David Brown Book Company

Emblematic paintings from Sweden's age of greatness; Nils Bielke and the Neo-Stoic gallery at Skokloster.

Held in the collection of Skokloster Castle in central Sweden is a series of 18 paintings that are based upon emblematic plates found in Otto Vænius's Emblemata Horatiana (Antwerp, 1607). In this study, McKeown (King's College School, Wimbledon) discusses the paintings within the context of the micro-history of the aristocratic families they belonged to. In the second part of the volume, b&w reproductions of the paintings are presented, along with reproductions of their sources and transcriptions of the commentaries that accompanied the emblems in their original printed context. Distributed in North America by The David Brown Book Co. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Emblemata Sacra; the rhetoric and hermeneutics of illustrated sacred discourse.

Inspired by a conference that took place in January 2005 in Leuvan and Louvain-la-Neuve, these 38 papers focus on the relationship between Christian sacred discourse and images, exploring the problematic combination of text and image at spiritual, theological, didactic, moral and political levels. General topics include historical and methodological issues in the study of emblems and spiritual images, the exegesis of two central symbols systems in Christianity (the Scriptures and creation), the image in absentia (in which the iconoclastic image contains conflict), the rhetoric and poetics of the image, and the use of figures in determines contexts, such as those which are staged or incarnated, those in which figures support polemics, and those which are "efficient," or most understandable from the nineteenth century onward. Distributed in North American by The David Brown Book Co. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Euphrates River Valley settlement; the Carchemish sector in the third millennium BC.

It was densely populated in its time, about 5,000 years ago, but it is archeologically inaccessible. Carchemish was one of the great capital cities of the ancient Near East, but most of our information about it comes from rescue excavations (conducted upon the building of new dams) which revealed ceremonial monuments, mortuary evidence, fortified settlements and temples as well as material in Carchemish hinterlands, pastoral nomads, ranked societies and state formation. The 18 papers here include overviews of regional dimensions, including evidence of geopolitics and social-cultural identity, settlements of the middle Euphrates and Sajur River basins, including evidence from mounds about Bronze age life and on rulers from terraces, and material culture in its broader context, including the evidence from metal artifacts, sealing practices, ceramics, luxury wares and the place of fruit stands in Bronze Age cultural life. Distributed in North America by The David Brown Book Co. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Excavations at Launceston Castle, Cornwall.

Saunders directed the intermittent excavations at the castle from 1961 to 1983, which yielded valuable information about the medieval castle and its environs, and contributed insights to castle studies in Europe generally. Many of the findings have been made available previously — in the on-site museum and editions of the English Heritage guidebook, for example — but here they are all brought together for the first time. Others members of the team also contribute chapters or sections. Distributed in North America by The David Brown Book Company. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Excavations at St. James's Priory, Bristol.

With help from colleagues, Jackson reports on excavations between 1989 and 1995 of the Benedictine priory of St. James, which was established just outside the medieval city of Bristol about 1129. They also include information from observing landscaping of parish burial grounds in 1997. The buildings, the burials, and the artefacts found are described and often illustrated with photographs or drawings. Distributed in North America by The David Brown Book Co. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Excavating Catalhöyük; South, North and KOPAL area reports from the 1995-99 seasons. (CD-ROM included)

Jointly published by the British Institute at Ankara and the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, this is the third in a projected six volumes of reports documenting the excavations carried out by 130 archaeologists in several teams at the site from 1995-1999. Published in an oversized format (8.75x11.25 inches), the essays document the excavations in the South and North areas of the East Mound and the KOPAL (Konya Basin Palaeoenvironments Project) and are well illustrated with photos, drawings, tables, and plans. Two introductory chapters introduce the site and present a full summary of the excavation results (by Hodder, who is in the department of cultural and social anthropology at Stanford U., California). The CD-ROM contains videos of the site and its features. There is a list of references, but no index. Distributed in North America by The David Brown Book Co. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

The Flemish primitives; v.4: Masters with provisional names.

This volume of the Flemish Primitives series undertaken by the Royal Museums of Fine Arts in Belgium diverges from the first three volumes by focusing on anonymous, rather than famous, painters, particularly those painters whose artistic identity is defined in relation to a base work. The biographical notes of the earlier volumes have been replaced here with introductions that set out the questions surrounding each of these painters and the groups of works associated with them. The examination of the 20 panels uses a multidisciplinary approach that combines traditional historical, stylistic and iconographic research with laboratory analysis methods. This in-depth analysis gives the anonymous paintings the recognition they deserve. Distributed in North America by The David Brown Book Co. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

From studium to station; Rewley Abbey and Rewley Road Station, Oxford.

The Cistercian house of Rewley, on the western outskirts of medieval Oxford, England, was founded in 1280 as a chantry and later became an abbey and a studium. By the mid 19th century a railway station, remarkable in that it was built as a twin sister to the Crystal Palace of London, occupied the same site. This volume reports on the past forty years of excavation, building survey, and documentary research on the site, the bulk carried out by Oxford Archaeology. Distributed in North America by The David Brown Book Co. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Geoarchaeology; underwater archaeology in the canopic region in Egypt.

Of interest to geologists as well as archaeologists, the five chapters of this volume describe exploration and analysis of the region now known as Aboukir Bay in Egypt. Originally situated high above the mouth of the Nile, the area was the site of a major trading harbor and settlements until a cataclysmic event submerged it in the mid-8th century CE. Published in an oversized format (8.5x12 inches), the analysis describes the geologic and archaeologic record. A chapter is included on vibracore analysis. Distributed in North America by The David Brown Book Company. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Gerrards Cross; a history.

Local historians based in Buckinghamshire, Hunt and Thorpe recount the history of the area that came to be known as Gerrards Cross. Emerging from their work to celebrate the centenary of the coming of the railway, they focus on the 19th century and the first four decades of the 20th, when Gerrards Cross became a parish and then a special type of suburban village. Distributed in the US by the David Brown Book Company. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Ghassan resurrected.

A Palestinian-born archaeologist trained in the US and France, Zahran here completes her quartet on pre-Islamic Arabs by looking at the kingdom of Ghassan, the last Arab supremacy before Islam. During the sixth century, she explains, the kingdom was a strong ally of Rome, holding the Persians at bay, thus allowing the Empire to slaughter barbarians out west. It was through Ghassan that Arabs learned about the European world, and its federation of tribes was the first step to Arab unity. Though six historical figures narrate, she says this is not fictionalized history, but based on ancient and modern sources, inscriptions, archaeological finds, and oral traditions. (She also writes fiction, so there might be some confusion.) Distributed in North America by the David Brown Book Co. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

The Greek tile works at Corinth; the site and the finds.

This volume describes the Tile Works at Corinth, first excavated in 1939, including discussions of work areas in the factory, a chronology of the site deposits, and an inventory of objects manufactured in each of the kilns. Merker discusses the finds and the main features of the site, and establishes when the kilns were in operation and the products manufactured in them, with b&w photos and an individual description of each. Imports, mainly Attic, are detailed in the final chapter. The book does not include a technical study of the structure and operation of the kilns. A descriptive catalogue with photographs of the architectural terracottas, prepared by Charles K. Williams II during the 1980s, is presented in an appendix. Books from the American School of Classical Studies at Athens are distributed in North America by The David Brown Book Co. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Hama; fouilles et recherches, 1931-1938; I 2: Bronze Age graves in Hama and its neighbourhood.

This oversized volume (10x13.25 inches) presents in full the excavation report made in the 1930s but never published. The account includes drawings and b&w photos of the site and its finds. The text includes detailed descriptions of the placement of the graves and of the finds. A separate section of plates presents the photos and drawings of the ceramics. Distributed in North America by The David Brown Book Co. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Ham Hill; portrait of a building stone.

Durman explores the use of stone quarried at Ham Hill in southern Somerset for building, from Roman times to the present. Before beginning the history, however, he looks at the area, how the hill came about, the stone's qualities for building, and the quarries. A final chapter considers repair, conservation, and the future. Distributed in the US by the David Brown Book Company. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Hellenistic pottery; the plain wares.

This impressive volume presents three decades of research by its author, containing a survey of the chief types of plain, unglossed pottery produced at the Athenian Agora during the Hellenistic period (through the 1st century, BCE). Published in an oversize format (9x12.25 inches), the volume contains 98 pages of figures (mainly profiles of the wares) and 90 b&w plates of photos. The survey follows a general overview and is organized by vessel type, subdivided by shape, with descriptions, analysis of material, measurements, and drawings. The introductions to each vessel type provides an overview of their occurrence. Following the survey is a catalogue and a section of deposit summaries, describing every deposit from which pottery in this work came. Concordances are included of Agora excavations inventory numbers, coins, Knidian type numbers, and Murr and Agora sample numbers. Deposit and Greek indexes are provided. This will be an invaluable resource to the specialist. Distributed in North America by The David Brown Book Co. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Illerup Adal; vs.11/12: Die Schwerter; 2v. [Swords]

The swords and sheaths of the Illerup find are analyzed and catalogued in this beautifully executed 2-volume publication (oversize, 8.5x12 inches). Each piece is discussed in careful detail in volume 1, which also contains essays about swords in the post-Roman era, among other topics. Superb drawings and photographs accompany the highly detailed catalog entries of volume 2. The volumes are in German (only). There is an extensive bibliography, but no index. Distributed in North America by The David Brown Book Co. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

An index of images in English manuscripts; from the time of Chaucer to Henry VIII; US Libraries, New York City. Columbia Union - Union Theological.

A team of scholars describes the illustrations in English-language manuscripts from the period that are housed in seven collections in New York City. An appendix considers continental manuscripts made for the English market. Indexes are by author and text, pictorial subjects, and manuscripts with coats of arms. Distributed in North America by The David Brown Book Company. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

The influence of Pre-Raphaelitism on fin de siécle Italy.

Pieri (Italian, Royal Holloway, U. of London, UK) provides the first comprehensive study of the influence of English Pre-Raphaelitism on Italian art and culture in the late nineteenth century. He considers the influence and how it was transmitted by English and Italian writers and reviewers, as well as the interrelationships between English communities in Italy and Italian artists, critics, and writers on art and literature. He discusses Italian Ottocento painting, the development of the English Pre-Raphaelite movement and critical response to it in Italy; the works of Gabriele D'Annunzio and influence of Lawrence Alma-Tadema and Dante Gabriel Rossetti; painters Nino Costa and others; and artists' societies. Earlier versions of two of the chapters were previously published elsewhere. Distributed in North America by The David Brown Book Co. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Introduction to Aegean art.

This volume presents a chronological survey of the art of the Aegean, with b&w and some color photos of the works of art and buildings discussed. The material is accessible to the undergraduates beginning their study of art history and archaeology, but it's also thorough in its presentation. Each chapter concludes with a bibliography. Betancourt's (art history, archaeology, Temple U., Philadelphia, Penn.) archaeological research is concentrated on Crete, once the center of Minoan civilization. Distributed in North America by The David Brown Book Co. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

John Baker's late 17th-century glasshouse at Vauxhall.

Baker's glass house was not the sort to avoid throwing rock in, but the sort where glass items are manufactured. It opened sometime between 1663 and 1681 and had closed down by 1704 and demolished soon after. Excavations by the Museum of London in 1989 found the form of a furnace, a fritting oven, frit itself, crucibles, working waste, finished vessels, and other evidence for the manufacturing process of the period. The series is devoted to publishing the backlog of excavation reports in London. Distributed in the US by the David Brown Book Company. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)

Journal of Roman pottery studies; v.13: A mortarium bibliography for Roman Britain.

This project, which was initiated by English Heritage in response to the Fulford report on The current state of Romano-British pottery studies, is a comprehensive bibliography bringing together the literature on moratoria from the last 30 years, presented by region and with an introductory summary for each. Important earlier monographs and sources are included. Emphasis is on published material; scientific analysis is restricted to that only on moratoria, and information from archival material held by individuals and organizations is selectively included. An abbreviated version is available online. Sources for the text are bibliographies by Hartley and Peter Cheer, and a computerized version of the annual Journal of Roman Pottery Studies bibliography. Local journals from 1970 to 2001 were also searched. A place name index and alphabetical listing are provided. Distributed in North America by The David Brown Book Co. (Annotation ©2008 Book News Inc. Portland, OR)