June 2005 Issue
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In recent times, curiosity over Egyptian mummies has given way to scientific study. Two brand new books reinforce the fact that there is still much to learn from studying mummies, and reflect the growing emphasis on using non-evasive, non-destructive techniques of analysis. | |||||||
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The passion of the poets leads to Traces of Song Poets have an enthusiasm for the feelings that their words express, an enthusiasm which passes infectiously from one to another, and their words should never – so the poet and translator of these poems affirms – be sieved for other meanings, for facts about history, or manners and customs, or attitudes to food, or dress, or sex. The writings of a poet should be taken as they are, as a whole, and enjoyed, savoured, remembered, for the feelings they express. | |||||||
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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.
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| AT OXBOW | ||||||||
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New Releases | ||||||||
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The Architecture of Petra
This is an enormous and impressive book not only full of facts, but also solving mysteries. It provides a detailed and lavishly illustrated catalogue of the main monuments of Petra. Then, in seeking the origins of Petra's particular architecture and its close relations with the architectural scenes on the walls of Pompeii, Judith McKenzie examines the rock cut tombs of Medain Saleh (Saudi Arabia) and then the little known architectural remains of Ptolemaic Alexandria. Here lies her solution, for the earliest of the Petra-style baroque architecture is in Alexandria Ä from where it spread east to Petra and west to Pompeii and thus elsewhere in the Roman World. It is an impressive study with a significant and satisfying conclusion. This Oxbow reprint makes it available once more at an affordable price. | |||||||
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St Wulfsige and Sherborne: Essays to Celebrate the Millenniof the Benedictine Abbey, 998-1998
Essays to Celebrate the Millennium of the Benedictine Abbey, 998-1998 edited by Katherine Barker, David A Hinton and Alan Hunt In April 1998 a one-day conference was held in Sherborne to mark the one-thousandth anniversary of the founding of the Benedictine Abbey by St Wulfsige through the granting of a charter by King Æthelred II. The papers presented here cover various aspects of the Benedictine foundation, as well as examining the history and archaeology of Sherborne in its wider context. Of particular importance in this volume is the inclusion of a new translation (the first complete one in English) of the Life of St Wulfige, written by Goscelin of Saint-Bertin not long after Wulfsige's death. | |||||||
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Women Travellers in the Near East
This book looks at intrepid women from the 19th and 20th centuries who travelled through the Near East, taking in Constantinople, the Levant, Sinai, and the Egyptian desert. It brings to life some fascinating women and amazing characters who overlooked the boundaries of their imagined roles and sought intrigue and adventure in the Near East. | |||||||
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Book News 64 - Summer 2005It is clear from a number of books in this Book News that our ancient and medieval ancestors shared our own preoccupations, not least of which is the desire to project a certain image of ourselves to friends and strangers. In addition to the increasingly common studies of sexuality, bodily functions, food and drink, and the need, persistent through the ages, of making war on anyone different from ourselves, scholars appear to be fascinated by how people presented themselves to society through their clothing. There are books here on Viking headdresses, Hallstatt cloth patterns, the dress of Chaucer’s pilgrims, choice garments for the well-to-do of early modern England, and even clothing suited for life in the Arctic. Religion and warfare can be found here in equal measure. There are books on the gods of Neolithic Anatolia, Minoan Crete and Egypt, the myths of ancient Greece and Dark Age Britain, the cults of Greece and Rome, the rituals and monuments of prehistoric Europe and Mesoamerica, the temples of Rome and the cathedrals and monasteries of the Middle Ages. The warfare that results from such beliefs also interests scholars with books on the military endeavours of Hellenistic Jews, Crusaders and Saracens, not to mention Roman invaders, Carolingian cavalrymen, Norman conquerors, nomadic marauders, English longbowmen and Tudor sailors. The extraordinary quantity of medieval studies that is now published each year has again just become apparent with the production of Oxbow Books’ largest catalogue The Medieval World. This has just been mailed out so if you didn’t get one but would like a copy, please get in touch.
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Medieval World (2005)Our latest catalogue, Medieval World 2005, has just been mailed out to anyone who has ever bought books from us on this subject. If you think that this might not include you but if your interest has been tickled you can either request a paper copy from us or you can download it here. As with any new catalogue there is also a new list of Bargains and Good Deals. | |||||||
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Conferences we will be attending W.G. Hoskins and Making of English Landscape International Medieval Congress, Leeds 2005 Triennial Classics Conference 2005 | ||||||||
