16 Historical Biography


56221 THE LIFE OF CHARLOTTE BRONTE by Elizabeth Gaskell


In devoting two years of her own life to ‘The Life of Charlotte Brontë’, Elizabeth Gaskell wrote what with good reason has been held up as ‘the first successful biography of a woman by a woman’. Charlotte Brontë (1816-55) was her ‘dear friend’, and a writer by whom she felt anticipated, echoed, complemented, and inspired. ‘The Life of Charlotte Brontë’ begins as an act of friendship but becomes a great work of literature in its own right. The tale that Gaskell tells is full of dramatic contrasts: Brontë’s life of claustrophobic confinement in a Yorkshire parsonage belied by the heights of imagination to which she was able to soar in her writing; the ‘extraordinary genius’ that seemed to have touched her whole family set against the intense suffering that was also visited upon them. In the same year, 1857, Gaskell produced two different versions of the Life. This edition reprints the earlier, and more hard-hitting, of the two. 448pp. Paperback. ONLY £4


70587 FANNY BURNEY: The Mother of English Fiction by Nigel Nicolson


As Richard Holmes said, ‘A tender and beguiling account of Miss Burney, the great scribbler and literary chatterbox, with tantalising glimpses of her celebrity circle.’ Her witty and vivacious diaries are constantly quoted from. Today the author of Evelina and Cecilia, both of which created new dimensions for


the novel, is well remembered for her memoirs of Johnson, her gruesomely detailed description of her mastectomy (the operation was conducted without anaesthetic) and her lively account of the Battle of Waterloo. Here is the ultimate portrait of a remarkably clever, forward-thinking woman. 109pp in paperback. £4.99 NOW £2


67973 SAMUEL JOHNSON: A Life by David Nokes


The first and most enduring image of Dr Johnson was created by James Boswell in 1791. Although they have always been regarded as one of the great literary double acts, Boswell spent barely more than a year in Johnson’s company. In 1755, defying both European academicians and his friend Jonathan Swift - who, like other conservatives, despised progress and worried that a dictionary signalled the rise of the middle class - Johnson gave the world the first modern dictionary. For him, language was a living thing and would always change, some words withering away while others sprang up to take their places. 419 pages with b/w illus and map of London.


$32 NOW £4.50 67995 THE RED PRINCE: The Secret Lives


of a Habsburg Archduke by Timothy Snyder Wilhelm von Habsburg wore the uniform of an Austrian officer, the court regalia of an archduke, the simple suit of a Parisian exile, the collar of the Order of the Golden Fleece and, every so often, a dress. He could handle a sabre, a pistol, a rudder or a golf club. He handled women by necessity and men for pleasure. Coming of age during the First World War, he repudiated his family to fight alongside Ukrainian peasants, in the hope that he would become their king. When this dream collapses, he became, by turns, an ally of German imperialists, an opponent of Hitler and a spy against Stalin. 344 pages illus, maps and family trees. £18.99 NOW £5


68921 OUT OF THE STORM: The Life and


Legacy of Martin Luther by Derek Wilson One of the few people to change world history, Martin Luther was in many ways an unappealing character - uncompromising, aggressive and opinionated - but also very human, a man who, as a student, enjoyed the pleasures of the bierkeller and the brothel. At the Law School in Erfurt he became increasingly interested in theology, questioning the Catholic Church’s guardianship of religious truths, decided to enter the cloister of the Observant Augustinian Friars. He would eventually leave the order to marry, but by that time he had changed the course of history and got the European Reformation under way. Luther’s relations with the Humanist scholar Erasmus, Staupitz the vicar general who supported him in his plans for reform, the indulgence-salesman and propagandist Tetzel and his rival Johann Eck are discussed in detail plus the sensitive question of Luther’s anti-Semitism. 400pp, drawings. £20 NOW £6.50


! 69494 MARY QUEEN OF


SCOTS by Antonia Fraser Beautiful, flamboyant Mary Queen of Scots had a formidable intellect but her political sense, formed at the absolute court of France, plunged her country into a maelstrom of intrigue, marriage and murder that triggered one of the most turbulent periods of history, and her untimely end. Lady Antonia Fraser has the perfect eye for physical detail and a high feeling


for the central tragedy. First published in 1969 we have the 40th anniversary edition. 760pp in paperback, many photos.


£9.99 NOW £3.50


69111 AUGUSTUS HERVEY’S JOURNAL The Adventures Afloat and Ashore of a Naval Casanova by David Erskine


Born into the wildly eccentric Earls family of Bristol in 1724, the Hon. Augustus John Hervey knew scandal from an early age. His father was the infamous cross- dressing courtier lampooned by Alexander Pope as “Lord Fanny”, and following a secret marriage and notorious bigamy trial he was happy to escape to sea. Augustus was soon to prove that true Hervey blood coursed through his veins. He proved himself a surprisingly effective officer, achieving independent command by 1746, which is the point at which these journals begin. Clearly proud of his bedchamber triumphs, he happily relates in candid detail the often elaborate tactics employed by himself and his nymphomaniac prizes, and he claims his rightful place as the English Casanova. Never intended for publication, his journal is unique in its forthright descriptions of the sailor’s life ashore and afloat. 349pp, paperback. £12.95 NOW £4


!


** BAGS OF BOOK CHOICES** 69333 FISHER: The Admiral Who Reinvented


the Royal Navy by David Wragg By examining Fisher’s life and work, his ambitions and plans, his relationships with those around him and the legacy he bequeathed to the Royal Navy, his biographer produces a vivid study of a man who locked horns with Winston Churchill and fought fiercely to prepare Britain for World War I. Jacky Fisher (1841-1920) was a man with a mission. He saw war in Europe as inevitable and, incredibly, accurately predicted the date when war would break out. An enthusiast for change, he knew that the Royal Navy was fast losing its superiority over the Germans, with a massive reserve of hopelessly antiquated ships held ready in case of war but aptly described by him as ‘unable to fight or run away’. Instead, he set out to impose on the Royal Navy his philosophy of the all-big-gun battleship, the ‘dreadnought’, while also recognising that the future of warfare at sea lay in underwater weapons and in the air. 320 pages illus in b/w. £25 NOW £6.50


69422 VISCOUNT PALMERSTON, K. G. by John Campbell


Viscount Palmerston (1784-1865) became Prime Minister for the first time at the age of 71. First published in 1892, this volume details the life and work of a great British statesman who held government positions almost continuously from 1807 until his death in 1865. Beginning his political career as a Tory and ending it as a Liberal, he was Foreign Secretary when Britain was at the height of its power and twice served as Prime Minister during the 1850s and 1860s. The author paints a portrait of a man whose beliefs and opinions moulded his sense of duty, a duty which was clearly expressed in his public actions. 192 pages. £14.99 NOW £3.50


70593 PAIN AND THE PRIVILEGE: The Women Who


Loved Lloyd George by Ffion Hague


Intensive research has enabled the author to gain a sympathetic appreciation of ‘the pain and the privilege’ of being married to a prominent politician. David Lloyd George, prime minister from 1916 to 1922, challenged, charmed and mystified the English establishment


all his political life. He lived by his wits in both his public and private lives, attracting and fascinating women and loving them in return. It was an open secret at Westminster that he had not one wife but two. Margaret Owen, a fellow Welsh speaker from rural North Wales, was the mother of his five children. Frances Stevenson, 23 years younger than he, was his political confidante, his private secretary and his mistress for 30 years. This is a sensational, but true, tale of passion, loyalty, infidelity and duty. 590 paperback pages with archive photos. £9.99 NOW £3


69548 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SIR THOMAS


BODLEY introduced by William Clennell Written in 1609, the autobiography of Sir Thomas Bodley could be considered the first autobiography in English, and has been described as a forerunner to the modern political memoir. While Bodley is perhaps best known as the founder of the Bodleian Library of Oxford University. We follow the subject from his early education through his involvement in affairs of state, in politics and diplomacy, to the great crisis in which his ambition was frustrated amidst factional strife in the mid 1590s. 70pp. £4.99 NOW £1.75


69604 IMPERIAL MARRIAGE: An Edwardian


War and Peace by Hugh and Mirabel Cecil Lord Edward Cecil, an adventurous Guards Officer and younger son of the great Prime Minister Lord Salisbury, married the unconventional Violet Maxse in 1894. During the Boer War, as Chief Staff Officer to Robert Baden-Powell, Edward was besieged at Mafeking. Meanwhile in Cape Town, Violet fell in love with Alfred Milner, the High Commissioner responsible for British Policy. Her love for him dominated the rest of her life. Peopled by such famous figures as Edward Burne-Jones and Georges Clemenceau. 366pp, photos, paperback. £12.99 NOW £4


70045 SECRET LIFE OF DR JAMES BARRY by Rachel Holmes


Victorian England’s most eminent surgeon Dr James Barry was not what he seemed. He courted controversy throughout his life - sexual scandal, a fiery temper, extravagant dress and rampant vegetarianism set him apart from his fellows. Barry traversed the British Empire during the 19th century and campaigned tirelessly for the humanitarian rights of patients, the effective treatment of the most virulent diseases of the time and he became known as the first surgeon to perform a successful Caesarean Section. Yet on his death he was discovered not to be a man and was in fact a cross-dressing woman. Historian Holmes is fantastically discursive in her narrative about 19th century science and the mysteries of sexuality, the world of gossip, enemies and relentless curiosity about Dr James Miranda Barry, the Inspector General of Hospitals’ identity. 336pp in paperback with eight pages of images. £12.99 NOW £5


70355 ELIZABETH’S WOMEN: Friends, Rivals,


and Foes Who Shaped the Virgin Queen by Tracy Borman


According to widely differing opinions Elizabeth I was at once a virgin, a whore, a she-wolf, the beloved Gloriana, worshipped by her subjects, and a witch. Here is her bewitching mother, Anne Boleyn whose beheading taught Elizabeth never to mix politics and love. Here is Kat Astley, the governess who attended and taught the young princess, later queen, for almost 30 years, and who, after Henry VIII’s death, invited disaster by encouraging her pupil into a dangerous liaison with a married man, Edward Seymour. Here too are Mary Tudor, known as Bloody Mary, who envied her younger sister’s popularity and threatened to destroy her altogether, and Mary Queen of Scots with whom she had an intense 30-year rivalry that could only end in death. But there is more. This volume is also an unprecedented account of how the public posture of femininity figured in the English court, the meaning of costume and display, the power of fecundity and flirtation. The book shows how she scorned and schemed against her underlings’ marriages and pregnancies. 475 roughcut pages with colour plates. $28 NOW £7


Bibliophile Books Unit 5 Datapoint, 6 South Crescent, London E16 4TL TEL: 020 74 74 24 74 70437 YOUNG ROMANTICS The Tangled Lives


of English Poetry’s Greatest Generation by Daisy Hay


The English Romantic poets in their creative heyday, from 1813 until Percy Bysshe Shelley’s death by drowning in July 1822, are the subject of Daisy Hay’s enthralling book. Hay looks at their youthfulness, yearning for friendship, individuality and political radicalism. Naturally, the big names loom large - Shelley, Byron, Keats, Mary Shelley and the campaigning journalist Leigh Hunt - yet she also brings to our attention a host of lesser-known but equally important figures such as Claire Clairmont, Elizabeth Kent, Vincent Novello, Benjamin Haydon, Joseph Severn, Charles and Mary Lamb, Thomas Love Peacock and William Hazlitt. All were characterised by their talent, idealism and youthful ardour, as well as their typically chaotic family arrangements, whereby the women, despite their manifold talents, often ended up facing the consequences of the men’s philosophies. Lays bare the dual nature of the creative impulse - its individuality and the essential stimulus provided by kindred spirits. 32 b/w illus, including manuscripts, portraits and sketches. 364pp. $27.50 NOW £5.50


harder to win. Here Mead sheds new light on the current political, economic and cultural climate and suggests where we might be heading from here. 449pp in paperback.


£10.99 NOW £3.50


70921 HOLY WARRIORS: A Modern History of the


Crusades by Jonathan Phillips “Deus vult!” - God wills it! Thus concluded the horrifically vivid - and hugely exaggerated - speech given in Clermont in France by Pope Urban II which launched the First Crusade. Almost four years later, having enduring a journey of astounding hardship, the self- proclaimed “Knights of Christ”


stormed the walls of Jerusalem and put its Muslim defenders to the sword. Phillips has created a riveting one-volume history of the Crusades and the subsequent centuries of conflict between two of the world’s great faiths. Thrillingly told through the experiences of knights and sultans, kings and poets, Christians and Muslims he traces the origins, expansion, decline and conclusion of the Crusades, from early successes to their final defeat by Sultan al-Ashraf almost 200 years later, the subsequent blaming and persecution of the Knights Templar, the Inquisition and the expulsion of the Moors from Spain, the rise and fall of the Ottoman empire and on to 20th century Arab nationalism and al-Qaeda. He also discusses how the term “crusade” survived into the modern era, how it was romanticised and hijacked by imperial powers, and we particularly enjoyed his stirring portraits of Richard the Lionheart, Saladin, al-Ashraf, Melisende, the crusader queen and Sultan Baibars among them. Illus. and maps. $30 NOW £7


HISTORY


70744 SCANDAL: A Scurrilous History of Gossip by Roger Wilkes


Gossip, once just humble grapeshot in the journalistic arsenal, has few raw ingredients - scandal, rumour, glamour and scurrility. Gossip writers offer a warts-and-all snapshot of the age and the gossip explosion can be traced back at least 100 years to the Fleet Street revolution that spawned the popular


press. But the real origins are much older. Sacheverelle Sitwell, who wore the secret mantle of Atticus for the Sunday Times in the early 1950s, likened his weekly task to a truffle hunt. Cuneiform tablets dating from 1500BC chronicle a Mesopotamian mayor’s affair with a married woman. In the 1920s, London hostesses complained that ‘sneak guests’ were leaking material to the gossip columns. The bubble of the rabble, Lilly Langtry and Vanity Fair, princely peccadilloes, to tittle- tattle.com, we are taken on a rollercoaster ride from Regency London where muckraking scandal sheets were hawked in the streets to the modern free-for-all. Glorious stuff. 363pp in paperback, photos. £8.99 NOW £4.50


70974 PYRAMIDS: The Great


Mysteries of Archaeology by M. R. Luberto


This series examines fascinating historical subjects in depth. Each title is written by a leading authority in its subject and presents an interesting mix of archaeological evidence and eye-witness accounts, taking readers on an enthralling


journey and bringing history to life before their eyes. Here, you can unearth the gripping story of the discovery of the pyramids of Egypt, unravelling the mystery behind them and learning about the civilisation that created these magnificent structures. Discover their significance, how they were constructed and the breathtaking objects found within. Explore the pharaohs’ beliefs about death and the afterlife in which the pyramids played a key role. 191 softback pages lavishly illustrated in colour. £9.99 NOW £4


70935 THE SULTAN’S SHADOW: One Family’s Rule at the Crossroads of East and


West by Christiane Bird Their story is virtually unknown in the West, but Oman’s Sultan Said and his rebellious daughter Princess Salme were two of the Middle East’s most remarkable figures. His 50 year reign began in Oman in 1806, at the age of 15. He ruled with an uncanny contradiction. A believer in


tolerant Islam, he gained power through bloodshed and perfidy, and his open-minded intellectual curiosity saw him build relationships with the West while simultaneously building a vast commercial empire on the backs of tens of thousands of slaves. His daughter Salme, born to a concubine in a harem, scandalised her family by eloping with a German businessman, converting to Christianity and publishing the first ever autobiography by an Arab woman. As well as Sultan Said and his family, wives and concubines, we are treated to extensive pen-portraits of the indefatigable anti-slavery campaigner, missionary and matchless explorer Dr David Livingstone, and Tippu Tip, the ruthless and astronomically wealthy slave trader, with whom paradoxically Livingstone became firm friends. 374 roughcut pages. $28 NOW £6.50


71130 GOD AND GOLD by Walter Russell Mead


Subtitled ‘Britain, America and the Making of the Modern World’, the author believes that Americans would benefit from closer attention to British history on the grounds that they would understand the whole history of the family firm and manage it properly better if they understood more. Audacious and highly original, it is a serious rethinking of how we study and write modern history and of how the West pursues its relationship with the Rest. For 400 years, Britain, America and their Allies have dominated the world both militarily and economically. They have won the wars - the hot wars, the cold wars and the trade wars time and again, and yet the battle for hearts and minds have proved far


e-mail: orders@bibliophilebooks.com 70973 POMPEII: The Great


Mysteries of Archaeology by T. Pedrazzi


With this in-depth look at Pompeii, you can uncover a forgotten city and marvel at hidden wonders that lay buried for thousands of years. Unearth the story of the discovery of this beautiful city and gaze at the photos of original artefacts, mosaics,


sculptures, reliefs and frescoes found at the site. Capture a glimpse of what daily life was like for people living there. Learn about their culture, their medicine, their education and their religion. Here is an unparalleled opportunity to watch the devastating story of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius and the city’s complete destruction re-enacted with detailed eyewitness accounts. 191 pages illustrated in colour. £9.99 NOW £4


71062 RAWDON BROWN AND THE ANGLO-VENETIAN RELATIONSHIP edited by


Ralph Griffith and John Law Rawdon Brown (1806-1883) is an undeservedly neglected antiquarian and historian who introduced the libraries and archives of Venice to British and other historians. He recognised the value of the report of Venetian Ambassadors who are regarded as among the most


reliable and impartial of observers. Their dispatches, like the archives of Venice generally, have remained closed to foreigners until the 19th century. Brown made an invaluable contribution to the study of British history, particularly of the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries, and was the most prolific of a small band of scholars employed by the British Government to explore European archives. A resident in Venice for 50 years, he became an expert on the city and was sought out by British and American visitors, scholars and collectors including John Ruskin and Prince Leopold, Queen Victoria’s youngest son. Woodcuts, references to the Rawdon Brown archive in the National Archives at Kew, 32 pages of plates. £16 NOW £5


71106 TITANS OF HISTORY by Simon Sebag Montefiore ‘One of our finest popular historians’ - Dominic Sandbrook. Rameses the Great, David and Solomon, Herodotus, Plato, Aristotle, Caligula, Nero, Constantine the Great and Attila the Hun to perhaps lesser known figures like Hassan Al-Sabbah and the Assassins, Marozia and the Papal Pornocracy, Basil the Bulgar Slayer, Babur, Aurangzeb and women like Catherine the Great, Jane Austen, Sarah Bernhardt, Margaret Thatcher and Anne Frank to more recent names like Muhammad Ali and Osama Bin Laden - this is a history of the world that contains the characters everyone should know and the stories no one should forget. The author presents the lives of the giants who have made our world from conquerors, poets, kings, empresses and whores to psychopaths, prophets, composers and explorers. Vast in scope, most have four to five pages devoted to them. Some of this material was originally published in two volumes Heroes and Monsters but most of the material is new and original. Utterly browseworthy and with eight pages of colour and b/w photos. 657pp in paperback. £9.99 NOW £6


71125 EMPIRES AND


BARBARIANS by Peter Heather


At the birth of Christ, the European landscape was marked by extraordinary contrast. A dominant Mediterranean circle lorded over an undeveloped northern hinterland. The Roman Empire was politically and economically sophisticated with philosophy, banking, literature and professional armies, while the rest of mainly Germanic-speaking Europe


was home to unsophisticated subsistence-level illiterate farmers who were yet to work in stone. Fast forward 1,000 years and the world has turned - Mediterranean dominance had been broken as larger and more solid state formations emerged in the north, and Mediterranean cultural patterns spread. Barbarian Europe was Barbarian no longer. Charts the developments which changed Western Eurasia forever and tells the birth of Europe, migration and development. He has a man-of-the-people prose. Magnificent history, 734pp in paperback with 16 pages of colour and b/w photos. £10.99 NOW £5 CONTINUED ON PAGE 20


www.bibliophilebooks.com


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36