The Queen's Atlas, Medieval Manuscripts, and Ursula K. Le Guin's Cats: November Books Roundup
Unabridged: The Thrill of and Threat to the Modern Dictionary by Stefan Fatsis
Our ongoing look at new books that have recently caught the eye of our print and online editors this month.
The Queen’s Atlas: Saxton’s Elizabethan Masterpiece by David Fletcher
A richly illustrated book featuring all of late Tudor cartographer-farmer Christopher Saxton’s groundbreaking maps of England and Wales, and what it shows about life in the 16th century. From Bodleian Libraries Publishing.
A Corner of a Foreign Field edited by Fiona Waters
An illustrated anthology including 180 restored black and white photographs of First World War poetry featuring the usual suspects but also including a focus on the women on the Home Front with poems by Nina Macdonald, M. Winfred Wedgwood, Jessie Pope and Helen Parry Eden. Published by Atlantic.
A Born Writer: Juanita Harrison and Her Beautiful World by Cathryn Halverson
From the University of Massachusetts Press, this is the first biographical survey of the Black travel writer (My Great, Wide, Beautiful World, 1936, was an huge seller) who roamed around the US and then Cuba, Fance, Spain, Egypt, India, Japan, and South America.
Paper Jane: 250 Years of Austen edited by Janine Barchas, Mary Crawford, and Sandra Clark
This accompanies the exhibition of the same name running at The Grolier Club, a study of Jane Austen's success and how her books have continued to be interpreted up to the present day.
Richard Aldington: Versatile Man of Letters by Simon Hewett
Another Grolier publication of its 2025 exhibition raising awareness of the British man of letters Richard Aldington (1892–1962). It features a bibliography of Aldington’s publications, as well as serving as a catalog of the exhibition.
Unabridged: The Thrill of and Threat to the Modern Dictionary by Stefan Fatsis
An intriguing first-hand account of how the Merriam-Webster is put together by the author of the competitive Scrabble bestseller Word Freak who also looks back at the ups and downs in its history, other dictionaries such as the OED, and modern dictionary collectors. Published by Grove Atlantic.
Shirley Graham Du Bois: Artist, Activist, and Author in the African Diaspora edited by Annette K. Joseph-Gabriel and Phillip Luke Sinitiere
An assessment through a series of essays of the cultural significance of novelist, playwright, and composer Graham Du Bois in terms of her work and her impact as a rights and peace activist. From the University of Pennsylvania Press
Architecture for Reading in Public: Henri Labrouste's Bibliotheque Sainte-Genevieve by Neil Levine
Levine looks at how Paris's leading university library was built in the 19th century and its wider effect on architecture since it was finished in 1850 as well as the reading public. Published by Yale University Press.
Medieval English Manuscripts and Literary Forms by Jessica Brantley
If you missed the 2022 hardback edition then here's the paperback version from the University of Pennsylvania Press, an introduction to medieval manuscripts with plenty of illustrations and case studies including the St. Albans Psalter and The Book of Margery Kempe.
Book of Lives by Margaret Atwood
One of the literary memoirs of the year. Published byDoubleday
Ursula K. Le Guin's Book of Cats
Collected poems, thoughts, and artwork from the noted literary cat lover, including The Art of Bunditsu, Le Guin’s cat comic book Supermouse Comix!, and letters between her cat and her daughter's. Published by Library of America
When You Listen to This Song: On Memory, Loss, and Writing by Lola Lafon (translated by Lauren Elkin)
A personal response from the French writer to her overnight stay in 2021 in the Annex in Amsterdam where Anne Frank and her family hid from the Nazis and in which she wrote her diary. From Yale University Press.
