Clare Leighton was one of the most prolific and highly regarded wood engravers of her time, leaving behind a body of work that reflected her rural life in Britain and North America. During the 1930s, as the world around her became increasingly techno...

In this ingenious and diverse collection of 366 stories, events and facts about language, David Crystal presents a selection of insights from literary and linguistic writers, poets and global institutions, together with the weird and wonderful creati...

The less it is part of everyday life, the more the appeal of handwriting grows. This wonderful selection of treasures from the Bodleian Library introduces remarkable individuals through documents written by their own hands. From the second century BC...

Words of wisdom and advice for leading a good life have long been part of society, handed down from one generation to the next. Plenty of these wise observations originated from the philosophers of Ancient Greece and Rome, and went on to circulate wi...

In late November 1623, Edward Blount finally took delivery to his bookshop at the sign of the Black Bear near St Paul's a book that had been long in the making. Master William Shakespeare's Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies was the first collected e...

Medieval England was full of books, many times the number that have survived. The great moment of loss was when the country's religious houses were suppressed by King Henry VIII and their libraries scattered and destroyed. Twentieth-century scholarsh...

How long is an ell? What is the largest size of champagne bottle? How do you measure the heat of a chilli pepper? Why is the depth of water measured in fathoms? And what is a cubit? "The Curious History of Weights & Measures" tells the story of how...

Every individual book has a history which can help us to understand what difference it may have made in the world. Within these pages you will find books damaged by bullets or graffiti, recovered from fire or water, or even disguised as completely di...

The First Folio – the celebrated collected edition of William Shakespeare's plays – was published in 1623, seven years after Shakespeare's death. It was compiled by John Heminge and Henry Condell, both actors in Shakespeare's company, the King's Men,...

In 2017, the Government's attempt to trigger Article 50 and so leave the European Union resulted in a judgement by the Supreme Court, which stated that the Government was unentitled to do so without the consent of Parliament, directly citing the Bill...