Medieval Women: Voices & Visions
The Book of the British Library Exhibition
Edited by Eleanor Jackson and Julian Harrison
Hardback £35
ISBN 978 0 7123 5590 2
256 pages, 264 x 206 mm
150+ colour illustrations
Publishing October 2024
Eleanor Jackson and Julian Harrison are curators from the British Library’s Western Heritage division.
This beautifully illustrated, large format volume accompanies the British Library’s major Autumn exhibition which seeks to recover women’s voices, visions and experiences in Britain and Europe from around 1100 to 1500. Women of this period, whether as authors, artists, scribes, patrons, readers, wives, mothers, daughters, leaders, workers, makers, traders and more, tell their histories through their own words and reveal them through their own images, artworks and documents.
Through a selection of detailed expert essays and some 40 spotlight studies, Medieval Women reveals a rich and complex picture of their world, full of colourful characters and intriguing stories from famous personalities such as Christine de Pizan, Joan of Arc and Julian of Norwich, to lesser-known figures such as Sibilla von Bondorff, Clemence of Barking and Margaret Paston. Both the exhibition, and this accompanying book, will showcase star items from the British Library and major European collections as well as bringing to light little-known, deeply resonant, and highly personal, gems and keepsakes from this fascinating era.
The Spice Ports
Mapping the Origins of Global Sea Trade
Nicholas Nugent
Hardback
£40
ISBN 978 0 7123 5595 7
288 pages, 280 x 220 mm 160+ colour illustrations
Publishing September 2024
Nicholas Nugent spent his career as a journalist with the BBC World Service, and his spare time collecting a valuable archive of original maps, and thus developed a passion for how the growth of the spice ports helped spread the exchange of global culture between East and West.
We may think of ‘globalism’ as a recent development, but its origins date back to century and beyond, when courageous seafarers pioneered routes across the oceans with the objectives of exploration, trade and profits.
Improvements in ship design, compasses and mapping, enabled navigation across unprecedented distances. The embarkation points were the vibrant ports of the West – Venice, Amsterdam, Lisbon – and their destinations the exotic ports of the East – Malacca, Goa, Bombay – where they tracked down the elusive spices.
This development of maritime communication brought benefits apart from culinary delights: the spread of ideas on art, literature and science. But it was not necessarily beneficial for everyone concerned: colonial ambitions could be disastrous for local populations, often exploited as labour.
This wide-ranging account of a fascinating period of global history uses original maps and contemporary artists’ views to tell the story of how each port developed individually; while encouraging us to consider contrasting points of view of the benefits and the damages of the maritime spice trade.
A History of Railways in 100 Maps
Jeremy Black
Hardback with jacket £40
ISBN 978 0 7123 5501 8
288 pages, 280 x 220 mm 150+ colour illustrations Publishing October 2024
Jeremy Black, internationally known historian and Professor of History at the University of Exeter, is the author of The Cold War: A Military History, Rethinking World War Two: The Conflict and its Legacy and Metropolis: Mapping the City, among many others. He is also a keen writer on maps and their history and is the author of the awardwinning The History of the Second World War in 100 Maps (British Library 2020) which was selected as the year’s Best Reference Pick by the Library Journal in 2020.
Continuing the thematic strand of the successful and proven British Library ‘100 Maps’ series, this new volume traces the fully international history of railways from their beginnings in the north-west of England through to the inter-continental lines of today. Arranged chronologically, and with some 140 newly photographed maps and ephemera from the British Library’s cartographic holdings, A History of Railways in 100 Maps explores both the progress of the railways and railway infrastructure across the globe, and through mountains, deserts, cities and even under oceans. The volume also charts the development of how railways were surveyed and presented in two- and three-dimensional forms for the purposes of engineering and construction, politics, economics and indeed war.
A dedicated chapter looks at fantasy and literary railway maps, while the book concludes with a presentation of recent breakthroughs in railway infrastructure, design and mapping and also looks ahead to future developments in this most lasting of transport inventions.
Maidens or Monsters?
Tales of Amazons, Goddesses, Queens & Temptresses in Medieval Manuscripts
Chantry Westwell
Hardback
£30
ISBN 978 0 7123 5506 3
352 pages, 234 x 156 mm
120+ colour illustrations
Publishing August 2024
Chantry Westwell studied modern European and African languages in Cape Town, followed by MAs in Historical Linguistics at Ohio State and in Medieval Studies at University College London. Her special interest is in Old French and Anglo-Norman romance. For the past 12 years she has worked as a volunteer at the British Library. In 2021 Chantry published Dragons, Heroes, Myths & Magic which is currently being translated into three languages.
Chantry Westwell has used her profound knowledge of the Library’s unrivalled Medieval and Renaissance illuminated manuscript collections to explore some of literature’s most enduring and multi-layered stories, together with the deep history of the books and chronicles in which they were first preserved. A follow-up to the author’s highly successful Dragons, Heroes, Myths & Magic (2021), this new volume builds on ongoing trends for re-telling classical and medieval stories from the perspective of female characters as well as exploring how female reputations are exalted or ruined to suit the particular ideals of different eras and cultures. Maidens or Monsters? includes dedicated sections on warrior women, women of virtue, power, tragedy, as well as enigmatic and allegorical women.
These powerful tales are presented alongside some of the most exquisite examples of art to survive from the eighth to the sixteenth centuries as medieval artists responded to the inspiring storylines with their own works of supreme beauty.
The Philosophy of Christmas
Caroline Taggart
Hardback £12.99
ISBN 978 0 7123 5516 2 112 pages, 200 x 130 mm 30+ colour illustrations
Publishing October 2024
Caroline Taggart has written over thirty books, including I Used to Know That (a Sunday Times bestseller) and 500 Words You Should Know. Her most recent publications are The Book Lover’s Bucket List and The Book Lover’s European Bucket List.
Take the Roman festival of Saturnalia, the gift-giving Norse god Odin and the Pagan habit of bringing evergreen plants into the house at Midwinter. Add a benevolent fourth-century bishop, some drunken medieval singing and a nineteenth-century American poem. Sprinkle with the Christian tradition of Jesus being born on 25 December and stir well. Allow the mixture to absorb other influences over hundreds of years and serve with a plum pudding that may or may not have plums in it. Join Caroline Taggart on this joyful journey through distant lands and ancient customs to seek out the spirit of Christmas amidst beautiful illustrations from the British Library collections.
The Philosophy of Pickles and Fermented Foods
Thom Eagle
Hardback £10
ISBN 978 0 7123 5521 6 112 pages, 200 x 130 mm 30+ mono illustrations
Publishing September 2024
Thom Eagle is a fermentation specialist and chef. He is the author of Summer’s Lease and the awardwinning First, Catch, and consults on various food preservation techniques.
Fermented food is playing a significant role in the developing discussion around gut health and the microbiome. More than the latest health trend, pickling and fermentation are techniques that have been used by human populations across the globe in food preparation for millennia. And they are part of a region’s cultural heritage, passed from generation to generation, whether it’s the Korean kimjang – the making and sharing of kimchi – the Japanese preparation of the nukadoko or pickling bed, or the brine-fermented fruits and vegetables of Georgia. Thom Eagle celebrates this fascinating history, explaining the different techniques and offering practical advice for enthusiasts.
The Philosophy of Puddings
Neil Buttery
Hardback £10
ISBN 978 0 7123 5511 7 112 pages, 200 x 130 mm 30+ mono illustrations
Publishing October 2024
Neil Buttery is a food historian, chef and writer. He is the author of A Dark History of Sugar and Before Mrs Beeton. In 2022 he started his popular podcast British Food History.
Just what is a pudding? We all have our favourites, whether it is a schooldinner jam roly-poly with custard, or a Yorkshire pud with onion gravy, a Burns’ Night haggis or the Christmas plum pudding. The humble pudding started out as a savoury meal boiled in either animal intestine or in a cloth. With the advent of pudding bowls and moulds the pudding assumed a myriad identities. Neil Buttery traces the long history of pudding and its importance in British culture and language. He has tried and tested many recipes from across the centuries in his ‘Pud Club’ and shares his extensive knowledge and expertise.
A Silk Road Oasis
Life in Ancient Dunhuang
Mélodie Doumy
Focusing on the stories of the people who inhabited and passed through the strategic town of Dunhuang in Northwest China, be they merchants, scribes, Buddhist priests and artists, this exhibition tie-in volume unfolds the legacy of religious, artistic and cultural exchanges along the Silk Roads in the first millennium.
Fully illustrated, it explores the discovery and contents of the famed ‘library cave’ and the motivations behind archaeologist Marc Aurel Stein.
Paperback with flaps £12.99
ISBN 978 0 7123 5526 1
112 pages, 195 x 140 mm
60+ colour illustrations
Publishing September 2024
A History of the Second World War in 100 Maps
Jeremy Black
A History of the Second World War in 100 Maps explores this epic event through maps gathered largely from the British Library’s incomparable collection. Selected by military historian Jeremy Black, the maps are arranged by key categories, including Geopolitics, Strategic, Operational, Tactical, Reportage and Propaganda, to produce an original and captivating survey of the war. He shows how fundamental maps were to the conflict as he charts its historical sweep, from divisive pre-war geopolitics to visions of post-war international co-operation.
Paperback with flaps £25
ISBN 978 0 7123 5531 5
256 pages, 280 x 220 mm
130+ colour illustrations
Publishing July 2024
Beyond the Bassline
500 Years of Black British Music
Edited by Paul Bradshaw and introduced by Aleema Gray and Mykaell Riley
Published alongside the major British Library exhibition, Beyond the Bassline is a landmark volume of essays, features and interviews which traces a new timeline underpinned by the Black artists and musicians who, over centuries, have shaped Britain’s unique and globally significant musical culture.
Hardback £35
ISBN 978 0 7123 5489 9
288 pages, 250 x 182 mm
Published April 2024
The
Book Lover’s European Bucket List
A Literary Grand Tour Caroline Taggart
Take a grand literary tour of Europe with this fascinating companion guide. The Book Lover’s European Bucket List is sure to encourage you to visit a new place, read a new book or, ideally, both.
Hardback £18.99
ISBN 978 0 7123 5494 3
224 pages, 210 x 150 mm
Published May 2024
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Lists of forthcoming fiction in the British Library Crime Classics, Tales of the Weird, Gilded Nightmares and Women Writers series may be viewed alongside this catalogue and previous editions online at issuu.com/bl_publishing