Search results for ""author merchant"

Not just a few elite scientists, but Londoners from all walks of life--lawyers, prisoners, midwives, merchants--participated in the scientific community of Elizabethan times Bestselling author Deborah Harkness (A Discovery of Witches, Shadow of Night) explores the streets, shops, back alleys, and gardens of Elizabethan London, where a boisterous and diverse group of men and women shared a keen interest in the study of nature. These assorted merchants, gardeners, barber-surgeons, midwives, instrument makers, mathematics teachers, engineers, alchemists, and other experimenters, she contends, formed a patchwork scientific community whose practices set the stage for the Scientific Revolution. While Francis Bacon has been widely regarded as the father of modern science, scores of his London contemporaries also deserve a share in this distinction. It was their collaborative, yet often contentious, ethos that helped to develop the ideals of modern scientific research.The book examines six particularly fascinating episodes of scientific inquiry and dispute in sixteenth-century London, bringing to life the individuals involved and the challenges they faced. These men and women experimented and invented, argued and competed, waged wars in the press, and struggled to understand the complexities of the natural world. Together their stories illuminate the blind alleys and surprising twists and turns taken as medieval philosophy gave way to the empirical, experimental culture that became a hallmark of the Scientific Revolution.

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Aspiring apprentice merchants Myne and Lutz have signed a contract with Benno, who has promised to sell their plant-based prototype. With his assistance, they finally have the materials and tools to start making their first batch of washi paper! And Benno wants to sell not only paper, but Myne's other inventions, such as the flower hairpins, as well. But getting involved in the world of merchants makes Myne's life more complicated than ever as she gets registered at the Merchant's Guild and catches the eye of the conniving guildmaster. The more people realize that Myne's ideas can be commodified, the more everyone wants a piece of her. Meanwhile, as Myne displays more and more of her otherworld knowledge and adult-like behavior, Lutz has grown suspicious of her real identity... What will Myne do when he demands to know who she really is? How could she ever explain that the real Myne is gone forever?

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Ages 5 and upOnce upon a time, in a land far, far away, there lived a merchant with his two daughters. The eldest daughter was spoiled and vain, and the youngest preferred to read all day. She was so pretty everyone called her "Belle." One day, the merchant got lost in the forest and stumbled upon a castle that looked enchanted. Suddenly, he stood face-to-face with the castle's sole inhabitant: a beast! The Beast would spare the merchant's life on one condition: he must send one of his daughters to live in the castle. Against her father's will, Belle went to the Beast's castle.... The cheerful Belle and the good-natured Beast come to life in this beautiful picture book by An Leysen. For everyone who loves timeless fairy tales.

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'Deeply researched and well-written' - Financial TimesIn the mid-sixteenth century, England was a small and relatively insignificant kingdom on the periphery of Europe, and it had begun to face a daunting array of social, commercial and political problems. Struggling with a single export - woollen cloth - a group of merchants formed arguably the world's first joint-stock company and set out to seek new markets and trading partners. This start-up venture transformed England in to a global power and sowed the seeds of nascent modern America. New World, Inc. is the riveting story of pilgrims, profits and the venture capitalists behind Sir Francis Drake and Sir Walter Raleigh.'Brilliantly researched and vividly told' - Liaquat Ahamed, author of the Pulitzer Prize winning Lords of Finance

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Antonio's Devils deals both historically and theoretically with the origins of modern Hebrew and Yiddish literature by tracing the progress of a few remarkable writers who, for various reasons and in various ways, cited Scripture for their own purpose, as Antonio's "devil," Shylock, does in The Merchant of Venice. By examining the work of key figures in the early history of Jewish literature through the prism of their allusions to classical Jewish texts, the book focuses attention on the magnificent and highly complex strategies the maskilim employed to achieve their polemical and ideological goals. Dauber uses this methodology to examine foundational texts by some of the Jewish Enlightenment's most interesting and important authors, reaching new and often surprising conclusions.

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A WASHINGTON POST BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR"An essential read."—The Washington Post"Essential… This book belongs on the shelf next to Merchants of Doubt, Dark Money, and Kochland." —Roy Scranton, author of Learning to Die in the Anthropocene"The petroleum industry is guilty of a Big Tobacco-style public cover-up, according to this vivid exposé."—Publishers Weekly STARRED ReviewBurning fossil fuels will cause catastrophic global warming: this is what top American oil executives were told by scientists in 1959. But they ignored that warning. Instead, they developed one of the biggest, most polluting oil sources in the world—the oil sands in Alberta, Canada. As investigative journalist Geoff Dembicki reveals in this explosive book, the decades-long conspiracy to keep the oil sands flowing into the U.S. would

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Winner of the 2023 PROSE Award for Excellence in Biological and Life Sciences and the 2023 Chautauqua Prize! Named a New York Times Notable Book and a Best Book of the Year by The Economist, Oprah Daily, BookPage, Book Riot, the New York Public Library, and more! In The Song of the Cell, the extraordinary author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Emperor of All Maladies and the #1 New York Times bestseller The Gene “blends cutting-edge research, impeccable scholarship, intrepid reporting, and gorgeous prose into an encyclopedic study that reads like a literary page-turner” (Oprah Daily).Mukherjee begins this magnificent story in the late 1600s, when a distinguished English polymath, Robert Hooke, and an eccentric Dutch cloth-merchant, Antonie van Leeuwenhoek looked down their handmade microscopes. What they saw introduced a radical conce

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African rhythms are at the heart of contemporary black Brazilian music. Surveying a musical legacy that encompasses over 400 years, Rhythms of Resistance traces the development of this rich cultural heritage. Acclaimed author Peter Fryer describes how slaves, mariners and merchants brought African music from Angola and the ports of East Africa to Latin America. In particular, they brought it to Brazil – today the country with the largest black population of any outside Africa. Fryer examines how the rhythms and beats of Africa were combined with European popular music to create a unique sound and dance tradition. Fryer focuses on the political nature of this musical crossover and the role of an African heritage in the cultural identity of Brazilian blacks today. Rhythms of Resistance is an absorbing account of a theme in global music and is rich in fascinating historical detail.

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In 1844, a young merchant from Shiraz called Sayyid ‘Ali-Muhammad declared himself the ‘gate’ (the Bab) to the Truth and, shortly afterwards, the initiator of a new prophetic cycle. His messianic call attracted a significant following across Iran and Iraq. Regarded as a threat by state and religious authorities, the Babis were subject to intense persecution and the Bab himself was executed in 1850. In this volume, leading scholars of Islam, Baha’i studies and Iranian history come together to examine the life and legacy of the Bab, from his childhood to the founding of the Baha’i faith and beyond. Among other subjects, they cover the Bab’s writings, his Qur’an commentaries, the societal conditions that underlay the Babi upheavals, the works of Babi martyr Tahirih Qurratu’l-‘Ayn, and Orientalist Edward Granville Browne’s encounters with Babi and Baha’i texts.

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Before Shanghai, there was Suzhou: a city of canals and commerce, gardens and scholars, the largest noncapital city on earth between 1400 and 1850. This book shows how, though Suzhou entered the Ming dynasty defeated and suspect, interactions between the imperial state and local elites gave rise to a network of markets that fostered high-quality local specialization. Population growth and economic expansion followed, as did the acceptance of conspicuous consumption, critical distance from the imperial state, and the dissolution of traditional barriers between scholar-officials and merchants. These developments shaped Suzhou’s artistic and literary creativity, and made possible the continued success of its sons in the imperial examinations. Thus political success, cultural creativity, and economic centrality, the author argues, enabled Suzhou not just to influence the region, but to reshape the empire.

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A wide-ranging and original introduction to the Anthropocene (the Age of Humanity) that offers fresh, theoretical insights bridging the sciences and the humanities From noted environmental historian Carolyn Merchant, this book focuses on the original concept of the Anthropocene first proposed by Paul Crutzen and Eugene Stoermer in their foundational 2000 paper. It undertakes a broad investigation into the ways in which science, technology, and the humanities can create a new and compelling awareness of human impacts on the environment. Using history, art, literature, religion, philosophy, ethics, and justice as the focal points, Merchant traces key figures and developments in the humanities throughout the Anthropocene era and explores how these disciplines might influence sustainability in the next century. Wide-ranging and accessible, this book from an eminent scholar in environmental history and philosophy argues for replacing the Age of the Anthropocene with a new Age of Sustainability.

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Hilary Green takes the reader on a journey through the complex developing trade of the Middle Ages, which is the foundation of trade today. Taking the production of wool in the abbeys of the north of England as a starting point, she follows its journey to Flanders where it was woven into a variety of textiles in the growing international marketplace of Bruges. The journey continues to Bordeaux where the wool was traded for wine, which found its way back to London where some of it was traded for more wool. She describes the trade fairs of the Champagne region of France where wool and leather goods along with salt, iron and other commodities were traded and where banking developed - and she explains why. The merchants of Genoa developed the various trade routes, whether by land over the Alps or by water via rivers or the Mediterranean. By these routes, silks and spices came from the repositories in Alexandria and before that via camel trains from Arabia. The author investigates the mysteries and intrigue of trade where silkworms were smuggled into Constantinople and precious gems and ivory were shipped from unknown locations. Arab and Indian merchants brought exotic spices - cumin, ginger, pepper, nutmeg and cinnamon - and aromatics such a myrrh and frankincense to Egypt via the Red Sea. As trade expanded and became more valuable, international relations became more sophisticated as governments moved to protect the valuable income it brought.

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Mariners made a major - but neglected - contribution to England's warfare in the middle ages. Here their role is examined anew, showing their importance. During the fourteenth century England was scarred by famine, plague and warfare. Through such disasters, however, emerged great feats of human endurance. Not only did the English population recover from starvation and disease butthousands of the kingdom's subjects went on to defeat the Scots and the French in several notable battles. Victories such as Halidon Hill, Neville's Cross, Crécy and Poitiers not only helped to recover the pride of the English chivalrous class but also secured the reputation of Edward III and the Black Prince. Yet what has been underemphasized in this historical narrative is the role played by men of more humble origins, none more so than the medievalmariner. This is unfortunate because during the fourteenth century the manpower and ships provided by the English merchant fleet underpinned every military expedition. The aim of this book is to address this gap. Its fresh approach to the sources allows the enormous contribution of the English merchant fleet to the wars conducted by Edward II and Edward III to be revealed; the author also explores the complex administrative process of raising a fleet andprovides career profiles for many mariners, examining the familial relationships that existed in port communities and the shipping resources of English ports. Craig L. Lambert is Research Assistant at the University ofHull.

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Well into the early nineteenth century, Luanda, the administrative capital of Portuguese Angola, was one of the most influential ports for the transatlantic slave trade. Between 1801 and 1850, it served as the point of embarkation for more than 535,000 enslaved Africans. In the history of this diverse, wealthy city, the gendered dynamics of the merchant community have frequently been overlooked. Vanessa S. Oliveira traces how existing commercial networks adapted to changes in the Atlantic slave trade during the first half of the nineteenth century. Slave Trade and Abolition reveals how women known as donas (a term adapted from the title granted to noble and royal women in the Iberian Peninsula) were often important cultural brokers. Acting as intermediaries between foreign and local people, they held high socioeconomic status and even competed with the male merchants who controlled the trade. Oliveira provides rich evidence to explore the many ways this Luso-African community influenced its society. In doing so, she reveals an unexpectedly nuanced economy with regard to the dynamics of gender and authority.

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A mysterious archive. A powerful enemy. And a cunning plan. Danger is part of the day job for a Librarian spy. So Irene’s hoping for a relaxing weekend. However, her jaunt to Guernsey proves no such thing. Instead of retrieving a rare book, she’s almost assassinated, Kai is poisoned and Vale barely escapes with his life. Then the attacks continue in London – targeting those connected with the Fae-dragon peace treaty.Irene knows she must stop the plot before the treaty fails. Or someone dies. But when Irene and friends are trapped underground, in a secret archive, things don’t look so good. Then an old enemy demands vengeance, and a shocking secret is revealed. Can Irene really seize victory from chaos?The Dark Archive is the seventh book in the Invisible Library series by Genevieve Cogman. Genevieve is also the author of the Sunday Times bestselling Scarlet - which reimagines the tale of the Scarlet Pimpernel, but with vampires, mages and magic. . . Praise for the series:'I absolutely loved this' - N. K. Jemisin, author of The Fifth Season'Irene is a great heroine: fiery, resourceful and no one's fool' - Guardian'Brilliant and so much fun. Skullduggery, Librarians, and dragons – Cogman keeps upping the ante on this delightful series!' - Charles Stross, author of the Merchant Princes series

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Building on scholarship regarding both biblical and early modern sexualities, Members of His Body protests the Christian defense of marital monogamy. According to the Paul who authors 1 Corinthians, believers would do well to remain single and focus instead on the messiah’s return. According to the Paul who authors Ephesians, plural marriage is the telos of Christian community. Turning to Shakespeare, Will Stockton shows how marriage functions in The Comedy of Errors, The Merchant of Venice, Othello, and The Winter’s Tale as a contested vehicle of Christian embodiment. Juxtaposing the marital theologies of the different Pauls and their later interpreters, Stockton reveals how these plays explore the racial, religious, and gender criteria for marital membership in the body of Christ. These plays further suggest that marital jealousy and paranoia about adultery result in part from a Christian theology of shared embodiment: the communion of believers in Christ. In the wake of recent arguments that expanding marriage rights to gay people will open the door to the cultural acceptance and legalization of plural marriage, Members of His Body reminds us that much Christian theology already looks forward to this end.

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The book first focuses on the way in which land use is considered a critical issue in physical urban development. Population growth and the need to develop urban areas has given rise to concerns regarding the management of natural disasters in urban communities. The authors investigate Iran's agricultural sector, particularly its current condition and trends, in an effort to assess the welfare of the community as well as the environmental quality. Additionally, this compilation aims to determine the main causes of economic development in Yazd City, reviewing the role of merchants in the historical context. The evolution of U.S. policy in Afghanistan is evaluated from the war's initiation in 2001 up to the present. Despite overtures to achieve a cease fire and on again off again talks with the Taliban, President Trump has conceded that the U.S. will remain in Afghanistan until we have either a deal or total victory, neither of which looks realistic at this time. The authors attempt to link the increase in youth population in Afghanistan to rising terrorism, addressing implications on security and policy. Following this, the US-led reconstruction efforts that followed the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan and the 2003 invasion of Iraq are described. In the penultimate chapter, the structure of law enforcement agencies in Afghanistan and their contribution to the promotion of state authority, security perception and legitimacy is evaluated. In closing, the reconstruction of the magnificent ruins of Palmyra, a World Heritage monument, is assessed.

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A super-stylish new handbook from Merchant & Mills containing all the answers to sewing’s most frequently asked questions. Providing an overview on the art of sewing, this handy volume is packed with information on the tools and materials you will need, seasoned with homegrown tips on essential good practice. Topics given the full Merchant & Mills treatment range from the planning stages through to putting the finishing touches to your project. Measuring and marking, form (including darts and gathering), seams, ease, hems, interfacing and closures such as buttons and zips are all covered. There is expert advice on using and understanding patterns, performing basic alterations, and of course plenty of tips on making the most of any dressmaker's best friend – the iron. Successful sewing is very achievable: just make sure that you have this book to hand at all times, and bear in mind the Merchant & Mills motto: do it once, do it well.

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Frederick Law Olmsted is famous for his urban landscape designs: Central Park in Manhattan, Prospect Park in Brooklyn, and Franklin Park in Boston. Olmsted devoted much of his later life to this work. What was the source of this creative energy and imagination in his fascinating years? Melvin Kalfus is the first author to examine Olmsted's troubled, sometimes tragic childhood and adolescence in a search for the inner sources of his creative imagination. Kalfus argues that Olmsted's distressing early experiences fired his ambition and led him so obsessively to seek the world's esteem through his works. Kalfus also looks at Olmsted's varied early career during which he worked as an apprentice merchant, a seaman, a farmer, a manager of a mining plantation in California, a journalist, and author of three istorically important books on slavery, and as the General Secretary of the Civil War's Sanitary Commission, and enormous project organized to provide medical aid to Union soldiers.

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A merchant’s account of his travels through an independent African state Muhammad ibn 'Umar al-Tunisi (d. 1274/1857) belonged to a family of Tunisian merchants trading with Egypt and what is now Sudan. Al-Tunisi was raised in Cairo and a graduate of al-Azhar. In 1803, at the age of fourteen, al-Tunisi set off for the Sultanate of Darfur, where his father had decamped ten years earlier. He followed the Forty Days Road, was reunited with his father, and eventually took over the management of the considerable estates granted to his father by the sultan of Darfur. In Darfur is al-Tunisi’s remarkable account of his ten-year sojourn in this independent state. In Volume Two al-Tunisi describes the geography of the region, the customs of Darfur’s petty kings, court life and the clothing of its rulers, marriage customs, eunuchs, illnesses, food, hunting, animals, currencies, plants, magic, divination, and dances. In Darfur combines literature, history, ethnography, linguistics, and travel adventure, and most unusually for its time, includes fifty-two illustrations, all drawn by the author. In Darfur is a rare example of an Arab description of Africa on the eve of Western colonization and vividly evokes a world in which travel was untrammeled by bureaucracy, borders were fluid, and startling coincidences appear almost mundane. A bilingual Arabic-English edition.

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'A lovely debut from a gifted young author. Violet Moller brings to life the ways in which knowledge reached us from antiquity to the present day in a book that is as delightful as it is readable.' Peter Frankopan, author of The Silk RoadsIn The Map of Knowledge Violet Moller traces the journey taken by the ideas of three of the greatest scientists of antiquity – Euclid, Galen and Ptolemy – through seven cities and over a thousand years. In it, we follow them from sixth-century Alexandria to ninth-century Baghdad, from Muslim Cordoba to Catholic Toledo, from Salerno’s medieval medical school to Palermo, capital of Sicily’s vibrant mix of cultures, and – finally – to Venice, where that great merchant city’s printing presses would enable Euclid’s geometry, Ptolemy’s system of the stars and Galen’s vast body of writings on medicine to spread even more widely. In tracing these fragile strands of knowledge from century to century, from east to west and north to south, Moller also reveals the web of connections between the Islamic world and Christendom, connections that would both preserve and transform astronomy, mathematics and medicine from the early Middle Ages to the Renaissance. Vividly told and with a dazzling cast of characters, The Map of Knowledge is an evocative, nuanced and vibrant account of our common intellectual heritage.'An endlessly fascinating book, rich in detail, capacious and humane in vision.' Stephen Greenblatt, author of The Swerve: How the World Became Modern

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MERCHANT VS. MONSTER Noir needs to make the most of the last days of summer. A letter from his older brother Gillan, studying to be a merchant in a neighboring kingdom, gives him the perfect idea: road trip! Accompanied by his friends, Noir heads to the town of Honest. But when they arrive, they find a city besieged by monsters! Noir’s peaceful summer vacation is about to get way more exciting than he bargained for!

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Crusade is a richly detailed historical adventure, from Carnegie shortlisted author, Elizabeth Laird.Two boys. Two faiths. One unholy war . . .When Adam's mother dies unconfessed, he pledges to save her soul with dust from the Holy Land. Employed as a dog-boy for the local knight, Adam grabs the chance to join the Crusade to reclaim Jerusalem. He burns with determination to strike down the infidel enemy . . .Salim, a merchant's son, is leading an uneventful life in the port of Acre - until news arrives that a Crusader attack is imminent. To keep Salim safe, his father buys him an apprenticeship with an esteemed, travelling doctor. But Salim's employment leads him to the heart of Sultan Saladin's camp - and into battle against the barbaric and unholy invaders . . .

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This timely book examines the authorization of Shari?ah-compliant intermediaries as either credit institutions or as investment companies in the European Union.The contributing authors explore the key topics of this area through differing yet parallel perspectives ? for example, comparing economic and legal standpoints, looking at both European and national levels and considering both academic and technical approaches. The book discusses the common origin of Islamic and Western traditions in commercial and banking transactions, reviewing a period in which the Italian merchants and their organizations drove the rebirth of post-medieval society in trade and law. The editors investigate whether the Islamic banking and financial model complies with the European framework, spelling out the different experiences in single Member States (Germany, France, Italy, and the United Kingdom). Notwithstanding the obstacles to being authorized as domestic credit institutions, they conclude that the access of Islamic intermediaries is suitable and may have positive effects on European integration, as well as increasing the competition among the stand-still operators and evoking the ethical dimension of banking and finance. The book also highlights how Islamic banking would make the industry more inclusive.This multidisciplinary book will appeal greatly to economics and legal scholars with an interest in European and international banking and financial law, as well as postgraduate students in international law and banking law. Practitioners and regulators will also find this book an invaluable resource.

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In Emporium, Aditi Machado investigates transnationalism and translation in poems that follow a merchant woman as she travels a twenty-first century “silk route.” As on the original silk route, this merchant is engaged in economic transactions but also cultural exchanges, un-monetizeable reciprocities, the sensory excesses of the marketplace: coins moving from hand to hand, the smell of food and sweat infusing the air, the “noise” of translation and multilingualism. Is this tradeswoman in control of her “destiny”/business or is she a commodity of impenetrable global forces? Her investigative, digressive travel seems a way to interrogate history and money and her own entanglement in such irresistible threads.

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Dürer's Lost Masterpiece tracks the history of a turning point in the career of the celebrated German artist Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528), when he stopped painting altarpieces after arguing with a merchant patron over payment. As an eloquent homage to Dürer´s life, it brings us closer to the creation and meaning of his paintings than ever before. Dürer's Lost Masterpiece considers the celebrated German artist Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528), his time and his legacy. It tracks the history of a crucial, and often overlooked, turning point in his career, when Dürer stopped painting altarpieces after falling out with the Frankfurt merchant Jacob Heller over a commission. The story of this painting, as Dürer´s lost masterpiece, functions as a lens through which to view the new relationship developing between art, collecting and commerce in Europe up to the Thirty Years´ War (1618-1648) when global trade and cultural exchanges were increasing. At the heart of the book is the argument that merchants, and their mentalities, were crucial for the making of Renaissance art and its legacy for modern art. The book draws on a decade of research, and uniquely draws the reader into the rich emotional worlds of three merchants each of whom typified the evolving relationship between art and commerce in that entrepreneurial, and often ruthless, age. It brings to life Dürer´s determined fight for creative makers to be adequately paid and explores the big questions about how European societies came to value the arts and crafts that remain relevant to our time.

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Over a remarkable career Bernard Bailyn has reshaped our understanding of the early American past. Inscribing his superb scholarship with passion and imagination honed by a commitment to rigour, Bailyn captures the particularity of the past and its broad significance in precise, elegant prose. His transformative work has ranged from a new reckoning with the ideology that powered the opposition to British authority in the American Revolution to a sweeping account of the peopling of America and the critical nurturing of a new field, the history of the Atlantic world. Illuminating History is the most personal of Bailyn’s works. It is in part an intellectual memoir of the significant turns in an immensely productive and influential scholarly career. It is also alive with people whose actions touched the long arc of history. Among the dramatic human stories that command our attention: a struggling Boston merchant tormented by the tensions between capitalist avarice and a constrictive Puritan piety; an ordinary shopkeeper who in a unique way feverishly condemned British authority as corrupt and unworthy of public confidence; a charismatic German Pietist who founded a cloister in the Pennsylvania wilderness famous for its strange theosophy, its spartan lifestyle, and its rich musical and artistic achievement. And the good townspeople of Petersham, whose response in 1780 to a draft Massachusetts constitution speaks directly to us through a moving insistence on individual freedoms in the face of an imposing central authority. Here is vivid history and an illuminating self-portrait from one of the most eminent historians of our time.

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One of the world's greatest fairy tales is re-told in a graphic-novel format. In a far-away kingdom, there lives an Emperor who prizes fancy clothes above all else. He buys suit after suit made of the most expensive materials instead of tending to his threadbare kingdom. Then, one day, two travelling merchants offer to make the Emperor a special suit that has magical powers. The merchants, however, are not who they claim to be, and the suit has one major flaw, no one can see it!

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So funny -- Nabokov meets Spinal Tap. - Stephen MerchantBrilliant, brilliant, brilliant. - Tim KeyAbsolutely miraculous. - Jesse EisenbergA brain-swirlingly funny quest. - Robert PopperRichard Ayoade's fictional quest to rescue Harauld Hughes the almost mythical mid-century playwright from obscurity.The gifted filmmaker, corduroy activist and amateur dentist, Richard Ayoade, first chanced upon a copy of The Two-Hander Trilogy by Harauld Hughes in a second-hand bookshop. At first startled by his uncanny resemblance to the author's photo, he opened the volume and was electrified. Terse, aggressive, and elliptical, what was true of Ayoade was also true of Hughes's writing, which encompassed stage, screen, and some of the shortest poems ever published.Ayoade embarked on a documentary, The Unfinished Harauld Hughes, to understand the unfathomable collapse of Hughes's final film O Bedlam! O Be

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“In an old house in Paris that was covered with vines lived twelve little girls in two straight lines the smallest one was Madeline.” Nothing frightens Madeline—not tigers, not even mice. With its endearing, courageous heroine, cheerful humor, and wonderful, whimsical drawings of Paris, the Madeline stories are true classics that continue to charm readers even after 75 years!It's the night before Christmas and everyone is sick in bed. All except brave Madeline, who is up and about and feeling just fine. Taking care of eleven little girls and Miss Clavel is hard work, but when Madeline finds help from a magical merchant, the girls embark on a Christmas journey that will surely make them forget their sniffles and sneezes. Ludwig Bemelmans (1898-1962) was the author of the beloved Madeline books, including Madeline, a Caldecott Honor Book, and Madeline's Rescue, winner of the Caldecott Medal.

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Early modern, long-distance trade was fraught with risk and uncertainty, driving merchants to seek means (that is, institutions) to reduce them. In the traditional historiography on Spanish colonial trade, the role of risk is largely ignored. Instead, the guild merchants are depicted as anti-competitive monopolists who manipulated markets and exploited colonial consumers. Jeremy Baskes argues that much of the commercial behavior interpreted by modern historians as predatory was instead designed to reduce the uncertainty and risk of Atlantic world trade. This book discusses topics from the development and use of maritime insurance in eighteenth- century Spain to the commercial strategies of Spanish merchants; the traditionally misunderstood effects of the 1778 promulgation of "comercio libre," and the financial chaos and bankruptcies that ensued; the economic rationale for the Spanish flotillas; and the impact of war and privateering on commerce and business decisions. By elevating risk to the center of focus, this multifaceted study makes a number of revisionist contributions to the late colonial economic history of the Spanish empire.

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A new translation of Nobel Prize-winning author Halldór Laxness's masterpieceLate one snowy midwinter night, in a remote Icelandic fishing village, a penniless woman arrives by boat. She comes with her daughter, the young but gutsy Salka Valka. The two must forge a life in this remote place, where everyone is at the mercy of a single wealthy merchant, and where everything revolves around fish. After her mother's tragic death, Salka grows into a fiercely independent-minded adult - cutting off her hair, educating herself and becoming an advocate for the town's working class. A coming-of-age story, a feminist tale, a lament for Iceland's poor - this is the funny, tender, epic story of Salka Valka. 'Laxness is a poet who writes to the edges of the pages, a visionary who allows us a plot' Daily TelegraphTRANSLATED BY PHILIP ROUGHTON

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Long overdue, this is the first-ever biography of Thomas Barclay (1728-93), the first American consul to serve the United States abroad and the first representative to successfully negotiate for America in North Africa, then known as Barbary. It is the account of an Ulster-born immigrant earning his fortune as a Philadelphia merchant and then losing it as he gives priority to his adopted country's fight to gain and build its independence. Thomas Barclay's association with Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and John Adams brings new insights into the personalities of these men and the international issues they and America faced when peace returned - among them the Barbary corsairs. Challenged by the absence of Barclay letter-books and collections of private writings, the authors traveled widely and dug deeply to tap primary source material in the U.S., Great Britain, France, Holland, Spain, Portugal, and Morocco.

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From Sunday Times Bestselling author Ben Kane comes a collection of short stories:Sands of the ArenaCan a wet-behind-the-ears gladiator survive a bloody contest ordered by Emperor Caligula?The ShrineCenturion Tullus discovers that Fate will always hold him in her grip.The ArenaLegionary Piso's much anticipated payday plays out very differently than he expected.Eagles in the EastCaught up in a bloody rebellion, Centurion Tullus battles to keep his men alive.Eagles in the WildernessBored with retirement, Centurion Tullus takes service with an amber merchant, voyaging to unknown, dangerous lands far beyond the empire.Hannibal: Good OmensHistory's most famous general seeks the gods' approval before his war with Rome.The MarchRomulus and Tarquinius travel to the ends of the earth, searching for their lost friend Brennus.

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The Plum in the Golden Vase (also known as The Golden Lotus) was published in the early seventeenth century and may be the first long work of Chinese fiction written by a single (though anonymous) author. Featuring both complex structural features and psychological and emotional realism, the novel centers on the rich merchant Ximen Qing and his household and describes the physical surroundings and material objects of a Ming Dynasty city. In part a social, political, and moral critique, the novel reflects on hierarchical power relations of family and state and the materialism of life at the time.The essays in this volume provide ideas for teaching the novel from a variety of approaches, from questions of genre, intertextuality, and the novel's reception to material culture, family and social dynamics, and power structures in sexual relations. Insights into the novel's representation of Buddhism, Chinese folk religion, legal culture, class, slavery, and obscenity are offered throughout the volume.

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Discover the 2023 Winner of the Historical Writers' Association Gold Crown Award – an atmospheric and suspenseful tale of intoxicating art and dizzying ambition, forbidden love and twisted obsession in Renaissance Venice – Damian Dibben's kaleidescopic The Colour Storm 'A glorious, exuberant read' THE TIMES'Addictive, ambitious and knife sharp. A compelling thriller and a celebration of art. Ravishing' RACHEL JOYCE'A rich and rousing tale of art, love, rivalry and obsession in Renaissance Venice' CHLOË ASHBY, AUTHOR OF WET PAINT'An engaging thriller and a compelling exploration of an artist's obsession with love and colour'SUNDAY TIMES_______Venice, 1510.The world's greatest artists gather to enjoy fame, fortune, and colour. When a wealthy merchant discovers a mysterious new pigment, he knows it would create a masterpiece in the right hands.For struggling artist Giorgione 'Zorzo' Barbarelli, success is far from reach. Until he's commissioned by the merchant to paint a portrait of his wife, Sybille.Impress him, and Zorzo could acquire the most coveted colour in the world - and write his name in history.But it is Sybille whose eye he catches. And when their relationship drags Zorzo into a conspiracy spanning the entire continent, it is far more than his career in danger . . ._______'Art and ambition, love and obsession all come into play in this compelling and spellbinding tale set in Renaissance Venice' STYLIST'An intoxicating story about an incredible period in history' THE SUN'A terrific book . . . Absorbing, exciting and, dare I say it, colourful. An original tale told beautifully'A. D. SWANSTON'Hugely evocative, it's a love story, it's a thriller, it's a fantastic page turner' SOPHIE HAYDOCK, AUTHOR OF THE FLAMES'An alluring Renaissance mystery of rivalry in love and art, where the gothic dank darkness of Venice is steeped in dreams of exquisite colour'ESSIE FOXRead this extraordinary, award-winning tale of colour, art, life, love and dangerous obsession now.Praise for Damian Dibben'An epic tale of love, of courage, of hope' Evening Standard'I was captivated from the beginning' Rachel Joyce, bestselling author of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry'Original, ambitious, moving' Stylist 'Bask in the brilliance' The Mail on Sunday

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"An absolutely enchanting tale . . . I adored it." Tamzin Merchant, author of The HatmakersA bold and evocative new adventure novel from Cerrie Burnell, celebrating difference and found family. Perfect for fans of Sophie Anderson, Katherine Rundell and Catherine Doyle. Silverthorne is a place of secrets. A forest of twisting paths and tangled thorns. A castle with locked towers and whispers of tragedy. A village trapped between terrors known and unknown. But something is stirring in the leaves . . .Saffy is a good girl, tired of being told to stick to the forest paths, and always follow the rules.Aurelia is a hidden girl, locked in a castle tower, dreaming of escaping the fate she's told awaits her.Wild Rose is a fierce girl, raised by wolves, full of spells and fearlessness and cunning.Together, they will change life in Silverthorne forever."Wildly exciting and wickedly whimsical . . . a story as warming and delicious as stolen porridge." Hana Tooke, author of The Unadoptables"One of the most delightful stories I've read in years. Burnell's writing sparkles like starlight, guiding you through a wild fairy tale brimming with friendship, magic and hope." Maria Kuzniar, author of The Ship of Shadows series"A story of girls, glorious girls, in all their feisty, feminine brilliance." Nizrana Farook, author of The Girl Who Stole an Elephant

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Cities of Commerce develops a model of institutional change in European commerce based on urban rivalry. Cities continuously competed with each other by adapting commercial, legal, and financial institutions to the evolving needs of merchants. Oscar Gelderblom traces the successive rise of Bruges, Antwerp, and Amsterdam to commercial primacy between 1250 and 1650, showing how dominant cities feared being displaced by challengers while lesser cities sought to keep up by cultivating policies favorable to trade. He argues that it was this competitive urban network that promoted open-access institutions in the Low Countries, and emphasizes the central role played by the urban power holders--the magistrates--in fostering these inclusive institutional arrangements. Gelderblom describes how the city fathers resisted the predatory or reckless actions of their territorial rulers, and how their nonrestrictive approach to commercial life succeeded in attracting merchants from all over Europe. Cities of Commerce intervenes in an important debate on the growth of trade in Europe before the Industrial Revolution. Challenging influential theories that attribute this commercial expansion to the political strength of merchants, this book demonstrates how urban rivalry fostered the creation of open-access institutions in international trade.

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Cities of Commerce develops a model of institutional change in European commerce based on urban rivalry. Cities continuously competed with each other by adapting commercial, legal, and financial institutions to the evolving needs of merchants. Oscar Gelderblom traces the successive rise of Bruges, Antwerp, and Amsterdam to commercial primacy between 1250 and 1650, showing how dominant cities feared being displaced by challengers while lesser cities sought to keep up by cultivating policies favorable to trade. He argues that it was this competitive urban network that promoted open-access institutions in the Low Countries, and emphasizes the central role played by the urban power holders--the magistrates--in fostering these inclusive institutional arrangements. Gelderblom describes how the city fathers resisted the predatory or reckless actions of their territorial rulers, and how their nonrestrictive approach to commercial life succeeded in attracting merchants from all over Europe. Cities of Commerce intervenes in an important debate on the growth of trade in Europe before the Industrial Revolution. Challenging influential theories that attribute this commercial expansion to the political strength of merchants, this book demonstrates how urban rivalry fostered the creation of open-access institutions in international trade.

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Roy Rogers may have been Republic's "King of the Cowboys," but he was lesser nobility when it came to licensed merchandise. The "King of the Cowboy Merchandisers" was Hopalong Cassidy. In the three and one-half year period beginning in late 1949 and ending after the 1952 Christmas season Hoppy rode so far ahead of the pack that his competition had to eat his dust. By early 1950s over a hundred manufacturers were producing Hopalong Cassidy licensed products. No matter where one turned, there was Hoppy. It was a Hopalong Cassidy era. Now Hoppy has found renewed interest among collectors. The support is multi-layered. Prices across the board are at record levels. Common pieces have doubled or tripled in value over the past five years. Scarcer pieces have risen ten times or more. This comprehensive new book by one America's foremost authorities on antiques in general, and Hoppy in particular, will introduce you to the various collecting categories within the wonderful world of Hoppy collectibles and allow you to cast your cares aside while leisurely strolling down nostalgia lane. Packed with useful information, it also has beautiful color photographs of most of the merchandise bearing the Hopalong Cassidy name. If you are old enough to have grown up with Hoppy, you will think "I owned one of those" or "I remember one of those." If you are not, you will be moved to say - "Wow! That's neat. I won't mind owning one."

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For eighteen months during the Second World War, the Canadian military interned 1,145 prisoners of war in Red Rock, Ontario (about 100 kilometres northeast of Thunder Bay). Camp R interned friend and foe alike: Nazis, anti-Nazis, Jews, soldiers, merchant seamen, and refugees whom Britain feared might comprise Hitler’s rumoured “fifth column” of alien enemies residing within the Commonwealth. For the first time and in riveting detail, the author illuminates the conditions in one of Canada’s forgotten POW camps. Backed by interviews and meticulous archival research, Zimmermann fleshes out this rich history in an accessible, lively manner. The Little Third Reich on Lake Superior will captivate military and political historians as well as non-specialists interested in the history of POWs and internment in Canada.

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Having narrowly escaped financial ruin, Lawrence turns his attention to helping Holo find her ancient homeland in the North. But how long can a traveling merchant afford to wander the countryside looking for a village that he suspects may have ceased to exist long ago? When a rival merchant sets his sights on Lawrence's beautiful companion, though, can Lawrence truly be confident that Holo will remain by his side? Has the time come when Lawrence must ask himself whether his relationship with the Wisewolf is business or pleasure?

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They will have justice. They will show their power. They will not burn.'Three women's fight for survival in a time of madness' Kiran Millwood Hargrave, author of The MerciesNorway, 1662. A dangerous time to be a woman, when even dancing can lead to accusations of witchcraft. After recently widowed Zigri's affair with the local merchant is discovered, she is sent to the fortress at Vardø to be tried as a witch.Zigri's daughter Ingeborg sets off into the wilderness to try to bring her mother back home. Accompanying her on this quest is Maren - herself the daughter of a witch - whose wild nature and unconquerable spirit gives Ingeborg the courage to venture into the unknown, and to risk all she has to save her family.Also captive in the fortress is Anna Rhodius, once the King of Denmark's mistress, who has been sent in disgrace to the island of Vardø. What will she do - and who will she betray - to return to her privileged life at court?These Witches of Vardø are stronger than even the King. In an age weighted against them, they refuse to be victims. They will have their justice. All they need do is show their power.'An intricately woven, timeless novel about prejudice, misogyny, freedom and the power and strength we can find within' - Christy Lefteri, author of The Beekeeper of Aleppo'A passionate indictment of the patriarchy ... a vibrant exaltation of the resilience of women ... Anya Bergman summons a historic witch trial with breathtaking detail and immediacy' Hannah Kent, author of Burial Rites'Brilliant and powerful. Haunting and beautifully written. A complex and gripping novel reclaiming and retelling the stories of the women accused of witchcraft in Norway. Hugely atmospheric. Read it!' - Liz Hyder, author of The Gifts

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In late 1913 the newly formed Federal League declared itself a major league in competition with the established National and American Leagues. Backed by some of America’s wealthiest merchants and industrialists, the new organization posed a real challenge to baseball’s prevailing structure. For the next two years the well-established leagues fought back furiously in the press, in the courts, and on the field. The story of this fascinating and complex historical battle centers on the machinations of both the owners and the players, as the Federals struggled for profits and status, and players organized baseball’s first real union. Award winning author, Daniel R. Levitt gives us the most authoritative account yet published of the short-lived Federal League, the last professional baseball league to challenge the National League and American League monopoly.

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This book is a detailed comparative study of the decorative work - figurehead, topside ornamentation and stern gallery design - carried by the ships of the major maritime states of Europe in the zenith of the sailing era. It covers both warships and the most prestigious merchant ships, the East Indiamen of the great chartered companies. The work began life in the year 2000 when the author was commissioned to carry out research for an ambitious project to build a full-size replica of a Swedish East Indiaman, which produced a corpus of information whose relevance stretched way beyond the immediate requirements of accurately decorating the replica. In tracking the artistic influences on European ship decoration, it became clear that this was essentially the story of the baroque style, its dissemination from France, and its gradual transformation into distinct national variations in Britain, the Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden. It is an inherently visual subject and the book illustrates developments with numerous photographs of contemporary ship models, paintings and plans, as well as the author's own interpretive illustrations of details. As the first major work on the topic for nearly a century, it will be of obvious appeal to ship modellers and historians, but with comparative examples drawn from architecture and sculpture, it also makes a broader contribution to the history of the applied arts.

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This lavishly illustrated volume of essays introduces a fascinating array of subjects, each exploring an aspect of the far-reaching "mercantile effect" and its impact across western Asia in the early modern era. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the increased movement of merchants and goods from China to Europe brought desirable commodities to new markets, but also spread ideas, tastes, and technologies across western Asia as never before. Through the newly-established Dutch, English, and French East India companies, as well as much older mercantile networks, commodities including silk, ivory, books, and glazed porcelains were transported both east and west. The Mercantile Effect shows a fascinating array of trade objects and the customs and traditions of traders that brought about a period of intense cultural interchange.

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With Red Smoking Mirror, Nick Hunt has created the love child of JG Ballard and Ursula K Le Guin' - Joanna Pocock, author of SurrenderShortlisted in the 2024 Edward Stanford Awards for the Viking Award for Fiction with a Sense of PlaceThe year is 1521 in the Mexica city of Tenochtitlan. Twenty-nine years earlier, Islamic Spain never fell to the Christians, and Andalus launched a voyage of discovery to the New Maghreb.For two decades the Jewish merchant Eli Ben Abram, who led the first ships across the sea, has maintained a delicate peace in the Moorish enclave of Moctezuma's breathtaking capital, assisted by his Nahua wife Malinala. But the emperor has been acting strangely, sacrifices are increasing at the temples, a mysterious sickness is spreading through the city, and there are rumours of a hostile army crossing the seaA bravura reimagining of an alternate history, Red Smoking M

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A moving saga about love and forgiveness from a bestselling author. Perfect for fans of Dilly Court, Sheila Newberry and Rosie Goodwin.Abby Reed, grieving after the loss of her mother, finds an unexpected source of comfort exploring the rugged, snowy countryside with the brooding Gillan Collingwood, son of a local shipping merchant. It isn't long before she begins to hope that she and Gill might someday be more than friends . . . But then Gill meets his elder brother's new wife Helen, and falls instantly, deeply in love with her. Abby is shattered by the news and throws herself into an imprudent love affair. Her impulse will take her away from the frosty wilds of her homeland to London's glittering social scene . . . but can she ever forget the boy she left behind? A sparkling winter wonderland of a novel - the perfect fireside read!

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