A brightly coloured scene from the tomb of Ipuy at Thebes dating to about 1280 to 1215 BC shows the preparation of items of burial equipment such as furniture, ritual objects and a funerary mask and it's a glimpse into the world of the people who worked in the industry. Here are coffins and the cartonnage mummy case of Nakhtermuf, and even fingerprints left behind by people moving a coffin lid before the varnish had dried. Close up we see the fascinating world of ancient Egyptian burial customs and practises with four essays by leading academics. Choices of materials and methods used to create coffins add to the human story and the colour catalogue examines and displays over 50 objects and there's an illustrated glossary and index. Old Kingdom to early Middle Kingdom, the dead become serious business with decorated anthropoid coffins, objects buried with the bodies and later nested coffins right up to the Roman period. Building on the growing trend in Egyptology to use scientific analysis and imaging to examine artefacts, this glamorous heavy volume focusses on 100 objects from the Fitzwilliam Museum's renowned Egyptian collection. In addition to shedding new light on the workshops of ancient Egypt, it traces the religious beliefs, economic concerns and political allegiance of the people for whom the coffins were created. Behind these remarkable objects is a human story of daily concerns, aspirations and practical realities. 256 pages, 23 x 29cm, hundreds of colour photos and illus.
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AD 130. Rome is the dazzling heart of a vast empire and Hadrian its most complex and compelling ruler. Faraway Britannia is one of the Romans' most troublesome provinces: here the sun is seldom seen and "the atmosphere in the country is always gloomy." What awaits the traveller to Britannia? Chapters include setting sail from Ostia, through Gaul to Ocean, westwards to Silchester, to touristy Bath, the Amphitheatre and fortress at Caerleon, a new foreman at Wroxeter capital of cattle country. How will you get there? What do you need to pack and what language will you speak? How does London compare to Rome? Are there any tourist attractions and what dangers lurk behind Hadrian's new wall? Combining an extensive range of Greek and Latin sources with a sound understanding of archaeology, Bronwen Riley describes an epic journey from Rome to Hadrian's Wall at the empire's northwestern frontier. In this strikingly original history of Roman Britain, she evokes the smells, sounds, colours, and sensations of life, people and politics in the second century. With checklist of Latin and English place names. 336 page paperback, maps.

The 19th century in Europe was the first age of cultural globalisation creating a truly pan European Canon of artistic musical and literary works. By 1900 people across the continent were reading the same books, looking at the same art, and attending the same opera performances. The Europeans is a richly enthralling, panoramic cultural history of 19th century Europe, told through the intertwined intimate love lives of three remarkable people: a Spanish prima donna Pauline Viardot, the great Russian writer, Ivan Turgenev, and a great connoisseur and political activist, Pauline's husband Louis. Orlando Figes describes huge changes through intimate details, little-known stories and through the lens of Turgenev and the Viardots' touching, strange love triangle. He moves from Parisian salons to German spa towns to Russian country houses exploring the interplay of money and art that made this unification possible. His subjects' ambitious and passionate lives caught up an astonishing array of artists and princes, poets, composers and impresarios - Delacroix, Chopin, the Schumanns, Hugo, Flaubert, Dickens and Dostoevsky among them. Events which we now see as central to European high culture are made completely fresh, allowing the reader to revel in the sheer precariousness with which the great salons, premieres and bestsellers came into existence. Remainder mark, 576 deckle edge pages.

Written in the tradition of historians like Stacy Schiff and Amanda Foreman who find modern lessons in ancient history and very opinionated, this provocative narrative explores the lives of five remarkable pharaohs who ruled Egypt with absolute power, shining a new light on the country's 3,000-year empire and its meaning today. Cooney turns to five ancient Egyptian pharaohs - Khufu, Senwosret III, Akenhaten, Ramses II, and Taharqa, masters of political entry, diplomacy, charisma and intimidation, whose autocratic regimes controlled a massive territory of untold wealth - to understand why many so often give up power to the few, and what it can mean for our future. As the first centralized political power on earth, the pharaohs and their process of divine kingship can tell us a lot about the world's politics, past and present. Every animal-headed god, every monumental temple, every pyramid, every treasure-filled tomb, and deified mummy offers extraordinary insight into a culture that combined deeply held religious beliefs with uniquely human schemes to justify a system in which one ruled over many. Examining clues from vivid hieroglyph engravings, courtly records and the footprints of great monuments, Cooney pieces together a new vision of ancient Egypt with clear rules to separate the elites from the underclass, oppressed from the oppressors, and the collaborators from those who dared to resist. From Khufu, the man who built the Great Pyramid at Giza as testament to his authoritarian reign, and Taharqa, the last true pharaoh who worked to make Egypt great again, we discover a clear lens into understanding how power was earned, controlled, and manipulated in ancient times. And in mining the past, Cooney uncovers the reason why societies have so willingly chosen a dictator over democracy, time and time again. Many colour photos, map and chronology, a National Geographic publication, 400 pages.

Trade is the lifeblood of nations. It has provided vital goods and wealth to countries and merchants from the ancient Egyptians who went in search of gold and ivory to their 21st century equivalents trading high-tech electronic equipment from the Far East. In this beautiful book, more than 70 maps give a visual representation of the history of World Commerce, accompanied by text which tells the extraordinary story of the merchants, adventurers, middle-men and monarchs who bought, sold, explored and fought in search of profit and power. The maps are all works of art, and include Çatalhöyük and Neolithic trade Plan, c. 6200BC, Petra and the Frankincense route, Babylonian Map of the World, c. 600BC, the Amber road, Charlamagne and Carolingian trade, the trans Saharan gold trade, the Silk Road, Marco Polo, the rise of the maritime republics, Venetian trading empire, Bruges and the cloth trade, plagues and pandemics, and the voyages of Zheng He, Stone Map of China, 1136, Hereford Mappa Mundi, c. 1300, Buondelmonti Map of Constantinople, c. 1420, the Portuguese trading empire in Africa, circumnavigating the globe, Ottoman trade in the 16th century, Aztec trade, pirates and privateers, Newfoundland and the cod trade, the Dutch and Manhattan, the Hudson's Bay Company and the fur trade, trade in the birth of the United States, South America and the Spanish, the Dutch East India Company, Portugal's China trade, Sweden, Russia and the north European trade in the 16th century, the British in India, the slave trade, the sugar, cotton and coffee trade, the China tea trade and the Clippers, the age of steam, world cities, imperialism, the Suez and Panama canals, the Trans-Siberian railway, the Cape to Cairo railway, the wool, coal, coffee and oil trades, electronics and the internet, banking and finance to trade blocs, tourism, and threats to world trade. Plus The Waldseemüller Map, 1507, James Rennell Map of Hindoostan, 1782, Air Age Map, 1945 and Johns Hopkins Covid-19 Dashboard, 2020. Endlessly fascinating browsing. Colour full page maps, 21 x 27.5cm, 224 pages.

Thousands left their homelands in the Middle Ages to fight wars abroad. But how did the Crusades actually happen? From recruitment propaganda to raising money, ships to siege engines, medicine to the power of prayer, this vivid, surprising history shows holy war - and medieval society - in a lively and compelling account of how the crusades really worked, and a revolutionary attempt to rethink how we understand the Middle Ages. The story of the wars and conquests move quickly from describing the Pope's calls to arms to the battlefield. Tyerman focuses on the all-encompassing and hugely costly business of actually preparing a crusade. The efforts of many thousands of men and women, who left their lands and families in Western Europe, and marched off to a highly uncertain future in the Holy Land and elsewhere have never been sufficiently understood. Fascinating on diplomacy, communications, propaganda, the use of mass media, medical care, equipment, voyages, money, weapons, credit, wills, ransoms, animals, and the power of prayer. Superbly detailed with names, dates, battles etc. Colour plates and other illus and maps. 400 page paperback.

Jewels of the Nile celebrates the very first time that the Worcester Art Museum's internationally important collection of Egyptian jewellery - which has undergone conservation and cleaning - has been shown together. This strikingly illustrated book introduces the reader to the collection of an early 20th century Boston couple with a passion for ancient Egypt. The collectors, Laura and Kingsmill Marrs, were guided in their acquisitions by Howard Carter, the archaeologist who would later achieve world-wide recognition for his discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun (1922). Under his guidance, the Marrs's purchased an outstanding selection of scarabs, amulets, jewellery and cosmetic-related articles, including rare, blue-toned stone vessels. They also acquired a group of Carter's watercolour renditions of important Egyptian sites and royal figures. These artifacts, as well as objects from Worcester's stellar collection of Egyptian antiquities, are included in the publication. Colour illus. 24.13 x 2.54 x 29.21cm. 216 pages.
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For the nobility and gentry in later medieval England, land was a source of wealth and status. Their marriages were arranged with this in mind, and it is not surprising that so many of them had mistresses and illegitimate children. John de Warenne, Earl of Surrey, married at the age of 20 to a ten-year-old granddaughter of Edward I, had at least eight bastards and a complicated love life. In theory, bastards were at a considerable disadvantage - whether they be children of unmarried parents, married parents or of members of the clergy dictated their prospects in life and career opportunities. Regarded as filius nullius' or the son of no one, they were unable to inherit real property and barred from the priesthood. In practice, illegitimacy could be less of a stigma in late medieval England than it became between the 16th and late 20th centuries. There were ways of making provision for illegitimate offspring and some bastards did extremely well: in the church; through marriage; as soldiers; a few even succeeding to the family estates. For example in 1413 Thomas Lincoln, a London draper, left the residue of his goods to be divided equally between his bastard daughters Juliana and Beatrice. There is also a bequest to Juliana Pleydon and who might perhaps be their mother. In 1428 John Pigot made a bequest of ten pounds to Matilda 'filiae meae bastard'. The Derbyshire knight Sir John Leek referred in his Will in 1522 to his daughter Anne 'got by Jane my wife' and to three further daughters plus a further child as yet unborn got by Anne Menwaryng. In this case it was fairly self-evident from the context that the latter three were illegitimate. Matthews presents the experiences of John de Warenne, 7th Earl of Surrey, as a case study of the practicalities of illegitimacy. This helps the reader to understand the life and limitations of a child born outside of marriage, as well as the extraordinary lengths that parents were willing to go in order to advance the prospects of their children. This is the first book to consider the individuals who had illegitimate children, the ways in which they provided for them and attitudes towards both the parents and the bastard children. It also highlights important differences between the views of illegitimacy taken by the Church and by the English law. 216 page large well illustrated with colour plates paperback. Cross-referenced Dramatis Personae.

Camden town tube station escalator was built through a burial pit! "A fabulous boxed collection of maps and informative brochures in addition to the text I had expected to receive. A real surprise - packed full of interesting info on History of Medicine & much more. Makes me want to get down to London and seek out the Physick Garden and other sites." "The book is written in an engaging style, with glimpses into London's diseased past with themed chapters. The gazetteer is a handy guide to all of the medical institutions (apart from hospitals) such as fraternities, historic spots, museums, etc. The self-guided walks are beautifully printed and designed, but the walks only take you in the general area of the sites of interest, rather than pointing you directly to them, which had I known would have brought along the gazetteer." A unique, stunningly-presented guide to London's past and a treasure trove of information for historians, residents, medical professionals and tourists, Medical London charts the many roles that diseases, treatments and cures have played in the city's sprawling story and charts the rise of asylum and the care of the mentally ill. It also reveals how London, in turn, has shaped the professions and practices of modern medicine. The set comprises a 216 page illustrated history paperback. The hardback Anatomy of the City leads you to points of interest like the British Red Cross Museum and Archives in Moorfields, the British Optical Association Museum and Library, the Florence Nightingale Museum, the Alfred Dunhill Collection, Hogarth's house, the Galton collection, the Wellcome Library, the Ragged School Museum, Royal London Hospital archives and museum, to the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. The six fold out walking guides to pop in your pocket begin with along the medieval Thames from Westminster (duration 3 hours and 3 miles), the East End and the city (5 miles) with Daniel Defoe immortalising the sufferings of the Great Plague, a day in the life of an 18th century medical student, the British Empire in Greenwich in a circular walk from the Cutty Sark, Soho by Night and the slums of St. Giles, a famous bone setter, the lodgings of a notorious Regency junkie and a Crimean nurse from the Caribbean among them; and the last walk bohemian medicine in Chelsea with the Royal Hospital, the houses of Oscar Wilde, hospitals for cancer, tuberculosis and women. Two books, line art and photo illus, burgundy blood red cloth bound slipcase.

Drawing on the latest ground-breaking research, and his own career-long engagement with the complexities of Irish identity, Sean Connolly reveals the forces that compelled millions of Irish men and women The 18th century to abandon their homeland, and explores their new lives in America, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and elsewhere. From Melbourne to Cape Town to Boston, these migrants and their descendants helped to settle new frontiers, industrialise the West, and spread Catholicism globally. What emerges is an Irish story, but also a chapter in world history. Irish emigrants fled a society blighted by poverty and lack of opportunity. But they also became part of a massive population movement, driven by the requirements of an ever more interconnected world economy, that transported the adventurous and the desperate to new parts of the globe. What distinguishes the Irish from tens of millions of other European immigrants is the position they established in their new homes. Initially treated as a despised and exploited underclass, they created a commanding position, in politics, in the labour movement, and, by the 20th century, as cultural icons. From his starting point in the grim realities of Great Famine and social crisis, Connolly takes the reader forward into the 20th century, when Ireland itself has become a receiver rather than an exporter of emigrants, and when a reimagined Irishness has become a commodity to be marketed to a global audience. Chapters cover nativism, civil war and the quest for acceptance, the making of Irish America, the politics of Irish America, and global Ireland reimagined. The book touches on contemporary debates about migration, as well as offering a unique and distinctive view of 200 years of Irish history. 2022 US 1st edition, 528 pages.