Stuart Books

This delightful book examines a fascinating group of people and a truly amazing place that most of us have never paid attention to. With this carefully researched, lavishly illustrated (including 8 beautifully rendered colour prints of paintings by early bird artists that almost belong framed on the wall rather than hidden in the book)and heavily footnoted (over 20 PAGES of references!) book, Houston, Ball & Houston have gone a long way to shedding light on a forgotten era upon which many of our contemporary ideas in ecology have been based.

The stage is enormous: thousands of square miles of some of the barrenest land in the Western Hemisphere. The cast is fascinating: a band of explorer/naturalist/businessmen who carve out the great fur empire of the Hudson's Bay Company while at the same time keeping meticulous notes of everything from bird-life to temperatures. The authors move us along through both the biology, geography, and history at a good pace & provide some fun insights in appendices like "How did the Canada Goose get its name before there was a Canada?" and "Cree names for Natural History species". If you are the sort of biologist who is intrigued by details and/or want some real insight into a remarkable chapter in the history of the biology of North America, this book is for you!

A collection of pamphlets and booklets from the Eliz. and Stuart periods featuring Awdeley, Greene, Harmon, and many others warning of, and detailing the activities of thieves, card cheats, cons, prostitutes, and all manner of beggars and "conny catchers." Hard to beat the thoroughness of this collection -- it was a mainstay of my M.A. research, and will be a fascinating and often hilarious read for both literary researchers and those interested in the period or legends of the "thieves guilds." Nice to see it's been re-issued, as most of the copies at school libraries were well worn when I was using them.

The Emperors' Album is an extraordinary work because it contains Mughal miniatures from one of the greatest collections in the world: The Hagop Kervorkian Collection. Consisting of 50 leaves, 39 of which date from the 17th century, this book will astond you particularly when you understand the intricate work involved in the execution of these watercolors. Brimming with georgious color plates, you are transported to a rich world that you may not want to leave!

ISBN 0-7472-3936-3 - Mr. Gordon explores, in a complete, comprehensive manner, the Myths and Legends of the world's past and present civilizations. Mr. Gordon presents a wide ranging survey of the global mythology and symbols, past and present. Covered are: Arthurian myth, Norse legend, Aztecs, Eskimos, and Maoris. Also covered are Africa, India, and Japan myths and legends, many of which will be new to Western readers. The Tower of Babel, the Great Floods, even the Wild West and Hollywood are covered in detail!

Includes "everything" from angels, demons, and serpents, to the Loch Ness monster!

Here's a chance to have a complete summary of pre-history, Sumerian/Babylon, ancient mid-east, Ancient Greece and Rome, right up to the 21st century!

This comprehensive book is also the first volume of Kaplan's Encyclopedia of the Tarot. Kaplan, as the founder and owner of US Games Systems (a major distributor of Tarot cards) and a collector himself walks the reader through the history and schematics of the Tarot.
The book contains many images from Tarot decks, modern and historic, and information for neophytes to Tarot. A must have for the serious enthusiast and a great introduction for the neophyte user.

Daniel T. Barkowitz, drwitz@tiac.net

THIS IS VOLUME III IN WHAT I NOW UNDERSTAND TO BE IV VOLUMES ON THE HISTORY OF TAROT BY STUART KAPLAN. ALL ARE EXCELLENT AND WELL RESEARCHED, PHOTOGRAPHED, AND IN GENERAL"VERY WELL DONE".

WHAT MAKES THIS PARTICULAR VOLUME SO SPECIAL, IS THAT IT CONTAINS THE MOST COMPLETE BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION ON PAMELA COLMAN SMITH, THE ILLUSTRATOR OF THE MOST FAMOUS TAROT DECK EVER PUBLISHED, THE RIDER-WAITE TAROT.

MISS SMITH WAS THE FIRST PERSON TO ILLUSTRATE IMAGERY ON ALL OF THE 78 TAROT CARDS. PRIOR TO THIS, IMAGES WERE BASICLY ONLY ON THE MAJOR 22 CARDS OR MAJOR ARCANA. PRACTICALLY ALL THE DECKS SINCE MISS SMITH'S ILLUSTRATION WERE PUBLISHED IN 1909, HAVE BEEN SIMILARLY IF NOT EXACTLY A REPRODUCTION IN SOME WAY OF THE DECK SHE COMPOSED.

PAMELA COLMAN SMITH IS CONSIDERED THE MOST PUBLISHED (REPRODUCED) ARITST IN THE WORLD, BECAUSE OF THE NUMBER OF DECKS THAT HAVE BEEN SOLD SINCE THAT TIME. HER OTHER ARTWORKS ARE IN MUSEUMS AROUND THE WORLD. MOST RECENTLY SHE HAS BEEN IN ART SHOWS THAT COMPRISE THE WOMEN IN THE CIRCLE OF ALFRED STIEGLETZ, WHO HAD ART SHOWS FOR MISS SMITH AT HIS GALLERY IN NEW YORK. HE LATER MARRIED GEORGIA O'KEEFE. PAMELA COLMAN SMITH RETURNED TO ENGLAND AND CONVERTED TO ROMAN CATHOLICISM AFTER HER SOJOURN WITH THE GOLDEN DAWN SOCIETY.

THIS BOOK DONATES A FULL 45 PAGES OF BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION, INCLUDING HER OTHER ARTWORKS, POETRY, AND FULL DETAILS OF HER LIFE UNTIL HER DEATH SEPTEMBER 18, 1951. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED FOR THIS INFORMATION ALONE.

Although this book discusses various nations and time periods, there is extensive content on the American Revolution. The text suggests appropriateness for upper elementary. There are extensive and fascinating color illustrations, which support the explanations.

Kids love these kinds of books. This one is an easy to read, fun to look at dictionary of endangered animals. Very nicely put together and fun. Highly recommended.

England in Conflict 1603-1660 tells the story of the disintegration of the early modern polity. By questioning the meanings of the body politic it is able to bridge not only the high and low but also divergent approaches to the period. The book's opening explorations of the practices and assumptions of politics, of religious life in centre and locality, of social relationships and of economic patterns, are followed by a turn to narrative. The drama of the slide from royal peace into civil war and revolution, and the trauma of the failure of that revolution, are caught with a clarity that does not come at the price of distortion.

Table of Contents
Foreword
1 The body politic 1
2 The holy and the unholy 32
3 The politic society 52
4 Peaceable kingdoms, 1603-1620 79
5 Peace and war in masquerade, 1621-1629 103
6 Renewal and recalcitrance, 1629-1638 130
7 Crisis in three kingdoms, 1638-1642 156
8 Taking sides 191
9 Civil war, 1642-1646 202
10 Reaction and revolution, 1646-1649 233
11 The English Commonwealth, 1649-1653 255
12 Oliver Protector, 1653-1658 283
13 Republicans, royalists and others, 1658-1660 316
Afterword 328
Bibliographical essay 333
Index 344

This anthology of the standard Leveller texts is definitive. The writings themselves are somewhat wordy but often eloquent, as is typical for writing of this period. The real reason to read this is for its inspiring prefiguring of modern democratic theory: this is a forgotten classic that speaks with poignant authority through the centuries. The Putney extracts are perhaps its strongest moment, with figures of the time hashing out subtle issues of king/subject relations.