Fashions in the Era of Jane Austen


Jody Gayle - 2012
    Fashions in the Era of Jane Austen is a pictorial of images collected from Ackermann's Repository of the Arts. Find splendid illustrations of morning, evening, riding, and walking dresses with the accompanying accessories: hats, shoes, scarves, jewelry, parasols and more. Over two hundred and seventy-five exquisite illustrations with the original accompanying descriptions as they were published over two hundred years ago. Discover the voice of the past through the written language of each narrative. Fashions in the Era of Jane Austen covers twelve years of fashion, the last two years of the Georgian period (1809-1810) and the entire ten years of the Regency period (1811-1820). The pictures alone make this a great book, even if one doesn't read a word of the fashion descriptions.

Kimono


Liza Dalby - 1993
    Amazingly beautiful, the kimono has gone through many changes in the centuries since it was first imported from China, changes that reflect the way that Japanese society has also developed over the ages.

The Complete Jack the Ripper


Donald Rumbelow - 1975
    They were responsible for one of the most evocative legends in English folk history - Jack the Ripper. Best of all - for the myth-makers, that is - he was never caught, and there has never been a convincing identification of this man or, as some suggest, woman, who stabbed and disembowelled a succession of East End prostitutes, and left them bleeding in the gaslit streets of Victorian London. This book now lays out all the known evidence in a sumary of the facts and theories that have been written and spoken about the Ripper.

A Magnificent Obsession: Victoria, Albert, and the Death That Changed the British Monarchy


Helen Rappaport - 2011
    For Britain had not just lost a prince: during his twenty year marriage to Queen Victoria, Prince Albert had increasingly performed the function of King in all but name. The outpouring of grief after Albert's death was so extreme, that its like would not be seen again until the death of Princess Diana 136 years later.Drawing on many letters, diaries and memoirs from the Royal Archives and other neglected sources, as well as the newspapers of the day, Rappaport offers a new perspective on this compelling historical psychodrama--the crucial final months of the prince's life and the first long, dark ten years of the Queen's retreat from public view. She draws a portrait of a queen obsessed with her living husband and - after his death - with his enduring place in history. Magnificent Obsession will also throw new light on the true nature of the prince's chronic physical condition, overturning for good the 150-year old myth that he died of typhoid fever.

Alexander McQueen: The Life and the Legacy


Judith Watt - 2012
    An intimate and revealing look at the personal and professional life of the fashion world's most visionary designer.

Star Trek Costumes: Five Decades of Fashion from the Final Frontier


Paula M. Block - 2015
    Spock’s staid Starfleet uniform to Uhura’s alluring mirror universe outfit. The book features a dazzling wardrobe gallery that explores beautiful and innovative fashions from the various film and television versions of Star Trek, including many different iterations of the iconic Starfleet uniform, exquisitely designed alien garb, and much, much more. Every costume is examined in intimate detail, tracing the design process from preproduction sketches to the final stunning outfit. Exclusive interviews with costume designers and experts put the images into context. This unique visual treat will delight Star Trek fans and fashionistas alike.TM & © 2014 CBS Studios Inc. © 2014 Paramount Pictures Corp. STAR TREK and related marks and logos are trademarks of CBS Studios Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Strapless: John Singer Sargent and the Fall of Madame X


Deborah Davis - 2003
    A relative unknown at the time, Sargent won the commission to paint her; the two must have recognized in each other a like-minded hunger for fame.Unveiled at the 1884 Paris Salon, Gautreau's portrait generated the attention she craved-but it led to infamy rather than stardom. Sargent had painted one strap of Gautreau's dress dangling from her shoulder, suggesting either the prelude to or the aftermath of sex. Her reputation irreparably damaged, Gautreau retired from public life, destroying all the mirrors in her home.Drawing on documents from private collections and other previously unexamined materials, and featuring a cast of characters including Oscar Wilde and Richard Wagner, Strapless is a tale of art and celebrity, obsession and betrayal.

Scotland: A Concise History


Fitzroy Maclean - 1970
    Pictures from authentic contemporary sources illuminate his story--its romantic figures and bloody battles, its politics and religion--and provide a rich visual record of Scotland's art, craftsmanship, and intellectual life. For this revised edition, the distinguished journalist Magnus Linklater (former editor of The Scotsman), explores the renewed strengths of Scottish identity as the country enters the new millennium with a new parliament. 250 b/w illustrations.

Vogue: The Editor's Eye


Conde Nast - 2012
    Drawing on Vogue’s exceptional archive, this book focuses on the work of eight of the magazine’s legendary fashion editors (including Polly Mellen, Babs Simpson, and Grace Coddington) who collaborated with photographers, stylists, and designers to create the images that have had an indelible impact on the fashion world and beyond. Featuring the work of world-renowned photographers such as Richard Avedon, Irving Penn, and Annie Leibovitz and model/muses, including Marilyn Monroe, Verushka, and Linda Evangelista, The Editor’s Eye is a lavishly illustrated look at the visionary editors whose works continue to reverberate in the culture today.Praise for Vogue: The Editor's Eye:Selected in “Guide to coffee table books as holiday gifts.” —Associated Press“What makes a great fashion image? A new book, The Editor’s Eye, celebrates the work of Vogue’s boundary-pushing fashion editors.” —Vogue“Vogue: The Editor’s Eye is the perfect gift book for anyone with an interest in fashion or photography or brilliant book design. No electronic tablet yet created can duplicate the sheer visual pleasure of paging through this gorgeous book.” —Connecticut Post“Told via in-depth interviews with each of these visionaries, Vogue: The Editor’s Eye gives a glimpse into the process, proving that the magazine’s cutting-edge fashion spreads are as much about editorial point of view as they are about model-photographer-designer collaboration.” —BookPage.com“Vogue: The Editor’s Eye tells how the vision, creativity (and let’s not forget lavish budgets) possessed by eight fashion editors from 1947 to the present have produced the striking layouts that are the magazine's signature.” —The Denver Post

The Villainous Victorians


Terry Deary - 2004
    Refreshed, renewed, reloaded! Readers can discover all the foul facts about the VILLAINOUS VICTORIANS , including:Why burglars were scared of bogies,which poet said he ate an apeand how a snick fadger might kiddy-nap your spangle.

Koh-I-Noor: The History of the World's Most Infamous Diamond


William Dalrymple - 2016
    On 29 March 1849, the ten-year-old Maharajah of the Punjab was ushered into the magnificent Mirrored Hall at the centre of the great Fort in Lahore. There, in a public ceremony, the frightened but dignified child handed over to the British East India Company in a formal Act of Submission to Queen Victoria not only swathes of the richest land in India, but also arguably the single most valuable object in the subcontinent: the celebrated Koh-i Noor diamond. The Mountain of Light. The history of the Koh-i-Noor that was then commissioned by the British may have been one woven together from gossip of Delhi Bazaars, but it was to be become the accepted version. Only now is it finally challenged, freeing the diamond from the fog of mythology which has clung to it for so long. The resulting history is one of greed, murder, torture, colonialism and appropriation through an impressive slice of south and central Asian history. It ends with the jewel in its current controversial setting: in the crown of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother. Masterly, powerful and erudite, this is history at its most compelling and invigorating.

The Subversive Stitch: Embroidery and the Making of the Feminine


Rozsika Parker - 1984
    In this fascinating study, Rozsika Parker traces a hidden history--the shifting notions of femininity and female social roles--by unraveling the history of embroidery from medieval times until today.

Culture and Anarchy


Matthew Arnold - 1869
    Arnold seeks to find out what culture really is, what good it can do, and if it is really necessary. He contrasts culture, which he calls the study of perfection, with anarchy, the mood of unrest and uncertainty that pervaded mid-Victorian England. This edition reproduces the original book version, revealing the immediate historical context and controversy of the piece. The introduction and notes broaden out the interpretative approach to Arnold's text, elaborating on the complexities of the religious context. The book also reinforces the continued importance of Arnold's ideas its influences in the face of the challenges of multi-culturalism and post-modernism.

Life in the English Country House: A Social and Architectural History


Mark Girouard - 1978
    In it, renowned architectural historian Mark Girouard presents a rare and revealing glimpse of the English upper classes—their public and personal lives, their servants, and their homes."A deeply important book, one of the most interesting contributions to architectural history."—J. H. Plumb, The New York Review of Books"A survey of country houses through the past five centuries, from a broad range of materials: family archives, literature, plans and photographs.... The book itself is a physical artifact of surpassing beauty which could fit on the grandest table in the houses it describes."—David Hackett Fischer, The New Republic"Informative, balanced, knowledgeable, and witty."—The New Yorker"This enthralling and immensely informative book...tells with wit, scholarship, and lucidity how the country house evolved to meet the needs and reflect the social attitudes of the times."—Philip Ziegler, The Times"One of those very useful and very enjoyable books that the learned can seldom write, and the entertaining seldom achieve—clear, detailed, and witty."—Angus Wilson, The ObserverWinner of the 1978 Duff Cooper Memorial Prize and the W. H. Smith & Son Annual Literary Award for 1979.

The Life and Times of Prince Albert


Patrick Allitt - 2020
    Allitt transports listeners to England in the 1840s and 1850s. During those two decades, Queen Victoria’s husband, Prince Albert, became one of the most influential people in the country and remains a figure of fascination even today. In fact, the British royal family as we know it wouldn’t exist without the private and public actions of this detached, impartial, and upright political figure.During his brief life of only 42 years, Prince Albert gave the world the new Houses of Parliament and the Great Exhibition of 1851. He helped Great Britain nimbly dodge the violent revolutions sweeping through mainland Europe and played important roles in both the Crimean War and the American Civil War. Trusted by politicians 25 years his senior, Prince Albert was a negotiator with superior insight into the minds of foreign leaders like Abraham Lincoln. Finally, he was husband to an iconic queen who would define an entire era in British history.Parliamentary leaders come and go, but the British monarchy endures. Listeners will learn what great debt the monarchy owes to Prince Albert.Length: 4 hrs and 28 mins