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Today, mountains are spaces for adventure: treasured places for people to connect with nature, encounter the sublime and challenge themselves, whether it be skiing in the Italian Alps or scaling the heights of the Matterhorn in Switzerland. Some regard our love of mountains as relatively new, claiming that before modern mountaineers planted flags upon the peaks, the average European was more likely to revile and avoid a mountainous landscape than to admire it. Mountains Before Mountaineering tells a different narrative. It reveals the way mountains inspired curiosity and fascination and how they were enjoyed in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Europe. It gives voice to the early modern travellers who climbed peaks and passes with fear and delight; to the 'real mountaineers' who lived and died upon the mountain slopes; and to the scientists who used mountains to try to understand the origins of the world. This book invites you on a journey through the mountains, long before Everest was 'discovered' as the highest mountain in the world or before the first recorded ascent of Mont Blanc. It is the story of how our love of the mountains has been a part of us from the very beginning.
As a person's religious convictions, especially in times past, can be considered fundamental to their character and behaviour, the nature of King Richard III's piety has been the subject of considerable debate. Much of this controversy has focused on the Book of Hours adopted by the king for his own private use following his coronation, and to which certain prayers, including that known as the 'Prayer of Richard III', were added. In The Hours of Richard III Ricardian experts Anne F. Sutton and Livia Visser-Fuchs explore the manuscript and the prayer's text. The manuscript (now preserved in Lambeth Palace Library) was originally produced in London around 1420 and the text shows the preoccupations of a devout man of the fifteenth century, while its decoration showcases the development of London manuscript illumination during that period. Moreover, in this analysis of the manuscript, the authors offer an insight into the personality of Richard III, one of the most controversial figures in medieval history.
Writing the Mountains reconsiders the role of mountains in German language fiction from 1800 to the present and argues that in a range of texts, from E.T.A. Hoffmann's “Die Bergwerke zu Falun” (1819) to Elfriede Jelinek's Die Kinder der Toten (1995) and beyond, mountains serve as dynamic spaces of material change that generate aesthetic and narrative innovation. In contrast to dominant critical approaches to the Alpine landscape in literature, in which mountain ranges often features as passive settings, or which trace the influence of geographical and geological sciences in literary productions, this study argues for the dynamic role in literature of presumably rigid mineral structures. ...
An interdisciplinary cultural history of exploration and mountaineering in the nineteenth century European forays to mountain summits began in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries with the search for plants and minerals and the study of geology and glaciers. Yet scientists were soon captivated by the enterprise of climbing itself, enthralled with the views and the prospect of “conquering” alpine summits. Inspired by Romantic notions of nature, early mountaineers idealized their endeavors as sublime experiences, all the while deliberately measuring what they saw. As increased leisure time and advances in infrastructure and equipment opened up once formidable mountain regions to those seeking adventure and sport, new models of masculinity emerged that were fraught with tensions. This book examines how written and artistic depictions of nineteenth-century exploration and mountaineering in the Andes, the Alps, and the Sierra Nevada shaped cultural understandings of nature and wilderness in the Anthropocene.
The first scholarly English translations of thirteen vital texts that elucidate the central role mountains have played across nearly five centuries of Germanophone cultural history.
Connecting people with places, London's distinctive Blue Plaque scheme highlights the buildings where some of the most remarkable men and women in our history and culture have lived and worked. From Richard Burton to Karl Marx, Marie Stopes to Jimi Hendrix, this fully updated 4th edition of The London Blue Plaque Guide has over 900 entries and provides an essential companion to the famous people who have made their homes in the city. It includes updated maps and a useful list of names by profession as well as location. As the definitive guide to the fascinating historical figures who have lived in London, it will be invaluable to residents and tourists alike.
In the year 1900, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was at the height of his success. A qualified doctor, he was the creator of master detective Sherlock Holmes. In 1916, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle declared that he believed in spiritualism, and he also professed to believe in fairies. This work traces the story of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's strange beliefs.
A new social history of botany in Britain and France, 1760-1815, demonstrating the significance of commerce, horticulture and amateur scholarship.
At the outbreak of the World War I there was no formal organization for the transport of spies across enemy lines by aircraft and no communications network between the air forces and their agents. The exploits of British and Commonwealth, American, Free European, Soviet, German, Italian and Japanese airmen and units are recorded in this account.
Richard III, the most notorious and most discussed of English kings, was also unusual among his contemporaries in regularly signing his books. This characteristic, among others, has enabled Anne Sutton and Livia Visser-Fuchs to reconstruct his library, and link it to the culture and reading habits of his generation. The books of Richard III are typical of what was available to and popular with the medieval reader – religion, chivalry, history, genealogy, advice on how to govern, romance and prophecy – and allow us to draw an interesting overview of fifteenth-century opinions. Each type of book is examined on its own terms and then related to the known preoccupations of Richard himself, his associates and to the political practices of his time. Containing valuable biographical material, insights into the history and politics of the later fifteenth century, and much detail on late medieval piety and other important aspects of contemporary culture, this fully illustrated survey has wide-ranging significance for all who study the history and literature of the medieval period.