An anecdotal lifestyle guide for fans of French and English culture shares tips for inexpensively enjoying everything from travel and fashion to gardening and dining, in a reference inspired by 16th-century exotic encyclopedias that includes coverage of such esoteric topics as the history of champagne and Julia Child's secret to a perfect omelet.
Encyclopedia of the Exquisite is a lifestyle guide for the Francophile and the Anglomaniac, the gourmet and the style maven, the armchair traveler and the art lover. It’s an homage to the esoteric world of glamour that doesn’t require much spending but makes us feel rich. Taking a cue from the exotic encyclopedias of the sixteenth century, which brimmed with mysterious artifacts, Jessica Kerwin Jenkins’s Encyclopedia of the Exquisite focuses on the elegant, the rare, the commonplace, and the delightful. A compendium of style, it merges whimsy and practicality, traipsing through the fine arts and the worlds of fashion, food, travel, home, garden, and beauty. Each entry features several engaging anecdotes, illuminating the curious past of each enduring source of beauty. Subjects covered include the explosive history of champagne; the art of lounging on a divan; the emergence of “frillies,” the first lacy, racy lingerie; the ancient uses of sweet-smelling saffron; the wild riot incited by the appearance of London’s first top hat; Julia Child’s tip for cooking the perfect omelet; the polarizing practice of wearing red lipstick during World War II; Louis XIV’s fondness for the luscious Bartlett pear; the Indian origin of badminton; Parliament’s 1650 attempt to suppress Europe’s beauty mark fad; the evolution of the Japanese kimono; the pilgrimage of Central Park’s Egyptian obelisk; and the fanciful thrill of dining alfresco. Cleverly illustrated, Encyclopedia of the Exquisite is an ode to life’s plenty, from the extravagant to the eccentric. It is a celebration of luxury that doesn’t necessarily require money. BONUS MATERIAL: This ebook edition includes an excerpt from Jessica Kerwin Jenkins's All the Time in the World.
Entertaining, unexpected, and full of charm, the follow-up to Jessica Kerwin Jenkins’s Encyclopedia of the Exquisite presents a miscellany of engaging stories, detailing the intriguing customs, traditions, and guilty pleasures pursued throughout the ages. All the Time in the World takes its cue from an iconic component of medieval life, the book of hours, which prescribed certain readings and contemplations for certain parts of the day throughout the year. Divided into more than seventy-five entries, All the Time in the World is brimming with witty bons mots, interesting etymologies, and arresting anecdotes encompassing an array of cultures and eras. Subjects covered include the daylong ceremony of laying a royal Elizabethan tablecloth; the radicalization of sartorial chic in 1890s Paris; Nostradamus's belief in the aphrodisiac power of jam; the sensuous practice of sniffing incense in fifteenth-century Japan; the American fascination with flaming desserts; the short-lived artistic discipline of “lumia,” or visual music; the evolution of coffee from a religious ritual to a forbidden delight in the Middle East; Henriette d'Angeville's fearless and wine-fueled ascent of Mont Blanc; the elaborate treasure hunts concocted by London's Bright Young Things; and the musical revolution known as bebop. An antidote to the contemporary cult of “getting things done,” All the Time in the World revives forgotten treasures of the past while inspiring a passion for good living in the present.
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • A curmudgeonly professor journeys to a small town in the far north in this “incredibly fun journey through fae lands and dark magic” (NPR), the start of a heartwarming and enchanting new fantasy series. “A darkly gorgeous fantasy that sparkles with snow and magic.”—Sangu Mandanna, author of The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: The New York Times Book Review, NPR, PopSugar Cambridge professor Emily Wilde is good at many things: She is the foremost expert on the study of faeries. She is a genius scholar and a meticulous researcher who is writing the world’s first encyclopaedia of faerie lore. But Emily Wilde is not good at people. She could never make small talk at a party—or even get invited to one. And she prefers the company of her books, her dog, Shadow, and the Fair Folk to other people. So when she arrives in the hardscrabble village of Hrafnsvik, Emily has no intention of befriending the gruff townsfolk. Nor does she care to spend time with another new arrival: her dashing and insufferably handsome academic rival Wendell Bambleby, who manages to charm the townsfolk, muddle Emily’s research, and utterly confound and frustrate her. But as Emily gets closer and closer to uncovering the secrets of the Hidden Ones—the most elusive of all faeries—lurking in the shadowy forest outside the town, she also finds herself on the trail of another mystery: Who is Wendell Bambleby, and what does he really want? To find the answer, she’ll have to unlock the greatest mystery of all—her own heart. Book One of the Emily Wilde Series
First published in hardcover as Oz Clarke’s Encyclopedia of Grapes, Oz Clarke’s Grapes and Wines is newly revised and updated to provide the most current information on an even wider array of grapes. Oz covers chardonnay, cabernet sauvignon, and fifteen other "classic" grapes in depth, and includes features on tradition and innovation, methods used in the vineyard and the winery, and different wine styles around the world. He also provides vivid descriptions of more than three hundred grape varieties organized in his renowned A-to-Z format, as well as a glossary of technical terms and a wine decoder that lists which grapes go into which wines.This authoritative volume by one of the world’s great wine writers is all you need to distinguish among grape varieties— the wines they create and the flavors they contribute—and to make an informed choice on selecting the most satisfying wines.
This exhaustive volume catalogs nearly three thousand demons in the mythologies and lore of virtually every ancient society and most religions. From Aamon, the demon of life and reproduction with the head of a serpent and the body of a wolf in Christian demonology, to Zu, the half-man, half-bird personification of the southern wind and thunder clouds in Sumero-Akkadian mythology, entries offer descriptions of each demon's origins, appearance and cultural significance. Also included are descriptions of the demonic and diabolical members making up the hierarchy of Hell and the numerous species of demons that, according to various folklores, mythologies, and religions, populate the earth and plague mankind. Very thoroughly indexed.
A comprehensive encyclopedia of cookie jars offers a retrospective of this popular pottery form with thousands of plates depicting a wide variety of jars.
From tiny ponies to heavy draught horses and rapid thoroughbreds, explore the history and variety of this noble animal that helped shape human history. A stunning celebration of the equine world, The Horse Encyclopedia is a fully illustrated book about horses and ponies, featuring over 150 breeds and types, including all those recognized by national horse societies. First domesticated around 6000 years ago, horses rapidly became invaluable to humans. They pulled chariots and plows, and became essential to transport and war. In this comprehensive volume, you will discover breeds from all over the world, from imposing Shires whose ancestors carried knights in chainmail into battle, to thoroughbreds bred to run like the wind and Lipizzanas that can execute exquisite dressage moves such as the capriole where they jump with all four feet off the ground. The Horse Encyclopedia gives concise details of each breed, including its origins and anatomy, as well as famous individuals such as Secretariat, who is widely regarded as one of the greatest racehorses of all. This dazzling guide also includes expert advice on horse care, feeding and grooming, and horse health, making this a truly wonderful gift for all horse riders and equine enthusiasts.
Originally released in 1932, Wayman Hogue's Back Yonder is a rare and entertaining memoir of life in rural Arkansas during the decades follow- ing the Civil War. Using family legends, personal memories, and events from Arkansas history, Hogue, like his contemporary Laura Ingalls Wilder, creatively weaves a narrative of a family making its way in rug- ged, impoverished, and sometimes violent places. From one-room schoolhouses to moonshiners, the details in Hogue's story capture the essence of a particular time and place, even as the characters reflect a universal quality that endears them to the mod- ern reader. This reissue of Back Yonder, the first in the Chronicles of the Ozarks series, features an introduction by historian Brooks Blevins that explores the life of Charles Wayman Hogue, analyzes the people and events that inspired the book, and places the volume in the context of America's discovery of the Ozarks in the years between the World Wars.
