It is easy to forget in our own day of cheap paperbacks and mega-bookstores that, until very recently, books were luxury items. Those who could not afford to buy had to borrow, share, obtain secondhand, inherit, or listen to others reading. This book examines how people acquired and read books from the sixteenth century to the present, focusing on the personal relationships between readers and the volumes they owned. Margaret Willes considers a selection of private and public libraries across the period--most of which have survived--showing the diversity of book owners and borrowers, from...
It is easy to forget in our own day of cheap paperbacks and mega-bookstores that, until very recently, books were luxury items. Those who could not...
In the century between the accession of Elizabeth I and the restoration of Charles II, a horticultural revolution took place in England, making it a leading player in the European horticultural game. Ideas were exchanged across networks of gardeners, botanists, scholars, and courtiers, and the burgeoning vernacular book trade spread this new knowledge still further--reaching even the growing number of gardeners furnishing their more modest plots across the verdant nation and its young colonies in the Americas.
Margaret Willes introduces a plethora of garden enthusiasts, from the...
In the century between the accession of Elizabeth I and the restoration of Charles II, a horticultural revolution took place in England, making it ...
