In the darkest days of the Second World War, with Europe falling under German occupation and Britain facing invasion, a 36-year-old refugee from the Nazis, Louis de Wohl, made a curious offer to British Intelligence. Based on the widely-held belief that Hitler's every action was guided by his horoscope, de Wohl claimed he could reveal precisely what advice the Fuhrer's astrologers were giving him. Rather than being dismissed out of hand as a crank, Churchill could see de Wohl's worth for himself. He was subsequently made an army captain and quartered in the Grosvenor House Hotel, from where he passed detailed astrological readings to the War Office and Naval Intelligence, before being transferred to work for the SOE in the United States. Was it possible that senior military and naval intelligence officers could take the ancient and arcane practice of astrology seriously? And was de Wohl genuine or merely a charlatan? In The Astrologer, author James Parris examines the evidence, including recently released files, and reaches remarkable conclusions about this bizarre aspect of the war.

On 16 July 1936 a man in a brown suit stepped from the crowd on London's Constitution Hill and pointed a loaded revolver at King Edward VIII as he rode past. The monarch was moments from death. But MI5 and the Metropolitan Police Special Branch had known for three months an attack was planned: the man in the brown suit himself had warned them. This mysterious man, lost to history, was George McMahon, a petty criminal with a record of involvement with the police. He was also an MI5 informant, providing intelligence on Italian and possibly German espionage in Britain. Dismissed by the rest of the world as a drunken loser and fantasist, he saw his life as an epic drama. Why did MI5 and the police fail to act? Was it a simple blunder on the part of the security services, or was something far more sinister involved? In this first full-length study of the threat to the life of Edward VIII, James Parris uses material from MI5 and police files at the National Archives to reach explosive conclusions about the British Establishment's determination to remove Edward from the throne.

In one of the most remarkable artistic pilgrimages in history, the nineteenth century saw scores of Western artists heading to the Middle East. Inspired by the allure of the exotic Orient, they went in search of subjects for their paintings. Orientalist Lives looks at what led this surprisingly diverse and idiosyncratic group of men-and some women-to often remote and potentially dangerous locations, from Morocco to Egypt, the Levant, and Turkey. There they lived, worked, and traveled for weeks or months on end, gathering material with which to create art for their clients back in the drawing rooms of Boston, London, and Paris. Based on his research in museums, libraries, archives, galleries, and private collections across the world, James Parry traces these journeys of cultural and artistic discovery. From the early pioneer David Roberts through the heyday of leading stars such as Jean-Leon Gerome and Frederick Arthur Bridgman, to Orientalism's post-1900 decline, he describes how these traveling artists prepared for their expeditions, coped with working in unfamiliar and challenging surroundings, engaged with local people, and then took home to their studios the memories, sketches, and collections of artifacts necessary to create the works for which their audiences clamored. Excerpts from letters and diaries, including little-known accounts and previously unpublished material, as well as photographs, sketches, and other original illustrations, bring alive the impressions, experiences, and careers of the Orientalists and shed light on how they created what are now once again recognized as masterpieces of art.

Set in the beautiful Gloucestershire Cotswolds, Sudeley Castle exemplifies popular perceptions of the romantic English country house. The final resting place of King Henry VIII's last wife, Katherine Parr, it is partly castellated and its centuries-old ruins are festooned with roses. This book, the first comprehensive publication about this remarkable castle, traces over 1,000 years of illustrious history from the time of King Aethelred the Unready through the castle's Tudor heyday and its subsequent decline and fall, before its dramatic rescue during the second half of the 19th century by the Dent-Brocklehurst family, whose descendants still live there. Sudeley's architectural heritage, art and gardens are all described and illustrated by historical material as well as stunning new photography.

The 18th century was a wealth of knowledge, exploration and rapidly growing technology and expanding record-keeping made possible by advances in the printing press. In its determination to preserve the century of revolution, Gale initiated a revolution of its own: digitization of epic proportions to preserve these invaluable works in the largest archive of its kind. Now for the first time these high-quality digital copies of original 18th century manuscripts are available in print, making them highly accessible to libraries, undergraduate students, and independent scholars.Rich in titles on English life and social history, this collection spans the world as it was known to eighteenth-century historians and explorers. Titles include a wealth of travel accounts and diaries, histories of nations from throughout the world, and maps and charts of a world that was still being discovered. Students of the War of American Independence will find fascinating accounts from the British side of conflict. ++++The below data was compiled from various identification fields in the bibliographic record of this title. This data is provided as an additional tool in helping to insure edition identification: ++++<sourceLibrary>Huntington Library<ESTCID>N014080<Notes>Miss - of Monmouthshire = Miss Powell.<imprintFull>London: printed for J. Lever, 1770. <collation>2v.: ill., port.; 12

The 18th century was a wealth of knowledge, exploration and rapidly growing technology and expanding record-keeping made possible by advances in the printing press. In its determination to preserve the century of revolution, Gale initiated a revolution of its own: digitization of epic proportions to preserve these invaluable works in the largest archive of its kind. Now for the first time these high-quality digital copies of original 18th century manuscripts are available in print, making them highly accessible to libraries, undergraduate students, and independent scholars.Rich in titles on English life and social history, this collection spans the world as it was known to eighteenth-century historians and explorers. Titles include a wealth of travel accounts and diaries, histories of nations from throughout the world, and maps and charts of a world that was still being discovered. Students of the War of American Independence will find fascinating accounts from the British side of conflict. ++++The below data was compiled from various identification fields in the bibliographic record of this title. This data is provided as an additional tool in helping to insure edition identification: ++++<sourceLibrary>Huntington Library<ESTCID>N014080<Notes>Miss - of Monmouthshire = Miss Powell.<imprintFull>London: printed for J. Lever, 1770. <collation>2v.: ill., port.; 12

The 18th century was a wealth of knowledge, exploration and rapidly growing technology and expanding record-keeping made possible by advances in the printing press. In its determination to preserve the century of revolution, Gale initiated a revolution of its own: digitization of epic proportions to preserve these invaluable works in the largest archive of its kind. Now for the first time these high-quality digital copies of original 18th century manuscripts are available in print, making them highly accessible to libraries, undergraduate students, and independent scholars.Rich in titles on English life and social history, this collection spans the world as it was known to eighteenth-century historians and explorers. Titles include a wealth of travel accounts and diaries, histories of nations from throughout the world, and maps and charts of a world that was still being discovered. Students of the War of American Independence will find fascinating accounts from the British side of conflict. ++++The below data was compiled from various identification fields in the bibliographic record of this title. This data is provided as an additional tool in helping to insure edition identification: ++++British LibraryT144533Running title: Memoirs of the life of James Parry. Miss - of Monmouthshire = Miss Powell.London: printed for the author; and sold by the book-sellers in town and country, 1742. 359, 1]p.: ill., port.; 12

This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishing's Legacy Reprint Series. 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 to protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone!

This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishing's Legacy Reprint Series. 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 to protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone!