The Mary Rose

Although the wreck of the Mary Rose was raised more than 20 years ago, the amazing underwater excavations and the pioneering conservation work on the hull and its artefacts have never been published in full. This month we are happy to announce the release of the first volume in the long awaited series, The Archaeology of the Mary Rose.

'Why trepan?' - The Archaeology of Disease

You would be forgiven for thinking that much of the archaeological community has been struck by a sudden and mysterious dose of hypochondria. Why else would there be so many new books on disease, health and rather unpleasant surgical procedures?

Just who was the Queen of Sheba and what did she want with Solomon?

So one day this woman, or girl (we're not quite sure), flounces into the court of King Solomon in Jerusalem, "And she gave the king a hundred and twenty talents of gold, and spices in great abundance, and precious stones: neither was there any such spice as the Queen of Sheba gave King Solomon" - enough to tempt lesser mortals than the infamous wise-man of Israel. But what did she want? Where had she come from? And why did she leave so suddenly? A controversial new book believes it has all the answers!

The History of 'Green Fingers'

With the enormous popularity of places like the Lost Gardens of Heligan, as well as the overwhelming success of postgraduate courses in Garden History, it may seem that we are witnessing a revival of interest in the history of plants, gardens and garden design. Still, we were rather surprised to learn about Timothy Mowl's unenviable but admirable ambition to publish a county-by-county survey of the history of the gardens of England. If you want to know how far Mowl has got, take a look at this selection of recently published books on the history and archaeology of gardens.

Of all the new books that have passed over the desks of the Oxbow staff this month, these, for whatever reason, are the ones that grabbed their attention.

Conferences: A Reminder

July is a very busy month for conferences, and representatives from Oxbow Books and The David Brown Book company will be attending quite a few. The following is just a selection, so for more conferences, please take a look at our complete list of meetings:
http://www.oxbowbooks.com/confernc.cfm?

From Monday the 7th of July until Friday the 11th of July, Oxbow will have a book stand at the British Museum for the 49e Recontre Assyriologique Internationale (International Congress of Assyriology and Near Eastern Archaeology). This is the first time in twenty-one years that the Rencontre has met in London (and indeed in Britain). The theme is Nineveh, but of course we will have books on many other topics in Near Eastern Archaeology. For details of the programme, check out the conference web page at:
http://www.let.leidenuniv.nl/rencontre/RAI_2003.html

On Friday the 11th of July, Charles will be schlepping off to Basel, Switzerland, for the next Ständige Ägyptologenkonferenz (SÄK 2003). Sessions this year focus on three main topics: Zwischen Km.t und misr; Projektberichte aus aktueller Forschung; and Junge Ägyptologie. You can find the programme at:
http://www.unibas.ch/aegyptologie/Aktuelles.html

July is also the month that medievalists flock to the University of Leeds for the International Medieval Congress. The theme for 2003 is 'Power and Authority'. From Monday the 14th until Thursday the 17th, Oxbow will have displays for numerous publishers, and of course we will have a huge range of our own stock, and lots and lots of bargains! For a complete programme, go to the conference website at:
http://www.leeds.ac.uk/imi/imc/imc2003/imc2003.htm

Please remember, with such a myriad of books on the Middle Ages, we don't always have everything that you might want ... plus books can sell out fast at Leeds. If there is a book you particularly want to buy at the conference, do let us know in advance - we will do our best to bring it and reserve it for you. Act fast though - there are less that 2 weeks to go!

New Bargains from The British Museum Press and Oxford Archaeology

This month, two of our distributed publishers have decided to reduce the price of some of their books ... to create some very juicy bargains for you. None of these have been advertised in the Book News yet, so this is your first chance to get hold of them at the new sale prices.