The Life and Times of Hannah Crafts: The True Story of The Bondwoman's Narrative by Gregg Hecimovich
A study of the first Black female novelist and her life as an enslaved woman, with a forward by Henry Louis Gates Jr. In 1857, Crafts escaped enslavement on a North Carolina plantation and, in hiding, worked on a manuscript that would make her famous long after her death. The novel, The Bondwoman’s Narrative, was first published in 2002 to great acclaim.
Shakespeare's First Folio: 400th Anniversary Facsimile Edition
A full-size facsimile of one of the most complete early copies of the First Folio, selected and luxuriously produced by the British Library. This slipcased edition includes a six-page booklet with an introduction by the British Library’s Adrian Edwards, Head of the Printed Heritage Collections at The British Library, and Tanya Kirk, Lead Curator of Printed Heritage Collections
The Manuscripts Club by Christopher de Hamel
From the author of the hugely popular Meetings with Remarkable Manuscripts, a focus on the men and women who made, collected and preserved manuscripts over the last thousand years, with a cast of monks, booksellers, antiquaries, princes, rabbis, and forgers.
Chaucer Here and Now edited by Marion Turner
This ties in with an exhibition of the same name at the Bodleian Library which opens December 8. An overview of Chaucer through the ages looking at wartime Chaucer, postcolonial Chaucer, feminist Chaucer, misogynist Chaucer, Protestant Chaucer, imperial Chaucer, children’s Chaucer, radical Chaucer, and conservative Chaucer. Featuring beautiful illustrations of early manuscripts and rare editions. Marion Turner holds the J.R.R. Tolkien Chair of English Literature and Language at the University of Oxford. Her most recent book is The Wife of Bath: A Biography (2023).
The Book by Design edited by P. J. M. Marks and Stephen Parkin
An exploration of the development of book design using treasured volumes in the British Library collections, looking at unusual book formats, interesting bindings and materials, as well as particular design elements and trends from different periods and cultures.
Albertus, Baskerville, and Comic Sans by Simon Garfield
A biography of three important typefaces in three separate volumes (an ABC...) focusing on Albertus (the face of a thousand of book jackets), Comic Sans (one of the most controversial typefaces), and Baskerville (which includes one of the first powerful women of the printing world, Sarah Baskerville).
