In the C13th, the largest library in Europe contained fewer than 2000 books. Baghdad alone contained five libraries with between 200,000 and a million books.
How did Oxford colleges, chapels, pubs, societies, nooks and crannies inspire Lewis and his friends? By the Professor of English Language and Literature at Magdalen. Some illustrations.
Contacts and connections as the drivers of cultural change: the West was built on far more than the values of ancient Greece and Rome, as per the Victorian paradigm. Erudite and compelling.
A vast array of material is expertly woven together in this illuminating look at embattled authors and their literature: Anne Frank, Orwell, Biggles...
From the library of Marguerite Littman.
A fine collection of essays and portraits in Wolfe’s inimitable style; the 1960s laid out like a Victorian butterfly collection, with sharp pins;... read more
The companion volume to Eliot's 2018 The Penguin Classics Book. A complete illustrated guide to every book - from Achebe to Zweig - published in Penguin's Modern Classics imprint.
Greek and Roman patrons, robber-baron philanthropists, welfare socialists, celebrity activists...: motives and results are explored through historical analysis and numerous interviews.
The first translation by a woman, using Arabic and French sources, with detailed notes and commentary. Beautifully illustrated with Arab and Persian works of art as well as many drawn from p... read more