1909-1938 and Modern Turkey 1939-present, the book offers a full history. At least seven ancient civilisations have made their homes in Turkey and all have left their mark on the landscape, architecture and art in the place where East meets West. Stoneman's readable account covers the legendary Flood of Noah, the early civilisation of Catal Huyuk 7000 years before Christ, the treasure of Troy, the Seljuks, and the Golden Age of the Sultans to the upheaval and changes wrought by Kemal Atatürk culminating in the strong position Turkey now occupies on the world stage. Includes maps, chronology of events, major battles and lists of native rulers. Pen and ink artworks, 247pp, paperback.

'Ideal before-you-go reading' - The Daily Telegraph, this is a superb series to collect in the Armchair Traveller series from Haus Publishing. This definitive concise history of Portugal from its earliest beginnings right up to the politics and life of the present day is invaluable whether you are travelling or not. It was not until the 12th century that Portugal became a country in its own right, having been a Roman colony and then having suffered both Barbarian and Islamic invasions. The Golden Age of Discoveries, the reign and foresight of Henry the Navigator, and the great seamen such as Vasco da Gama led to the founding of Portugal's empire and wealth. Troubled times followed - in 1755 Lisbon was virtually levelled by the Great Earthquake, and the country had hardly recovered its former prosperity when it was overrun by Napoleon's troops at the start of the Peninsular War, to be followed not long after by the Miguelite Civil War. The middle decades of the 19th century saw the port wine trade flourish, and further colonial expansion into Africa. Ever since the bloodless revolution of 1974 over through the right-wing dictatorship of Salazar, the country has regained its stability and now takes its rightful place in the European Community. The book covers the history of early Burgundians and Braganzas and a chronology of major events and rulers of Portugal plus a historical gazetteer. 12 maps, pen and ink artworks. 228pp, paperback.

A Traveller's History of Portugal, Cyprus, Greece and Turkey. Buy all four in the series and save even more.

A Thames & Hudson first edition with 46 illustrations, 14 in colour, chronicling one of the most spectacular art appropriation campaigns in history. Napoleon Bonaparte brought the Bayeux Tapestry to the Louvre Museum in France to whip up further for the proposed invasion of England. In 1796, four years after the founding of the First French Republic and only two days after his marriage to Josephine de Beauharnais, Bonaparte left Paris to take command of his first campaign in Italy, aged only 26. One year later his army was in Venice, and his commissioners were determining which great Renaissance artworks to bring back to France. Among the paintings the French chose was 'The Wedding Feast at Cana' by Paolo Veronese, a vast masterpiece that had hung in the refectory of San Giorgio Maggiore since it was painted in 1563. Once pulled down from the wall, the Venetian canvas crossed the Mediterranean packed among paintings commandeered from Venice, and made its way by river and canal to Paris where Napoleon gathered his spoils of war - treasures from the cities of Rome, Milan and later Berlin and Vienna. In 1801, the Veronese was placed on triumphant display in what was once called the Musée Napoleon, now known as the Louvre, the former palace of the French kings which had been transformed into a public museum that ostensibly belonged to the French people, but which also functioned as a monument to Napoleon's power. Cynthia Saltzman interweaves the stories of Napoleon's military campaigns, uncovering the treatise through which he obtained his loot, with the histories of the plundered artworks themselves. 300pp, colour.

Billed by the publisher as 'A definitive new history of the Persian Empire, the world's first superpower.' The Great Kings of Persia ruled over the largest Empire of antiquity stretching from Libya to the Steppes of Asia, and from Ethiopia to Pakistan. At the heart of the Empire was the fabled palace-city of Persepolis where the Acheamenid monarchs held court in unparalleled grandeur. From here Cyrus the Great, Darius, Xerxes and their heirs passed laws, raised armies and governed their multi-cultural Empire. Yet they were one of the great dysfunctional families of history. Brothers fought brothers for power, wives and concubines plotted to promote their sons to the throne, and eunuchs and courtiers vied for influence and prestige. Filled with colour, brilliance and complexity, it is a gripping account of ancient Persia, tracking how a small tribal society in southwestern Iran came to be the world's first superpower. The book spotlights not just the royal dynasty but the ambitious courtiers, wily Egyptian administrator, a Greek slave girl enmeshed in a great power game, and the tightly run society with its acute sense of its place within the cosmos, where devotion to the Truth could coexist with cruelty and violence, and imperialism with cultural and religious tolerance. 432pp, paperback with 22 colour plates, 20 line drawings, map and family dynasty.