(Hardback)

Exploring the Blackwell Collections (publishing and bookselling archives), Rita Ricketts discovered diverse characters associated with this world-famous company, between 1830 and 1940; rich fodder for any book or cultural historian.

(Hardback)

Interweaving images of the manuscript, portraits, medical instruments and contemporary diagrams into her narrative, Sharon Ruston shows how this extraordinary tale is steeped in historical scientific and medical thought exploring the fascinating boundary between life and death.

(Hardback)

Informative but light-hearted social and cultural history of our obsession with drinking and bathing in spa waters. Beautifully illustrated with paintings, engravings, maps, caricatures, posters, advertisements, ephemera and modern photos from 1597 to present day, this book presents everything you need to know about taking the waters.

(Hardback, Illustrated edition)

Four of the most well-known tales from 'The Thousand and One Nights' are reproduced in this collectors edition: 'Sindbad the Sailor', 'Aladdin and his Wonderful Lamp', 'The Story of the Three Calenders' and 'The Sleeper Awakened'. Each is illustrated with exquisite watercolours by the renowned artist Edmund Dulac.

(Hardback)

(Paperback)

This illustrated volume, researched and written by experts in the field, explores contemporary theatrical documents (playbills, set designs, musical scores) and images (paintings, prints and illustrations) in seeking to explain what counted as history and historical truth for the writers, performers and audiences of these plays.

(Hardback)

Drawing on the Bodleian Library's outstanding map collection and covering almost a thousand years, 'Talking Maps' takes a new approach to map-making by showing how maps and stories have always been intimately entwined.

(Hardback)

From the tale of the goatherd whose animals became frisky on coffee berries to a duchess with a goblet of poisoned chocolate, this book, illustrated with eighteenth-century satirical cartoons and early advertisements, tells the extraordinary story of our favourite hot drinks.

(Hardback)

Built between 1855 and 1860, Oxford University Museum of Natural History is the extraordinary result of close collaboration between Pre-Raphaelite artists and scientists. 'Temple of Science' sets out the history of the campaign to build the museum before taking the reader on a tour of art in the museum itself.

(Hardback)

The vocabulary of past times is always fascinating, especially when we see how it was pilloried by the satirists of the day. In this intriguing collection, David Crystal has pored through the pages of the satirical magazine 'Punch', and reveals how many present-day feelings about words have their origins over a century ago.

(Hardback)

This book celebrates the greatest of English novelists by illustrating his abiding preoccupations. It reproduces extracts from the novels alongside a selection of the original covers, their illustrations and all the paraphernalia of nineteenth-century advertising, breathing life into the vibrant world of Dickens and his characters.

(Hardback)

Bierce's dictionary, first published in 1906 as 'The Cynics Word Book', brought his biting black humour to bear on spoof definitions of everyday words. Over 100 years later, Bierces redefinitions still give us pause for thought making for a timely new edition of this irreverent and provocative satire.

(Hardback)

Collected in this anthology is a mouth-watering selection of excerpts on the subject of eating, drinking, cooking and serving food, guaranteed to whet every reader's appetite. Featuring diverse writers and interspersed with a generous helping of cartoons, this is a perfect gift for foodies, chefs, picnickers and epicurean explorers.

(Hardback)

This book features 24 of William Henry Fox Talbot's experimental prints. Offered to the reader as enigmatic physical artefacts, an accompanying essay illustrated with comparative images places these photographs in a broad historical context, revealing what relevance Talbots experiments have to contemporary concepts of the art of photography.

(Hardback, Special ed.)

Oscar Wildes childrens stories explore timeless themes of good and evil, freedom and responsibility, love and death, beauty and self-sacrifice. This beautiful collectors edition with original watercolour illustrations and decorative motifs by Charles Robinson and an introduction by Michle Mendelssohn will delight adults and children alike.

(Hardback)

The (very) hungry goat has a big appetite which gets him into all kinds of adventures. Abner Graboffs timeless illustrations bring this greedy animal to life in a comic rhyming tale for younger children.

(Hardback)

A beautifully illustrated book on the Kennicott Bible, a remarkable example of Medieval Jewish book art.

(Paperback)

In this book, Daisy Hay explores the novels time and place, its people, the relics of its long afterlife and the notebooks in which it was created. This is a compelling and innovative biography of the novel for all those fascinated by its essential, brilliant chaos.

(Hardback, 2nd edition)

This book, generously illustrated with key pages from the publication and comparative works, tells the human, artistic, economic and technical stories of the birth of the First Folio - and the birth of Shakespeare's towering reputation.

(Hardback)

Vladimir Bobris timeless illustrations bring to life a magical childhood world in a captivating story about make-believe and the transformative power of the elements.

(Paperback)

This is an excellent scholarly edition of one of Blake's most fascinating works, likely to become the defining text for generations to come. Professor John Mee

(Hardback)

The first known rules of golf were drawn up in 1744 in Edinburgh for the world's first open golf competition at Leith by the Gentlemen Golfers of Edinburgh, who became The Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers. This book examines the history of the rules of golf from their first codification to the present day.

(Hardback)

(Hardback)

Who has fallen into the rain puddle Is it plump hen, turkey gobbler, curly sheep or beautiful fat pig When all the animals peer into the puddle at the same time, they see the entire farmyard underwater. This charming tale - ideal for reading out loud - captures perfectly the wonder of discovering the outside world for the first time.