Deep in the past, in South America and Mesopotamia, textile fibers were being given color, purple and red, to make them attractive and interesting and to give pleasure to those who wore them. Many centuries later, South America was the source of a bright and unusual blue, Maya blue, used in painting, but this too is associated with a more complicated, more varied story.

An important element of the story is that if the technology of dyeing in 18th-century London with, for example, madder is examined, it is not so far away from the work of the dyer in Mesopotamia centuries earlier. However, the 18th century was the time of wonderfully colorful and exuberant fabrics and tapestries. A century and a half later, a new age of brilliantly colored synthetic dyes, the likes of which had never been seen before, exploded onto the scene with hundreds of colors with exotic names and doubtful permanence. However, some old dyes were still used on an industrial scale: lichen purples and browns, unassuming and still widely traded, were used throughout the 19th century.

These and other stories will take the reader from the earliest times, a glimmer of color in the distant past, to the very real conservation problems of deteriorating containers of early synthetic dyes – a long and colorful history.

The topics covered in this edition vary from the dyes of South America, Mesopotamia, Austria, 17th – 19th Century Flanders and England to the use of lichen, lac and redwood lake as pigments and cochineal for paints and inks.

These papers were presented at the 37th, 38th and 40th meetings of the DHA group at NOVA University of Lisbon (2018), the University of Amsterdam (2019) and the online conference hosted by the British Museum, London (2021).

This wide-ranging study is the outcome of the author’s thirty-year quest to collect information about a neglected and almost forgotten field of history – the prisoner of war, the conditions under which he was held and how he employed his time during long years of captivity. In this instance, the whole is set against an historical background dating from the Seven Years War (1756-63) to Napoleon’s downfall in 1816. Information has been painstakingly acquired by detailed searches through the Public Records Offices of England, Scotland and Wales and the archives of numerous county towns. The author has also studied more than one hundred towns and villages, where paroled captured officers were detained, and visited the sites of prison depots – great and small – and ports and rivers where the dreaded prison hulks had once been moored. The gathering and examination of artefacts, relics and other relevant material was a further important aspect of this extensive study. During the course of his lengthy researches, the author assembled what may well be one of the largest private collections of prisoner of war artefacts in existence. Although thousands of items of prisoners’ work have survived to the present day, most have disappeared into private collections and museums, at home or abroad. A representative selection of items from the author’s own extensive collection is featured in the second volume and shows the extraordinary high standard of workmanship achieved by many of the prisoners of war.

From the mythical De Dion Bouton Type K1 to the Delahaye, from the Jeep Willys to the combi Volkswagen, from the Mercedes Benz to the Ford Mustang Shelby GT 500, from the Aston Martin DB7 to the Bugatti Veyron 16.4, and from the Austin Mini to the Range Rover.

A hundred years of innovation, inventiveness and triumphs are condensed in this book, which reads as easily as a novel, and is illustrated with a rich and rare iconography.

In 1751, John Holker (1719-1786), an English textile manufacturer exiled in France, undertook an industrial espionage mission to England to collect samples of English textiles on behalf of the French king, Louis XV. On his return, the samples were assembled in a manuscript volume, which is now preserved at the Museum of Decorative Arts in Paris. Each sample in this album is accompanied by a handwritten technical description specifying the quality of the fabric, its price, its dimensions and the manufacturing processes. This album is famous for preserving the oldest identifiable samples of jean fabric.

Completely bilingual, the book includes a facsimile reproduction of the album, accompanied by a transcription of its handwritten text and a dozen essays. The essays, written by academics, curators and specialists from France, Britain and North America, explore the album from various angles: the globalization of commerce, the slave trade, industrial espionage, economic rivalry between France and England, the taste for cotton and its role in the history of fashion, etc. The book demonstrates the importance of centuries-old links between France and the United Kingdom and is an indispensable work of reference for the history of textiles.

Text in English and French.

Art, literature, music and other intellectual expressions of a particular society are together regarded as the culture of that society. Ideas, customs, and social behaviour of a particular people or society are also its ‘culture’. Contrary to what we think, it is not easy to describe ‘culture’, nor is it easy to write the cultural history. Writing the history of Bengali culture is even more difficult because Bengali society is truly plural in its nature, made even more so by its political division. The two main religious communities that share this culture are often more aware of the differences between them than the similarities. Nonetheless, the people remain bound by history and a shared language and literature. Ghulam Murshid’s Bengali Culture Over a Thousand Years is the first non-partisan and holistic discussion of Bengali culture. Written for the general reader, the language is simple and the style lucid. It shows how the individual ingredients of Bengali culture have evolved and found expression, in the context of political developments, and how certain individuals have moulded culture. Above all, the book presents the identity and special qualities of Bengali culture. The book was originally published in Bengali in Dhaka in 2006. This is the first English translation.

The monsoon is the season of pouring rain and intense emotions: love and longing, hope and fear, pleasure and pain, devotion and joyous excess. Through a series of evocative essays exploring rain-drenched worlds of poetry, songs, paintings, architecture, films, gardens, festivals, music, and medicine, this lavishly illustrated collection examines the history of monsoon feelings in South Asia from the twelfth century to the present. Each essay is written by a specialist in the field of South Asian arts and culture, and investigates emotions as reflections and agents of social, cultural, and political change across borders of language and religion and between different arts and cultural practices. This history of emotions in the rain is as rich, surprising, beautiful and devastating as the thundering monsoon clouds, and will delight general and scholarly audiences alike.

Nudity, lasciviousness, sensuality, provocation, shamelessness, or obscenity. During the 19th century, eroticism takes on a new place in Western visual culture, in particular thanks to the development of reproduction such as photography, press or lithography.

Result of long and meticulous research, this book reviews the major reflections carried out on the theme of nudity in the field of art history and the history of sensibilities. It studies the reception of nudity in France, based on documentary and iconographic sources renewed (little-known works, drawings and photographs, newspapers, archives, texts of laws) and allows us to better understand this history of erotic art of the nineteenth century, long perpetuated by the sole taste of description.

By placing the works in their context, by comparing expressions and aesthetics, and studying visual culture of time, Claire Maingon opens up new fields of reflection, while allowing to discover unknown or forgotten artists such as Broc, Gavarni, Dubufe, Galimard, Ranft, Eakins, alongside the big names in the history of 19th century, David, Ingres, Delacroix, Courbet, Manet, Rodin.

Text in French.

“The photos here are undeniably spectacular — but the exploration of the costume ball’s history is worth sticking around for, too.”  —Natural Diamonds

Tiaras have always inspired a great fascination and the most beautiful and influential women have been painted, photographed and admired whilst wearing them. Even in the 21st century they are still worn and continue to inspire special poise, elegance and sophistication. 
This lavishly illustrated book includes exclusive photographs, many repro­duced for the first time, of a variety of Royal tiaras together with those of French and Russian Imperial provenance, including four stunning tiaras designed by Prince Albert for Queen Victoria. Geoffrey Munn has also been granted privileged access to the archives of many famous jewelers, including Boucheron, Cartier, Van Cleef and Arpels and Fabergé, for his research. 
The regal images of some of the most prestigious jewels in the world will captivate the reader and ensure turning the page to the next enticing image becomes irresistible. Many of these mes­merizing tiaras also have great historical signifi­cance and their provenance is fully explained here. Among the con­temporary pieces referred to are tiaras belonging to Jamie Lee Curtis, Vivienne Westwood, Elton John and Madonna, that were made by Galliano, Slim Barratt and Versace.
The scholarly text, which incorporates more than 400 illustrations, includes chapters on tiaras as crown jewels, Russian style tiaras, tiaras as works of art and the relationship between the tiara and the costume ball. Tiaras – A History of Splendour is a magnificent work that will enthral all those interested in fashion and style, jewelry, European history and Royalty.
“… beautifully written and magnificently produced… for anyone interested in social history, it’s as good a read as you are likely to have this year.” Daily Telegraph
“A truly majestic book” Antiques Info
“… elegantly melds social history, fashion criticism and an appreciation of the jeweler’s art.” Town & Country

Jan Steen, one of the most popular painters of the Dutch Golden Age, is known for his humorous depictions of dissolute households, tavern interiors, quacksalvers and love-sick young women. He was unrivalled in poking fun at every conceivable human weakness and vice. A lesser known fact is that he also painted historical scenes: pieces based on episodes from the Bible, apocryphal writings and mythology – stories full of excitement, drama and passion. As with his genre pieces, Steen devoted a great deal of attention in his history paintings to the interaction between the figures, and was keenly aware of the satirical possibilities in every story. In contrast with his later image, Jan Steen was a versatile and ambitious artist with a profound knowledge of art history and literature: knowledge that comes to the fore in his history pieces. This richly illustrated publication, written by experts on Jan Steen, focuses on a little-known part of the artist’s oeuvre.

Contents: Introduction, followed by three essays on Jan Steen’s history pieces, and a selected catalog of the most important paintings featuring biblical and mythological subjects.

The book will be published to accompany the eponymous exhibition at the Mauritshuis, The Hague, the Netherlands.

This book reveals an interesting and detailed account of the materials and methods used, the interaction between restorer, curator and collector and different philosophical approaches towards restoration and the care of paintings.

The book offers an unprecedented look at cigarette holders through a selection of approximately 125 pieces from the collection of Carolyn Hsu-Balcer. Its introductory essay is both a social history of that world-changing leaf, tobacco, and a design history of its accoutrements. It examines the history of smoking from its pre-Columbian roots in the Americas through to the present-day worldwide e-cigarette craze, taking the reader on a journey from tobacco smoking as a sacred ritual, through the controversies of its worldwide spread, and the machine-rolled cigarette’s role in the world wars and as a tool for European and American women’s equality.

Following the illustrated essay is a luxurious catalogue of newly commissioned photography that makes these diminutive objects pop off the pages with brilliant color and form. The collection includes cigarette holders in their simplest incarnations – the disposable promotional holders given away at trendy New York nightclubs – to their most exquisite – the work of Fabergé, Cartier, Tiffany, Van Cleef & Arpels and other renowned jewelers of the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Contents:
Foreword by Carolyn Hsu-Balcer; Introduction; Chapter 1: Tobacco’s Journey from the New World to the Old: Medicine and Pleasure; Chapter 2: The Rise of Cigarette Culture: The Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries; Chapter 3: Smoking, Sociability, and a New Modern Era: From the First World War to the Second; Chapter 4: The Cigarette Holder’s Peak and Fall: A New Culture of Smoking; Catalog; Appendix: Materials Used in Cigarette Holders; Acknowledgments; Photo Credits.

“Quickly being recognised as the most comprehensive guide to Irish whiskey.” – Gary Quinn, The Irish Times

“A must read book for any fan of Irish whiskey. At a time when the category is making the mightiest of comebacks Fionnán O’Connor has written a gem of a book, digging deep in to the heart of his country’s whiskey history and telling its story with style and authority. Excellent.” – Dominic Roskrow, Founding Director, The Craft Distillers Alliance

Irish single pot still whiskey has a romantic mystique for many whiskey critics because of its tragic history as the lost sister of single malt scotch. Ireland’s history and politics resulted in the near-annihilation of the national drink and there’s an almost eerie beauty to the silent distilleries that still dot the Irish countryside. These distilleries inform the aesthetic of the title and, indeed, there is visual poetry in the barrels, pot stills and photogenic amber spirits that convey the Irish whiskey world. Although Irish whiskey is currently the fastest-growing global spirits category and Irish pure pot still has long been a favorite drink among whiskey critics and connoisseurs, the existing literature is still surprisingly sparse. This book illustrates the production, history, and appreciation of Irish pot still whiskey and will introduce casual drinkers to the richness of these whiskeys as well as being a collector’s item for established whiskey connoisseurs.

More than four centuries ago, the small Republic of the United Netherlands embarked on an economic boom. Contacts were established with the four corners of the world. Many of these centuries-old relationships have left traces in museums and archives, in the open fields or in the city, in stories and in pictures. Footsteps and Fingerprints, the Legacy of a Shared History presents an image of the legacy the contacts between Brazil, Ghana, India, Indonesia, the Netherlands, Russia, Sri Lanka, Surinam and South Africa have produced over the last 400 years. Various ‘top pieces’ and other remarkable items designated Mutual Cultural Heritage are described: from Vingboons’ View of Table Bay, Henkes Schnapps in Ghana to the Dutch Church in St Pertersburg.

The mansions of North Kolkata described in Great Houses of Calcutta were built by the cream of the indigenous elite during the city’s colonial era. Some exceptions apart, these are now largely forlorn reminders of the ways of life, aspirations and aesthetic values of the wealthy Indian land owners, bankers and traders who flourished during the heyday of the city’s colonial era of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The houses are an important part of the urban and architectural history of Kolkata and are past representatives of the ongoing debate over what it means to be modern while representing a living culture in built form. Taking off from Joanne Taylor’s widely acclaimed award-winning book The Forgotten Palaces of Calcutta and drawing from her thesis The Great Houses of Kolkata, 1750-2006, this book is a more comprehensive endeavor bringing in Joanne Taylor’s first hand experiences and research in Kolkata and Jon Lang’s knowledge of the broader context of architectural history and the attempts to display contemporary design attitudes in built form, not only in today’s changing world but also during India’s colonial and post-colonial eras. Contents: Foreword and Preface; Prologue: The Symbolic Function of Buildings; Part I: Calcutta and The Great Families- Calcutta-The Great Families of Calcutta; Part II: Architectural Antecedents and Potential Precedents-The Indigenous Architectures of Bengal; The Contemporary Architecture and Ways of Life of British Calcutta; Part III: The Great Houses; The Generic Technical and Cultural Nature of the Mansions and Palaces of Bengal; Twelve Great Houses of Calcutta; Part IV: Today and Looking Ahead- Evolving Histories: the Great Houses in the Twentieth and Twenty-first Centuries; The Future?.
The mansions of North Kolkata described in Great Houses of Calcutta were built by the cream of the indigenous elite during the city’s colonial era. Some exceptions apart, these are now largely forlorn reminders of the ways of life, aspirations and aesthetic values of the wealthy Indian land owners, bankers and traders who flourished during the heyday of the city’s colonial era of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The houses are an important part of the urban and architectural history of Kolkata and are past representatives of the ongoing debate over what it means to be modern while representing a living culture in built form. Taking off from Joanne Taylor’s widely acclaimed award-winning book The Forgotten Palaces of Calcutta and drawing from her thesis The Great Houses of Kolkata, 1750-2006, this book is a more comprehensive endeavor bringing in Joanne Taylor’s first hand experiences and research in Kolkata and Jon Lang’s knowledge of the broader context of architectural history and the attempts to display contemporary design attitudes in built form, not only in today’s changing world but also during India’s colonial and post-colonial eras.

Contents: Foreword and Preface; Prologue: The Symbolic Function of Buildings; Part I: Calcutta and The Great Families- Calcutta-The Great Families of Calcutta; Part II: Architectural Antecedents and Potential Precedents-The Indigenous Architectures of Bengal; The Contemporary Architecture and Ways of Life of British Calcutta; Part III: The Great Houses; The Generic Technical and Cultural Nature of the Mansions and Palaces of Bengal; Twelve Great Houses of Calcutta; Part IV: Today and Looking Ahead- Evolving Histories: the Great Houses in the Twentieth and Twenty-first Centuries; The Future?.

Burst! Abstract Painting After 1945 looks at the close, but previously unexplored relationship between Abstract Expressionism and Art Informel. Through texts and close to 100 illustrations, the book describes a vital creative exchange across the Atlantic that would entirely redefine painting. Big, expansive, paint-splattered surfaces; spontaneous actions captured on canvas; new ideas of freedom. A story of post-war recovery and Transatlantic dialogue. On both sides of the ocean, society was reacting to the horrors of the Second World War, the Holocaust and the coming of the atom bomb. The book shows how artists searched for new ways to deal with these shattering events. With works by Jean Dubuffet, Natalia Dumitresco, Helen Frankenthaler, Asger Jorn, Lee Krasner, Jackson Pollock, Mark Rothko, Sam Francis, Joan Mitchell, Ernst Wilhelm Nay, Barnett Newman, Georges Mathieu, Hedda Sterne and Clyfford Still, and more.

A new title in the Design series and an excellent introduction to the life and work of this versatile Russian artist. Alexander Mikhailovich Rodchenko (1891-1953) was a central figure in the Russian Constructivist art movement; a radical activist, a pioneer of photomontage, a theorist, and a teacher. He was an active force in the organization of the first museums of modern art that arose in Russia in the first years after the Russian Revolution of 1917. Attending art school in 1914 in Kazan was to be a defining influence: that year Russian Futurists performed in the town, and Rodchenko saw their leading figures in action. It transformed his vision and he was still working with Futurist artists and their ideas twenty-five years later. And it was at art school where Rodchenko first met the artist Varvara Stepanova, with whom he collaborated extensively, and who would become his life-long partner. Central in the re-examination of art and its place in society after the Revolution, and in the search for a new culture without the class implications of the past, Rodchenko’s radical approach proposed a new understanding of a constructed, rather than a tastefully composed, culture. This concise, comprehensive and informative work focuses largely on Rodchenko’s graphic work in the form of book jackets, posters and advertising. Also avaliable: Claud Lovat Fraser ISBN: 9781851496631 GPO ISBN: 9781851495962 Peter Blake ISBN: 9781851496181 FHK Henrion ISBN: 9781851496327 David Gentleman ISBN: 9781851495955 David Mellor ISBN: 9781851496037 E.McKnight Kauffer ISBN: 9781851495207 Edward Bawden and Eric Ravilious ISBN: 9781851495009 El Lissitzky ISBN: 9781851496198 Festival of Britain 1951 ISBN: 9781851495337 Harold Curwen & Oliver Simon: Curwen Press ISBN: 9781851495719 Jan Le Witt and George Him ISBN: 9781851495665 Paul Nash and John Nash ISBN: 9781851495191 Abram Games ISBN: 9781851496778

Johannes Vermeer (1632-1675) is world-famous for his scenes of daily life, such as a kitchen maid pouring milk, a woman having a music lesson, or a lady writing a letter. However, when Vermeer began painting around the age of 21, he focused primarily on traditional subjects derived from the Bible and classical mythology. Not only do these early works differ greatly from his later paintings in terms of subject matter, they also differ in style. This publication deals with the young Vermeer’s training and artistic development. It also gives an account of the rediscovery of his early work in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The exhibition unites three paintings from the beginning of Vermeer’s artistic career: the Mauritshuis’ Diana and her nymphs of c. 1653-1654, is joined by Christ in the house of Martha and Mary (c. 1655) from the National Gallery of Scotland in Edinburgh, and The Procuress (1656) from the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen in Dresden. These three paintings afford an image of the artist seeking his own style. All three paintings have recently been restored. Within this context, the differences between Johannes Vermeer’s early and late work also emerge clearly. The Young Vermeer is organized in collaboration with the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister in Dresden and the National Gallery of Scotland in Edinburgh.

A unique opportunity to see rare and beautiful drawings by some of the biggest names in European art.

Chatsworth House in Derbyshire holds one of the finest and most significant private collections of Old Master drawings in the world, but they are rarely seen and very little has been published on them.

This book showcases 46 drawings from this exceptional collection, including superb watercolors and drawings by famous German Renaissance artists Albrecht Dürer and Hans Holbein alongside the baroque splendor of Peter Paul Rubens and Anthony van Dyck. It will reveal intimate insights into the artists’ practice and their ways of recording the world.

The captivating selection of drawings will be introduced and contextualized by Charles Noble, Curator of Fine Art at Chatsworth House. Each image will be explained and examined based on rigorous new research, offering new insights into the work of some of art’s biggest names.

“What a super book! Great photos, and such interesting facts – it all makes a fascinating read.” Christine Walkden – BBC- TV and Radio 4 Gardening Expert

“This is a wonderful book, tracing the history of the family firm and the marvellous structures they created, in great detail. There are detailed accounts of 40 of the firm’s most prestigious structures, stunningly photographed by professional garden photographer Jennifer Lilly. There is even a detailed chronological gazetteer of all the known Pulhamite sites. Definitely a must for your Christmas present list and garden history bookshelf. Hazelle Jackson, Heritage Consultant London Landscapes Autumn/Winter 2012

“It is excellent . . . A brilliant piece of work – I thoroughly recommend it.” Peter Seabrook – Gardening Writer and Broadcaster Amateur Gardening

“The result of many years’ patient research, pulling together fascinating information on the Pulhams’ work, which extended from grand gardens such as Sandringham and Waddesdon to modest suburban villas.” The Times

“A Charming Labour of Love, this offers everything you could wish to know about Pulhamite – and probably much more… The photographs are superb, the research exhaustive and the gazetteer makes it invaluable for the study, restoration and maintenance of Pulhamite features in 19th to early 20th-century gardens.” BBC Gardens Illustrated

This book tells the story of James Pulham & Son, the eminent family of Victorian and Edwardian landscape artists who specialized in the construction of picturesque rock gardens, ferneries, follies and grottoes. The book covers more than four generations of the family business that was also responsible for the manufacture of extremely high-quality terracotta garden ornaments including fountains, vases, sundials and bulastrading. The rock gardens, for which the firm are mainly remembered today, were built with ‘artifical’ rocks – formed from heaps of old bricks and rubble, coated with cement, and sculpted to simulate the color and texture of natural stone. The author’s interest in James Pulham & Son stems from the fact that no fewer than five of his ancestors worked for the company as ‘rock builders’. Features many incredibly famous locations, including Buckingham Palace, Sandringham, Heatherden Hall, Waddesdon Manor, Battersea Park, Friar Park and RHS Garden Wisley.

Kim Buck is partial to using well-known jewelry motifs such as hearts, daisies, signet rings, and crosses as a point of departure, but the materials can be anything from precious metals to found objects and ready-mades. With surprising combinations, wordplay, and a touch of irony, he questions the conventions of the jewelry business as well as the way national and religious symbols are used and abused. Even Denmark’s national jewelry piece, the daisy brooch, is up for scrutiny. To a conceptual artist, raising questions and prompting reflection is of utmost importance. The questions raised by Kim Buck through his jewelry and objects touch upon values, ethics, and social status and reach far beyond the jewelry field itself, disrupting our cultural habits and understanding of the self.