An armchair guide to corkscrews with over 700 color photographs and 3600 illustrated and documented examples, The Ultimate Corkscrew Book showcases the diversity and creativity that has occurred in the production of corkscrews over the last several hundred years. Remarkably, all examples featured in this extensive volume come from one source: the author's personal collection. Longtime collector of corkscrews, author Donald A. Bull displays the breadth of his collection through categorical examples of Eclectic Corkscrews, Figural Corkscrews, Corkscrew knives, and Miscellaneous Corkscrews along with their current market values. These items reflect the labors of a most relentless and diligent pursuit on the author's part, which has resulted in one of the most comprehensive collections of corkscrews ever amassed. This text will truly open the eyes of every devotee, from the novice to the true addict, enticing all to explore the entire range of this twisted hobby.

'The Index of Middle English Prose' will ultimately locate, identify and record all extant Middle English prose texts composed between c.1200 and c.1500. The initial volumes, the 'Handlists' give descriptions of each item in a particular collection, with identification, categorisation, and full bibliographical data. This volume examines libraries in Scandinavia containing Middle English prose texts: the Royal Library of Copenhagen, Denmark, the Royal Library of Stockholm, theUniversity Library of Uppsala, Sweden, and the SchA|yen Collection in Oslo, Norway. An extensive collection of alchemical writings in Copenhagen is listed for the first time. Medical texts are well represented, including Lanfrank's surgery and a Canutus treatise in Copenhagen, and the famous medical miscellanies in Stockholm. Uppsala has a number of religious works. The SchA|yen Collection is a private MS collection ontaining items of Middle English prose. IRMA TAAVITSAINEN is a researcher and member of the staff of the English Department at the University of Helsinki, Finland.

This well-organized guide is recommended by the Button Society as a book that every button collector and dealer should own. The standard book in the field, it gives information to identify the age, material, and desirability of any button that may be found. It covers buttons of every imaginable type, price range and age. Its convenient size make it a perfect field guide, an easy reference for forays into antique stores, flea markets, and yard sales. The price guide is newly updated to reflect the current market.

An epic cultural journey that reveals how Venetian ingenuity and inventions-from sunglasses and forks to bonds and currency-shaped modernity. How did a small, isolated city-with a population that never exceeded 100,000, even in its heyday-come to transform western civilization? Acclaimed anthropologist Meredith Small, the author of the groundbreaking Our Babies, Ourselves examines the the unique Venetian social structure that was key to their explosion of creativity and invention that ranged from the material to social. Whether it was boats or money, medicine or face cream, opera, semicolons, tiramisu or child-labor laws, these all originated in Venice and have shaped contemporary notions of institutions and conventions ever since. The foundation of how we now think about community, health care, money, consumerism, and globalization all sprung forth from the Laguna Veneta. But Venice is far from a historic relic or a life-sized museum. It is a living city that still embraces its innovative roots. As climate change effects sea-level rises, Venice is on the front lines of preserving its legacy and cultural history to inspire a new generation of innovators.