The bodleian library

A richly illustrated collection that maps twenty historical journeys. Adventures in Maps features twenty awe-inspiring journeys, ranging in distances from a few miles to great treks across land, sea, air, and space. Some chart the route a traveler followed, while some are the fruits of exploration, and others were made to help future travelers find...

A humorous advice book, offering tips on bedroom manners. Have you ever needed tips on how to sleep next to a snoring spouse? How to convalesce in style? Have you pondered the etiquette of staying in a haunted house? Better Bed Manners, originally published in the 1930s, has the answers you seek. This amusing guide was originally written for married...

Don’t steal this Book if you do I will Beat your Brains Out Have you ever wanted to protect your books from forgetful borrowers, merciless page-folders or outright thieves? Perhaps you have even wished harm on those who have damaged your books, but would you threaten them with hellfire, hanging or the plague? This book contains a collection of some...

Close-up photos of plump apricots, juicy mangoes, crisp lettuce ... these are familiar to us all through cookery books and garden guides. But seeing fruit and vegetables as detailed art, viewed through eighteenth-century eyes, is something very different - and more interesting. Thanks to intrepid explorers and plant-hunters, Britain and the rest of...

A fascinating miscellany of the stories behind our weights and measures. How long is an ell? How big is the largest champagne bottle? How do you measure the heat of a chili pepper? Why is the depth of water measured in fathoms? And what, exactly, is a cubit? The Curious History of Weights & Measures tells the story of how we have come to quantify the...

A collection of 366 facts about language to enliven each day of the year. In this ingenious and diverse collection of 366 stories, events, and facts about language, David Crystal presents a selection of insights from literary and linguistic writers, poets, and global institutions, together with the weird and wonderful creations of language enthusiasts...

The punctuation marks, mathematical symbols and glyphs which haunt the edges of our keyboards have evolved over many hundreds of years. They shape our understanding of texts, calculations and online interactions. Without these symbols all texts would run in endless unbroken lines of letters and numbers. Many hands and minds have created, refined and...

The First World War was unique in being fought largely in trenches. Men ate, slept, fought, played, sang, prayed, and died in the trenches. This book brings together a collection of postcards which portray this strange subterranean world in its various manifestations. The cards have been selected to show how life progressed from day to day in and out...

A haunting anthology of supernatural stories and the macabre. First published in 1898, The Eerie Book is a chilling anthology featuring classic gothic authors like Edgar Allan Poe, Mary Shelley, Thomas de Quincey, and Hans Christian Andersen alongside well-known, influential fairy tales and folklore. All the macabre stories and extracts from longer...

‘Everybody who possibly can ought to grow potatoes…’ First published towards the end of the First World War, this charming little book is a love letter to the potato, from its origins in South America, to Sir Francis Drake’s travels, the Irish potato famine and the great potato boom of 1903 when the ‘Eldorado’ changed hands at eye-watering...

This richly illustrated book explores the huge creative endeavour behind Tolkien's enduring popularity. Lavishly illustrated with over 300 images of his manuscripts, drawings, maps and letters, the book traces the creative process behind his most famous literary works - 'The Hobbit', 'The Lord of the Rings' and 'The Silmarillion' and reproduces personal...

This lavishly illustrated book showcases the highlights of the Tolkien archives held at the Bodleian Library. From J.R.R. Tolkien's childhood in the Midlands and his experience of the First World War to his studies at school and university; his exquisite illustrations for The Silmarillion, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings and his creation of intricate...