This text chronicles the history of the extraordinarily talented dynasty of emperors, nicknamed by travellers returning to Europe, "the Great Moghuls" for their almost limitless power and incomparable wealth. The book deals with one of the most interesting periods of Indian history, the 16th and 17th centuries, providing a picture of the country's most flamboyant rulers, their sublime palaces, their passions, art, science and religion, and their system of administration.

Although China's great empire lasted for longer than any other, no country has suffered so great an imbalance between the fame of its art and obscurity of its history. The names of the great dynasties are familiar, yet who can actually locate a T'ang horse or a Ming vase in its social or cultural context?;By focusing on the key colourful characters of the eight major dynasties, Bamber Gascoigne brings to life 3500 years of Chinese civilization. His bird's-eye view starts on the borders of myth. It moves swiftly on to the greatest achievements of language and thought, the cultural treasures and imperial palaces, wars won and lands lost to the Mongols, finally to arrive at the 1912 Revolution, which contained within it the seeds of Communism that ensured the overthrow of the last emperor. Via this portrait of an empire and its peoples he has opened the door to a world for too long inaccessible to the West.

This volume tells the story of Christianity through the individual men and women who shaped it. It is a story of colossal undertakings and spectacular successes as well as ferocious intolerance, greed and bloodshed. Bamber Gascoigne traces a clear path through a complicated history, exploring the motives, the passions, the fears and the achievements of the Christians. His approach is objective and he writes in a conversational style, focusing on moments of significant detail and a vast and varied cast of characters.

In this book, derived from his 1994 Sandars lectures, Bamber Gascoigne concentrates on those areas in the history of colour printing that have yet to receive critical attention. This broad historical survey covers the intaglio colour printing of the seventeenth and eighteenth century, the inventive attempts of nineteenth-century British publishers to achieve cheap, effective colour printing, and the pioneering work of the firm Thomas Nelson and Sons. A catalogue of more than 1,000 British and foreign views published by the firm in their own distinctive technique, the Nelson print, is also provided. Gascoigne links these developments to the wider scientific, cultural, and social currents during the period. This lavishly illustrated book presents with clarity and wit an extensive overview of the emergence of colour printing. It will be of interest to all students of publishing and printing history and bibliography, as well as art historians.