Further Reading

Qur'ans: Five Examples From Our Shelves

Qur'ans: Five Examples From Our Shelves

Where collecting is concerned, the Qur’an is a multi-faceted text that has taken many forms since its arrival in the Muslim world over a millennia ago.

Near East & Islamic

Qur'ans: Five Examples From Our Shelves

Magnificent Manuscripts

Where collecting is concerned, the Qur’an is a multi-faceted text that has taken many forms since its arrival in the Muslim world over a millennia ago.

Iraq, The Land Where Writing Began

Iraq, The Land Where Writing Began

As book lovers we all owe a debt of gratitude to the Sumerians, the early inhabitants of the land now called Iraq, who invented writing 5000 years ago.

Travel & Exploration

Iraq, The Land Where Writing Began

The Cradle of Civilisation

As book lovers we all owe a debt of gratitude to the Sumerians, the early inhabitants of the land now called Iraq, who invented writing 5000 years ago.

On Her Majesty's Secret Service: Writers and Spies

On Her Majesty's Secret Service: Writers and Spies

The banning of books by dissident authors in repressive regimes such as Stalinist Russia is well-documented, but here are some titles you might not have realised were also banned –...

Literature

On Her Majesty's Secret Service: Writers and Spies

Truly Classic Stories

The banning of books by dissident authors in repressive regimes such as Stalinist Russia is well-documented, but here are some titles you might not have realised were also banned –...

The Natural History Books of Edward Donovan

The Natural History Books of Edward Donovan

The late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries saw the publication of some of the most beautiful natural history books ever printed.

Science & Nature

The Natural History Books of Edward Donovan

Studying the World Around Us

The late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries saw the publication of some of the most beautiful natural history books ever printed.

The Barbary Coast in Rare Books and Maps

The Barbary Coast in Rare Books and Maps

Thinking of the British and Africa, I suppose the things that comes to mind are the Quest for the Source of the Nile, Brits in East Africa and South Africa,...

Travel & Exploration

The Barbary Coast in Rare Books and Maps

The Era of the EBC

Thinking of the British and Africa, I suppose the things that comes to mind are the Quest for the Source of the Nile, Brits in East Africa and South Africa,...

Travels To The Roof of The World

Travels To The Roof of The World

The Tibetan plateau, situated at some 15,000 feet (4500 metres), surrounded by great mountain ranges which include the two tallest mountains in the world, Everest and K2, was one of...

Travel & Exploration

Travels To The Roof of The World

Adventures in Tibet

The Tibetan plateau, situated at some 15,000 feet (4500 metres), surrounded by great mountain ranges which include the two tallest mountains in the world, Everest and K2, was one of...

St Petersburg: Books from the Russian Imperial Era

St Petersburg: Books from the Russian Imperial Era

On the boggy delta of the Neva, Peter the Great founded his ‘window to the West’ in 1703. Through sheer determination and at the cost of thousands of lives, European...

Eastern European

St Petersburg: Books from the Russian Imperial Era

How to Modernise an Empire

On the boggy delta of the Neva, Peter the Great founded his ‘window to the West’ in 1703. Through sheer determination and at the cost of thousands of lives, European...

Did They Really Do That?

Did They Really Do That?

Some of the greatest feats of British exploration have occurred in my lifetime – Hilary’s ascent of Everest, Fuchs traversing the Antarctic, and Francis Chichester’s solo circumnavigation.

Travel & Exploration

Did They Really Do That?

Achievements in Exploration

Some of the greatest feats of British exploration have occurred in my lifetime – Hilary’s ascent of Everest, Fuchs traversing the Antarctic, and Francis Chichester’s solo circumnavigation.

The Holy Land In The Original Cloth Shapero Rare Books

The Holy Land In The Original Cloth

The Holy Land, the cradle of three great religions, steeped in antiquity of an age that is difficult to fathom for those of us from more recent civilizations, has always...

Travel & Exploration

The Holy Land In The Original Cloth

The Holy Land, the cradle of three great religions, steeped in antiquity of an age that is difficult to fathom for those of us from more recent civilizations, has always...

Iran Zamin: Highlights From The Catalogue

Iran Zamin: Highlights From The Catalogue

Spring is in the air and with the Iranian New Year upon us, we enter a new century of the Iranian calendar with the year 1400. To celebrate this season...

Near East & Islamic

Iran Zamin: Highlights From The Catalogue

The Land of Persia

Spring is in the air and with the Iranian New Year upon us, we enter a new century of the Iranian calendar with the year 1400. To celebrate this season...

April 28, 1789: The Mutiny on The Bounty

April 28, 1789: The Mutiny on The Bounty

William Bligh (1754-1815) will forever be remembered for the mutiny, led by his second-in-command Fletcher Christian, which occurred on 28th April, 1789, shortly after leaving Tahiti where Bligh’s mission was...

Travel & Exploration

April 28, 1789: The Mutiny on The Bounty

Enduring Early Voyages

William Bligh (1754-1815) will forever be remembered for the mutiny, led by his second-in-command Fletcher Christian, which occurred on 28th April, 1789, shortly after leaving Tahiti where Bligh’s mission was...

Books not Borders -  Eleanor Moore Shapero Rare Books

Books not Borders: Eleanor Moore

This week we're interviewing the head of our Russian department, Eleanor Moore.

Books not Borders: Eleanor Moore

This week we're interviewing the head of our Russian department, Eleanor Moore.

Books not Borders - Jeffrey Kerr Shapero Rare Books

Books not Borders: Jeffrey Kerr

Today we begin the first in a new blog series, Books Not Borders or perhaps we should call it Livres Sans Frontières?

Books not Borders: Jeffrey Kerr

Today we begin the first in a new blog series, Books Not Borders or perhaps we should call it Livres Sans Frontières?

Richard Burton: Explorer, Linguist, and Adventurer

Richard Burton: Explorer, Linguist, and Adventurer

The start in a regular Blog series with our roving Travel expert Julian Mackenzie.

Travel & Exploration

Richard Burton: Explorer, Linguist, and Adventurer

The True Polymath

The start in a regular Blog series with our roving Travel expert Julian Mackenzie.

Why Collect Rare Books?

Why Collect Rare Books?

‘It is a truth universally acknowledged that a book lover, in possession of an enquiring mind, must be in want of a collection’ (to paraphrase Jane Austen).

Literature

Why Collect Rare Books?

Hobbies, Art-forms, Obsessions

‘It is a truth universally acknowledged that a book lover, in possession of an enquiring mind, must be in want of a collection’ (to paraphrase Jane Austen).