Search results for ""The Bodleian Library""

A FLAME TREE NOTEBOOK. Beautiful and luxurious the journals combine high-quality production with magnificent art. Perfect as a gift, and an essential personal choice for writers, notetakers, travellers, students, poets and diarists. Features a wide range of well-known and modern artists, with new artworks published throughout the year. BEAUTIFULLY DESIGNED. The highly crafted covers are printed on foil paper, embossed then foil stamped, complemented by the luxury binding and rose red end-papers. The covers are created by our artists and designers who spend many hours transforming original artwork into gorgeous 3d masterpieces that feel good in the hand and look wonderful on a desk or table. PRACTICAL, EASY TO USE. Flame Tree Notebooks come with practical features too: a pocket at the back for scraps and receipts; two ribbon markers to help keep track of more than just a to-do list; robust ivory text paper, printed with lines; and when you need to collect other notes or scraps of paper the magnetic side flap keeps everything neat and tidy. THE ARTIST. The Bodleian Library is one of the oldest libraries in Europe and is the main research library of the University of Oxford. It holds over 13 million printed items and these book spines are just a few examples of the beautiful objects in the Library’s collection. THE FINAL WORD. As William Morris said, "Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."

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In 1659, a vast and unusual map of China arrived in the Bodleian Library, Oxford. It was bequeathed by John Selden, a London business lawyer, political activist, former convict, MP and the city's first Orientalist scholar. Largely ignored, it remained in the bowels of the library, until called up by an inquisitive reader. When Timothy Brook saw it in 2009, he realised that the Selden Map was 'a puzzle that had to be solved': an exceptional artefact, so unsettlingly modern-looking it could almost be a forgery. But it was genuine, and what it has to tell us is astonishing. It shows China, not cut off from the world, but a participant in the embryonic networks of global trade that fuelled the rise of Europe - and which now power China's ascent. And it raises as many question as it answers: how did John Selden acquire it? Where did it come from? Who re-imagined the world in this way? And most importantly - what can it tell us about the world at that time? Brook, like a cartographic detective, has provided answers - including a surprising last-minute revelation of authorship. From the Gobi Desert to the Philippines, from Java to Tibet and into China itself, Brook uses the map (actually a schematic representation of China's relation to astrological heaven) to tease out the varied elements that defined this crucial period in China's history.

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This book provides a unique visual history of the Qur'ān using fifty-five rare, beautiful and significant Qur'an manuscripts. A general introduction guides the reader through the Qur'ān's entry into the world of late near eastern antiquity, a world where books of scripture were inextricably bound to the political and religious identities of empires. Books of scripture, as well as being visible statements of divine majesty, personal piety and religious identity, were viewed as providing a point of contact with the divine. In this setting the Qur'ān came to be viewed by Muslims as the point of divine contact without peer, and the calligraphy of its text became the foundation of Islamic visual culture for centuries to come. From this beginning, the development of the Qur'ān in book form is followed chronologically and geographically, and the themes of textual development, art, identity and divine presence are highlighted in each chapter. This book draws mainly from the collection of Qur'āns in the Bodleian Library, one of the oldest collections in the English-speaking world and one of the finest collections internationally. Manuscripts are featured from every major chronological period of the Qur'ān's history, and most of the Qur'āns pictured have never appeared in print before. 'Qur'āns: Books of Divine Encounter' brings together in one volume a magnificent range of Qur'ānic manuscripts, providing a lavishly illustrated historical overview of one of the most influential, most memorized and enduring sacred books in our world.

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At the turn of the fifteenth century, private devotionals became a speciality of the renowned Ghent–Bruges illuminators. Wealthy patrons who commissioned work from these artists often spared no expense in the presentation of their personal prayer books, or ‘books of hours’, from detailed decoration to luxurious bindings and embroidery. This enchanting illuminated manuscript was painted by the Master of the David Scenes in the Grimani Breviary (known as the David Master), one of the renowned Flemish illuminators in the sixteenth century. Every page of the manuscript is exquisitely decorated. Fine architectural interiors, gorgeous landscapes and detailed city scenes, each one depicting a narrative, form the subjects of three full-size illuminations and forty-two full-page miniatures. There are floral borders on a gold ground or historiated borders in the Flemish and Italian style on every page. It is one of the finest examples of medieval illumination in a personal prayer book and the most copiously illustrated work of the David Master to survive. The manuscript owes its name to the French Queen, Marie de Medici, widow of King Henri IV. For a time she went into exile in Brussels, where she is thought to have acquired the manuscript before moving again to Cologne. An inscription in English states that she left the book of hours in this city, and it is here that an English manuscript collector, Francis Douce, may have acquired the book and eventually donated it to the Bodleian Library. Together with a scholarly introduction that gives an overview of Flemish illumination and examines each of the illustrations in detail, this full-colour facsimile limited edition, bound in linen with a leather quarter binding and beautifully presented in a slipcase, faithfully reproduces all 176 leaves of the original manuscript.

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Here is a real treat for lovers of English – the very first dictionary in our language. Contrary to popular opinion, this honour goes not to Samuel Johnson, whose definitive tome appeared in 1755, but to Robert Cawdrey, who published his Table Alphabeticall in 1604. Written for the benefit of Ladies, Gentlewomen or any other unskilfull persons, this was not a book for scholars but was aimed squarely at the non-fiction best-seller list of its day. It is a treasure-house of meaning, bristling with arresting and eminently quotable definitions. For example geometrie is the ‘art of measuring the earth’, and hecticke is ‘inflaming the hart, and soundest parts of the bodie’, while barbarian is ‘a rude person’, and a concubine is a ‘harlot, or light huswife’. Cawdrey did set out to create an exhaustive catalogue of the language but rather a guide which would unlock the mystery of hard usual English wordes, borrowed from the Hebrew, Greeke, Latine, or French for educated gentlefolk encountering new words which English was then absorbing at a phenomenal rate. Every entry in this list of 2,543 words sheds interesting light on early modern life and the development of the language. This edition, prepared from the sole surviving copy of the first edition, now in the Bodleian Library, also includes an extensive introduction setting the dictionary in its historical, social and literary context, and exploring the unusual and interesting career of its little-known author. Published eight years ahead of the first of the first Italian dictionary and 35 years ahead of the first French dictionary, this work shows Cawdrey as a man ahead of his time and foreshadows the phenomenal growth of English and its eventual triumph as the new global lingua franca.

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‘A wonderful book: Nancy Campbell is a fine storyteller with a rare physical intelligence. The extraordinary brilliance of her eye confers the reader a total immersion in the rimy realms she explores. Glaciers, Arctic floe, verglas, frost and snow — I can think of no better or warmer guide to the icy ends of the Earth’ Dan Richards, author of Climbing DaysA vivid and perceptive book combining memoir, scientific and cultural history with a bewitching account of landscape and place, which will appeal to readers of Robert Macfarlane, Roger Deakin and Olivia Laing. Long captivated by the solid yet impermanent nature of ice, by its stark, rugged beauty, acclaimed poet and writer Nancy Campbell sets out from the world’s northernmost museum – at Upernavik in Greenland – to explore it in all its facets. From the Bodleian Library archives to the traces left by the great polar expeditions, from remote Arctic settlements to the ice houses of Calcutta, she examines the impact of ice on our lives at a time when it is itself under threat from climate change.The Library of Ice is a fascinating and beautifully rendered evocation of the interplay of people and their environment on a fragile planet, and of a writer’s quest to define the value of her work in a disappearing landscape.‘The writer and poet offers reflections on ice and snow that draw on art, science and history… a dreamlike book.’ – The Guardian ‘It is a sparkling and wonderful meditation on a substance we must cherish’ – The Independent ‘It is a pleasant brew infused with elements not only of travel and history, but also of memoir and personal reflection’- Literary Review‘Ms Campbell, a penniless but intrepid traveller, braves miserable bus journeys, freezing rain, dark and intense cold, but still manages to write rapturously of the beauties of the Arctic’- The Economist

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A FLAME TREE NOTEBOOK. Beautiful and luxurious the journals combine high-quality production with magnificent art. Perfect as a gift, and an essential personal choice for writers, notetakers, travellers, students, poets and diarists. Features a wide range of well-known and modern artists, with new artworks published throughout the year.BEAUTIFULLY DESIGNED. The highly crafted covers are printed on foil paper, embossed then foil stamped, complemented by the luxury binding and rose red end-papers. The covers are created by our artists and designers who spend many hours transforming original artwork into gorgeous 3d masterpieces that feel good in the hand, and look wonderful on a desk or table.PRACTICAL, EASY TO USE. Flame Tree Notebooks come with practical features too: a pocket at the back for scraps and receipts; two ribbon markers to help keep track of more than just a to-do list; robust ivory text paper, printed with lines; and when you need to collect other notes or scraps of paper the magnetic side flap keeps everything neat and tidy.THE ARTIST. The Bodleian Library is one of the oldest libraries in Europe and is the main research library of the University of Oxford.These charming, brightly-coloured story anthologies highlight the changing role of girls and women in the 1930s. Featuring cheerful illustrations of sporting, spirited girls ready for adventure, they are tangible evidence of the slow and steady social progress of the era, and the new freedoms and opportunities afforded to many women. THE FINAL WORD. As William Morris said, "Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."

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During the Second World War the Bodleian Library in Oxford acquired a set of Aramaic letters, eight sealings, and the two leather bags in which the sealed letters were once stored. The letters concern the affairs of Aršāma, satrap of Egypt in the later fifth century. Taken with other material associated with him (mostly in Aramaic, Demotic Egyptian, and Akkadian), they illuminate the Achaemenid world of which Aršāma was a privileged member and evoke a wide range of social, economic, cultural, organizational, and political perspectives, from multi-lingual communication, storage and disbursement of resources, and satrapal remuneration, to cross-regional ethnic movement, long-distance travel, religious practice, and iconographic projection of ideological messages. Particular highlights include a travel authorization (the only example of something implicit in numerous Persepolis documents), texts about the religious life of the Judaean garrison at Elephantine, Aršāma's magnificent seal (a masterpiece of Achaemenid glyptic, inherited from a son of Darius I), and echoes of temporary disturbances to Persian management of Egypt. But what is also impressive is the underlying sense of systematic coherence founded on and expressed in the use of formal, even formalized, written communication as a means of control. The Aršāma dossier is not alone in evoking that sense, but its size, variety, and focus upon a single individual give it a unique quality. Though this material has not been hidden from view, it has been insufficiently explored: it is the purpose of the three volumes of Aršāma and his World: The Bodleian Letters in Context to provide the fullest presentation and historical contextualization of this extraordinary cache yet attempted. Volume I presents and translates the letters alongside a detailed line-by-line commentary, while Volume II reconstructs the two seals that made the clay bullae that sealed the letters, with special attention to Aršāma's magnificent heirloom seal. Volume III comprises a series of thematic essays which further explore the administrative, economic, military, ideological, religious, and artistic environment to which Aršāma and the letters belonged.

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A series which is "a monumental achievement" (Review of English Studies). In 1755 Richard Rawlinson bequeathed his vast collection of books and manuscripts to the Bodleian Library. The manuscripts alone numbered over 5,000, and the 167 of these which contain Middle English prose are indexed in this Handlist. These are divided fairly evenly between religious and secular texts: Rawlinson does not seem to have been interested in any particular genre; if a book was old and deemed to be of historical interest it entered his collection, either as an acquisition or a contemporary transcription. Scriptural and devotional writing is represented by copies of the New Testament, three different works by Rolle and three by Hilton, Love's Mirror, a Primer, Sacerdos Parochialis, The Chastising of God's Children, The Mirror of Our Lady, The Mirror to Lewd Men and Women, excerpts from the works of St Catherine of Siena and St Bridget of Sweden, Mirk's Festial, other sermons,Wycliffite treatises, the only English copy known of William Thorpe's Testimony, prayers, several copies of Pore Caitiff, and more. Secular and political writing includes versions of Mandeville's Travels, John Fortescue's On the Governance of England, translations of two works by Alain Chartier, and The English Conquest of Ireland. There is a rich selection of historical prose, with ten Bruts in whole or part, royal genealogies, accounts of royal weddings and of the coronation of Richard II, descriptions of court etiquette, the deposition of Richard II, the challenge for the English throne of Henry IV and his speech of acceptance. Scientific and utilitarian prose is illustrated by Chaucer's Astrolabe, grammatical treatises, alchemical writings by Lull and Ripley, medical treatises, especially urologies, and, in a lighter vein, extracts from the J.B. Treatiseon hunting and country life, as well as separate works on hawking, angling and gardening. The abundance of recipes, medical, culinary and veterinary, singly and in collection, have been treated in this Handlist in particular detail. Sarah Ogilvie-Thomson is a former lecturer in language and medieval literature at St Edmund Hall, Oxford.

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Everyday life in early thirteenth-century England is revealed in vivid detail in this riveting collection of correspondence of people from all classes, from peasants and shopkeepers to bishops and earls. The documents presented here include letters between masters and servants, husbands and wives, neighbors and enemies, and cover a wide range of topics: politics and war, going to fairs and going to law, attending tournaments and stocking a game park, borrowing cash and doing favors for friends, investigating adultery and building a windmill. While letters by celebrated people have long been known, the correspondence of ordinary people has not survived and has generally been assumed never to have existed in the first place. Martha Carlin and David Crouch, however, have discovered numerous examples of such correspondence hiding in plain sight. The letters can be found in manuscripts called formularies—the collections of form letters and other model documents that for centuries were used to teach the arts of letter-writing and keeping accounts. The writing-masters and their students who produced these books compiled examples of all the kinds of correspondence that people of means, members of the clergy, and those who handled their affairs might expect to encounter in their business and personal lives. Tucked among the sample letters from popes to bishops and from kings to sheriffs are examples of a much more casual, ephemeral kind of correspondence. These are the low-level letters that evidently were widely exchanged, but were often discarded because they were not considered to be of lasting importance. Two manuscripts, one in the British Library and the other in the Bodleian Library, are especially rich in such documents, and it is from these collections that Carlin and Crouch have drawn the documents in this volume. They are presented here in their first printed edition, both in the original Latin and in English translation, each document splendidly contextualized in an accompanying essay.

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A richly illustrated exploration of the impact of South Asian Miniature painting on contemporary art. This book tells the dynamic story of contemporary art’s engagement with the miniature painting traditions of South Asia from the sixteenth century onwards, and the role of Britain in these developments. This is the first publication to address this remarkable painting tradition on a transhistorical and transnational scale. Readers are invited to admire the formal, technical and conceptual innovations of some of the most exciting historic and contemporary artists from South Asia, while reflecting on questions of culture and power in the entangled histories of empire and globalization. Many of the greatest collections of South Asian paintings are held in Britain, and some of the pivotal encounters that shaped this story happened in London. The process of these acquisitions and their central role within British and South Asian art histories are explored in this book. The book also demonstrates how the traditions of South Asian miniature painting have been reclaimed and reinvented by modern and contemporary artists, exploding beyond the pages of illuminated manuscripts to experimental forms that include installation, sculpture and film. While miniature painting represented a strand of cultural resistance to colonial rule in the early twentieth century, artists continue to find contemporary relevance in the possibilities offered by this tradition. Beyond the Page is richly illustrated with historic works from the Victoria & Albert Museum, the British Library, the British Museum, the Ashmolean, the Bodleian Library and the Royal Collection Trust. It also features work by artists from different generations working in dialogue with the miniature tradition, including Hamra Abbas, David Alesworth, Nandalal Bose, Noor Ali Chagani, Lubna Chowdhary, Adbur Rahman Chughtai, Samuel Fyzee-Rahamin, N.S. Harsha, Howard Hodgkin, Ali Kazim, Bhupen Khakhar, Jess MacNeil, Imran Qureshi, Nusra Latif Qureshi, Mohan Samant, Nilima Sheikh, the Singh Twins, Shahzia Sikander and Abanindranath Tagore.

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*NOW A MAJOR SKY TV SERIES. Read the novel Season 2 is based on.*Fall deeper under the spell of Diana and Matthew in the captivating second volume of the No.1 internationally bestselling ALL SOULS series, following A DISCOVERY OF WITCHES. Perfect for fans of Neil Gaiman, Diana Gabaldon and J. K. Rowling.---In a world of witches, daemons and vampires the fragile balance of peace is unravelling. Diana and Matthew's forbidden love has broken the laws dividing creatures. To discover the manuscript which holds their hope for the future, they must now travel back to the past.When Diana Bishop, descended from a line of powerful witches, discovered a significant alchemical manuscript in the Bodleian Library, she sparked a struggle in which she became bound to long-lived vampire Matthew Clairmont. Now the coexistence of witches, daemons, vampires and humans is dangerously threatened.Seeking safety, Diana and Matthew travel back in time to London, 1590. But they soon realise that the past may not provide a haven. Reclaiming his former identity as poet and spy for Queen Elizabeth, the vampire falls back in with a group of radicals known as the School of Night. Many are unruly daemons, the creative minds of the age, including playwright Christopher Marlowe and mathematician Thomas Harriot.Together Matthew and Diana scour Tudor London for the elusive manuscript Ashmole 782, and search for the witch who will teach Diana how to control her remarkable powers...Praise for Deborah Harkness:'Rich, thrilling . . . captivating' E L James'Intelligent and off-the-wall' The Sunday Times'I could lose myself in here and never want to come out' Manda Scott'A bubbling cauldron of illicit desire' Daily Mail

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*NOW A MAJOR SKY TV SERIES. Read the novel Season 2 is based on.*Fall deeper under the spell of Diana and Matthew in the captivating second volume of the No.1 internationally bestselling ALL SOULS series, following A DISCOVERY OF WITCHES. Perfect for fans of Neil Gaiman, Diana Gabaldon and J. K. Rowling.---In a world of witches, daemons and vampires the fragile balance of peace is unravelling. Diana and Matthew's forbidden love has broken the laws dividing creatures. To discover the manuscript which holds their hope for the future, they must now travel back to the past.When Diana Bishop, descended from a line of powerful witches, discovered a significant alchemical manuscript in the Bodleian Library, she sparked a struggle in which she became bound to long-lived vampire Matthew Clairmont. Now the coexistence of witches, daemons, vampires and humans is dangerously threatened.Seeking safety, Diana and Matthew travel back in time to London, 1590. But they soon realise that the past may not provide a haven. Reclaiming his former identity as poet and spy for Queen Elizabeth, the vampire falls back in with a group of radicals known as the School of Night. Many are unruly daemons, the creative minds of the age, including playwright Christopher Marlowe and mathematician Thomas Harriot.Together Matthew and Diana scour Tudor London for the elusive manuscript Ashmole 782, and search for the witch who will teach Diana how to control her remarkable powers...Praise for Deborah Harkness:'Rich, thrilling . . . captivating' E L James'Intelligent and off-the-wall' The Sunday Times'I could lose myself in here and never want to come out' Manda Scott'A bubbling cauldron of illicit desire' Daily Mail

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In 1865 the Victorian poet Matthew Arnold rejoiced in the charm of Oxford, 'that sweet City with her dreaming spires'. A century and a half later, That Sweet City offers a visual and poetic tribute to what is still one of the fairest and most enthralling places in the world. Designed in the form of seven walks across and around Oxford, and radiating out into the surrounding countryside, this book evokes the buildings and landscapes, both famous and less well-known, that have witnessed and shaped the city's history. The first sequence of pictures and poems, Seven Sights of Oxford, leads the reader (and walker) from Christ Church Meadow across the High Street to the Radcliffe Camera; thence down Broad Street to St. Giles, the University Parks and Port Meadow. The second, Seven Secret Sights, offers a circular tour of lesser-known landmarks from the Town Hall to Folly Bridge, the Old Railway Bridge and Isis Lock, the re-emergent Radcliffe Campus, Mesopotamia and The Plain. Seven Ages of Oxford, starting with the Saxon Tower of St. Michael's Church in the Cornmarket, and finishing in the University s science area in South Parks Road (via the Castle, Worcester College, Christ Church, the Sheldonian Theatre and the University Museum), provides a short and eclectic history of the city and its ancient University. Other sequences of poems and paintings include Seven Treasures of Oxford (with the Alfred Jewel and the Bodleian Library), Seven Sights around Oxford (with Otmoor, Kelmscott and Blenheim Palace) and Seven Products of Oxford (including marmalade, books and Oxfam). A final walk, Seven Gardens of Oxford, celebrates the diversity of the city s many green spaces. An introduction provides a concise history of Oxford and explains the choice of sights, the structure of the poetry and the inspiration behind the illustrations. Maps make it easy for visitors to follow the walks and find their way around the city. In words and images, That Sweet City evokes a place constantly changing yet timeless in its beauty.

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A FLAME TREE NOTEBOOK. Beautiful and luxurious the Foiled Quarto Journals combine high-quality production and FSC pages with magnificent art. Perfect as a gift, and an essential personal choice for writers, notetakers, list-makers, travellers, students, poets and diarists. Features a wide range of well-known and modern artists, with new artworks published throughout the year. A NEW SERIES. The Quarto format is named after the earliest form of European printed publication, dating back to the 1400s when Gutenberg invented the first moveable-type printing press, heralding a revolution in mass communication, spreading ideas of literature, science and philosophy of the Renaissance. We celebrate this with our range of fine art and contemporary illustrations. BEAUTIFULLY DESIGNED. The highly crafted covers are printed on foil paper, embossed then foil stamped, complemented by the luxury binding and rose red end-papers. The covers are created by our artists and designers who spend many hours transforming original artwork into gorgeous 3d masterpieces that feel good in the hand, and look wonderful on a desk, table, in the hand and in your bag. PRACTICAL, EASY TO USE. Flame Tree Notebooks come with practical features too: the high-quality, 120-gsm lined pages are FSC, Acid Free and Bleed Proof – suitable for all pen types, such as gel and rollerball. A pocket at the back for scraps and receipts, two ribbon markers to help keep track of more than just a to-do list, and a magnetic side flap helps keep everything neat and tidy. THE ARTIST. The Bodleian Library is one of the oldest libraries in Europe and is the main research library of the University of Oxford. It holds over 13 million printed items and these book spines are just a few examples of the beautiful objects in the Library’s collection. THE FINAL WORD. As William Morris said, "Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beaut

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NOW A MAJOR SKY TV SERIES.THE NUMBER ONE INTERNATIONAL AND SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER. A Discovery of Witches is the first novel in the must-read ALL SOULS series. It begins with absence and desire. It begins with blood and fear. It begins with a discovery of witches.---A world of witches, daemons and vampires.A manuscript which holds the secrets of their past and the key to their future.Diana and Matthew - the forbidden love at the heart of it.When historian Diana Bishop opens an alchemical manuscript in the Bodleian Library, it's an unwelcome intrusion of magic into her carefully ordered life. Though Diana is a witch of impeccable lineage, the violent death of her parents while she was still a child convinced her that human fear is more potent than any witchcraft. Now Diana has unwittingly exposed herself to a world she's kept at bay for years; one of powerful witches, creative, destructive daemons and long-lived vampires. Sensing the significance of Diana's discovery, the creatures gather in Oxford, among them the enigmatic Matthew Clairmont, a vampire geneticist. Diana is inexplicably drawn to Matthew and, in a shadowy world of half-truths and old enmities, ties herself to him without fully understanding the ancient line they are crossing. As they begin to unlock the secrets of the manuscript and their feelings for each other deepen, so the fragile balance of peace unravels...Fall under the spell of Diana and Matthew in the stunning first volume of the No.1 internationally bestselling ALL SOULS series.---Five reasons to read A Discovery of Witches and the All Souls series:'Rich, thrilling . . . A captivating and romantic ripping yarn' E L James'Intelligent and off-the-wall . . . irresistible to Twilight fans' Sunday Times'I could lose myself in here and never want to come out . . . Utterly enchanting on every level' Manda Scott'Exciting amounts of spells, kisses and battles, and is recounted with enchanting, page-turning panache'Marie Claire'A bubbling cauldron of illicit desire . . . an assured saga that blends romance with fantasy'Daily Mail

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