Originally published in 1898. Author: Thomas Carlyle Language: English Keywords: Literature/ History Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. Obscure Press are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.

The House of Windsor: Is it a hangover from the past, an expensive anachronism, a relic of a bygone age of deference and hierarchy, or is it as important and relevant as ever?

However you look at it, the royal family is a big business, though one with more ups and downs than the stock market. Prince Philip calls it "The Firm," and all the royal executives and their powerful associates are supposed to make every effort to avoid even a hint of scandal that could diminish the reputation of the family business.

Unfortunately for the royals, for the past twenty years scandal and controversy have deluged the Queen's family, putting everything at risk. Focusing primarily on the years after the death of Princess Diana and including the heir to the throne's marriage to Camilla Parker Bowles and Prince William's latest romance, acclaimed royal writer Penny Junor looks in depth at how the royal family has made itself the world's soap opera. "The Firm "reveals the answers to the questions that absorb the media around the world, disclosing how the family really behaves behind closed doors in this controversial and terri?cally readable book.

The tragic true story of Japan's Crown Princess-with a new afterword by the author.
It's the fantasy of many young women: marry a handsome prince, move into a luxurious palace, and live happily ever after. But that's not how it turned out for Masako Owada. Ben Hills's fascinating portrait of Princess Masako and the Chrysanthemum Throne draws on research in Tokyo and rural Japan, at Oxford and Harvard, and from more than sixty interviews with Japanese, American, British, and Australian sources-many of whom have never spoken publicly before-shedding light on the royal family's darkest secrets, secrets that can never be openly discussed in Japan because of the reverence in which the emperor and his family are held. But most of all, this is a story about a love affair that went tragically wrong.
The paperback edition will contain a new afterword by the author, discussing the impact this book had in Japan, where it was banned.

This book is a facsimile reprint and may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages.

Originally published in 1898. Author: Thomas Carlyle Language: English Keywords: Literature/ History Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. Obscure Press are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.

This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curated for quality. Quality assurance was conducted on each of these books in an attempt to remove books with imperfections introduced by the digitization process. Though we have made best efforts - the books may have occasional errors that do not impede the reading experience. We believe this work is culturally important and have elected to bring the book back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide.

This scarce antiquarian book is included in our special Legacy Reprint Series. In the interest of creating a more extensive selection of rare historical book reprints, we have chosen to reproduce this title even though it may possibly have occasional imperfections such as missing and blurred pages, missing text, poor pictures, markings, dark backgrounds and other reproduction issues beyond our control. Because this work is culturally important, we have made it available as a part of our commitment to protecting, preserving and promoting the world's literature.

This scarce antiquarian book is included in our special Legacy Reprint Series. In the interest of creating a more extensive selection of rare historical book reprints, we have chosen to reproduce this title even though it may possibly have occasional imperfections such as missing and blurred pages, missing text, poor pictures, markings, dark backgrounds and other reproduction issues beyond our control. Because this work is culturally important, we have made it available as a part of our commitment to protecting, preserving and promoting the world's literature.

This scarce antiquarian book is included in our special Legacy Reprint Series. In the interest of creating a more extensive selection of rare historical book reprints, we have chosen to reproduce this title even though it may possibly have occasional imperfections such as missing and blurred pages, missing text, poor pictures, markings, dark backgrounds and other reproduction issues beyond our control. Because this work is culturally important, we have made it available as a part of our commitment to protecting, preserving and promoting the world's literature.

This scarce antiquarian book is included in our special Legacy Reprint Series. In the interest of creating a more extensive selection of rare historical book reprints, we have chosen to reproduce this title even though it may possibly have occasional imperfections such as missing and blurred pages, missing text, poor pictures, markings, dark backgrounds and other reproduction issues beyond our control. Because this work is culturally important, we have made it available as a part of our commitment to protecting, preserving and promoting the world's literature.

From the acclaimed author of "Grandes Horizontales" comes a book that the "Washington Post" calls "a vivid portrait of a sensual and intellectual woman."

Dutiful daughter, passionate lover, doting grandmother, tireless legislator, generous patron of artists and philosophers---Empress Catherine II was all these things, and more. Her reign, the longest in Russian imperial history, lasted from 1762 until her death in 1796; during these years she realized Peter the Great's ambition to establish Russia as a major European power and to transform its new capital, St. Petersburg, into a city to rival Paris and London.

Yet Catherine was not Russian by birth and had no legitimate claim to the Russian throne; she seized it and held on to it, through wars, rebellions, and plagues, by the force of her personality and an unshakable belief in her own destiny. Using Catherine's own correspondence, as well as contemporary accounts by courtiers, ambassadors, and foreign visitors, Virginia Rounding penetrates the character of this powerful, fascinating, and surprisingly sympathetic eighteenth-century figure.

Dutiful daughter, passionate lover, doting grandmother, tireless legislator, generous patron of artists and philosophers--Empress Catherine II was all these things, and more. Her reign, the longest in Russian imperial history, lasted from 1762 until her death in 1796; during these years she realized Peter the Great's ambition to establish Russia as a major European power and to transform its new capital, St. Petersburg, into a city to rival Paris and London.
Yet Catherine was not Russian by birth and had no legitimate claim to the Russian throne; she seized it and held on to it, through wars, rebellions, and plagues, by the force of her personality and an unshakable belief in her own destiny. Using Catherine's own correspondence, as well as contemporary accounts by courtiers, ambassadors, and foreign visitors, Virginia Rounding penetrates the character of this powerful, fascinating, and surprisingly sympathetic eighteenth-century figure. "Scarcely more has been written about any Russian ruler, unless it be Peter, than Catherine, but rarely is it done in a way that captures so well her personality and life-shaping experiences. This is not a study of Russia looking in the window at Catherine; it is being in the room with her and looking out to catch glimpses of Russia. Her stifled youth (having been brought to Russia for marriage at age 15), her precocious ambitions as the teenage bride of the tsar-to-be, her early dalliances, the plotting that brought her to power, the intimate male alliances she struck throughout a 34-year reign, the differentiated affections for son and grandsons, and, above all, her private thoughts about people, power, and her purpose--all are carefully reconstructed from remarkably revealing memoirs and the dispatches of discerning foreign ambassadors. The book is so readable because it brings Catherine alive, and not least in her relations with the men she drew to her side."--"Foreign Affairs"

"Rounding focuses on the pageant of Russian court ceremonies . . . and on Catherine's personal and romantic life: her love for her grandchildren and her greyhounds, her testy relationship with her autocratic son, her sharp eye for a good painting, her dry wit, her appetite for ideas. Rounding makes copious use of the documentary evidence that Catherine and her courtiers left behind."--Amanda Vaill, "The Washington Post"

"Born Sophie Frederica Auguste of Anhalt-Zerbst, Catherine II was arguably the ablest monarch in Russian history. Her reign began with a coup: she deposed her husband, Peter III, and let him be murdered. Rounding explores both the private and the public figure, culling with expertise from archival sources. By nature, Catherine was humane, with a personality that blended candor and guile. Unlike her predecessors or successors, she encouraged her ministers to express themselves without fear of retribution, even when they disagreed with her. Her energy and intelligence paid off. Reflecting on her reign, she listed '29 [new] government districts . . . 30 conventions and treaties, 78 military victories, 88 'memorable edicts concerning laws or foundations' . . . 123 'edicts for the relief of the people' . . . 492 achievements in all.' She purchased numerous artworks for the Hermitage, corresponded regularly with Voltaire and Diderot, and served as patron to artisans, architects, and educators. Until the excesses of the French Revolution soured her, she enthusiastically supported the Enlightenment. This is an attractive account of the reign of a most remarkable woman; Rounding's use of the voluminous and lively court correspondence is a plus. Strongly recommended."--David Keymer, "Library Journal"

"Lively biography of a much misunderstood, most gifted ruler of Russia . . . Catherine, Rounding makes clear, understood that sex was an element of power. She had come to a St. Petersburg that was still mostly a metropolis of log cabins to be married off to young Peter III, who, it emerged, was a bit of a dimwit and rather easily controlled . . . Catherine was, after all, well-read, fluent in several languages and given to philosophy and literature, though in later life her philosophy was of a practical and even Machiavellian nature . . . Peter kept his distance from her, pushing her into the willing arms of a succession of dashing cavaliers and counselors who helped her build St. Petersburg into a mighty city and Russia into a mighty empire; in this regard, Rounding ranks the empress as equal to or greater than her predecessor Peter the Great, who was certainly more murderous than she. A welcome study of a 'multifaceted, very eighteenth-century woman.'"--"Kirkus Reviews"

"This lengthy biography of Russia's greatest female ruler is by no means as salacious as the subtitle suggests, but this sympathetic portrayal certainly focuses on Catherine's private life. British scholar Rounding relies on memoirs, private letters and previous monographs as she details how, after dissolution of the unhappy marriage that brought Catherine to Russia from Germany, the empress juggled her relationships with men as she attempted to thrust Russia into the modern era and make it a European power. Indeed, Rounding offers an intriguing . . . thesis that Catherine was most effective as a ruler when she was satisfied in her private life. That life was never dull: Catherine's final lover was 40 years her junior, helping to give rise to wild but untrue rumors about her sexual appetite. Rounding's prose matches the excitement of its subject, with vivid portrayals of the late 18th-century Russian court and the machinations of Catherine and those around her . . . Rounding's work will appeal to Catherine-philes and those interested in women's history."--"Publishers Weekly" (starred review)

Originally published in 1898. Author: Thomas Carlyle Language: English Keywords: Literature/ History Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. Obscure Press are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.

Originally published in 1898. Author: Thomas Carlyle Language: English Keywords: Literature/ History Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. Obscure Press are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.

Two Volumes In One. This scarce antiquarian book is included in our special Legacy Reprint Series. In the interest of creating a more extensive selection of rare historical book reprints, we have chosen to reproduce this title even though it may possibly have occasional imperfections such as missing and blurred pages, missing text, poor pictures, markings, dark backgrounds and other reproduction issues beyond our control. Because this work is culturally important, we have made it available as a part of our commitment to protecting, preserving and promoting the world's literature.

This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.

This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.

This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.

Louis XIV, the highly-feted "Sun King," was renowned for his political and cultural influence and for raising France to a new level of prominence in seventeenth-century Europe. And yet, as Antonia Fraser keenly describes, he was equally legendary in the domestic sphere. Indeed, a panoply of women -- his wife Anne; mistresses such as Louise de la Valliere, Athenais de Montespan, and the puritanical Madame de Maintenon; and an array of courtesans -- moved in and out of the court. The highly visible presence of these women raises many questions about their position in both Louis XIV's life and in France at large. With careful research and vivid, engaging prose, Fraser makes the multifaceted life of one of the most famous European monarchs accessible and vibrantly current.

This book is a facsimile reprint and may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages.

Originally published in 1898. Author: Thomas Carlyle Language: English Keywords: Literature/ History Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. Obscure Press are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.

His Adventures, Set To Paper By Mary Laughan, A Maid, Who Through Affection Followed Him To The West Indies And Spanish Main, Acting As His Secretary, He Deeming Her A Male Though Timid.