Questions tagged [book]
For questions about books and related artifacts, events, or places such as scrolls, bookshelves, libraries, etc. Questions can be about a specific book or about the broader history of books.
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Are these depictions of ancient Greek and Roman libraries "scroll-shelves" historically accurate?
In some modern depictions of ancient Greek and Roman libraries or studies, I sometimes see shelving units specifically designed for scrolls.
These feature cubby-hole style compartments of squarish ...
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What kind of math and science resources/background did Norbert Kricke use for his sculpture?
It is well known that Norbert Kricke used the book "Plastik des XX. Jahrhundert" by Carola Giedion-Welcker as a reference and saw his artistic ideas reflected by the text (cf. PhD thesis by ...
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How can I find English versions of these books by A. Suter?
Does anyone know if any of these books is available in English (either for purchase or free download)? If so can you suggest a corresponding website?
Suter, Andreas (1997): Der Schweizerische ...
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Where can I find a comprehensive collection of all American Founding Fathers' writings?
I was taught in school that the Founding Fathers of America were very prolific and that they produced many documents during their time, including books, pamphlets, magazines, letters, diaries, etc. ...
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Where can I find more details about "historian" André Du Nay?
André Du Nay appears as the author of one book, The Origins of the Rumanians: The Early History of the Rumanian Language, Toronto; Buffalo: Matthias Corvinus Pub. reviewed here on a respectable ...
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Why did it have to be Clausewitz who wrote the best book on war, namely On War? [closed]
If we go over the career of Clausewitz, one wonders how a man of his stature was able to write the most influential book on war?
For starters, he was merely a major general. It was high ranking, yes, ...
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What is the name of this author?
I'm a newbie here so please forgive me if this kind of questions are not allowed.
Couple days ago my friend wanted me to find an author and gave me some hints about it. I did lots of researches but ...
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Are there any books with history short/summarised stories?
I was recently reading Atrocities by Matthew white, which has stories about the 100 greatest atrocities in world history. It is the first history book I have managed to complete. I prefer to read a ...
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Is there an English translation of Nicolas de la Mare's 1722 work "Traité de la Police"?
Most places on the Internet (or maybe just the sites with the best SEO) put the origins of Western policing with Scotland Yard. For example, this article says policing came to the U.S. via England, ...
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What was the new identity of the white slave in Kentucky ~1840, called the Boy John, after he was freed?
In 1897, a book called "The Boy John" was published by a Kentucky lodge of the Order of Odd Fellows (a mutual benefit society with history going back to England), detailing the efforts of ...
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What was at the start of Early Roman codices?
What was on an early Roman codex before the actual text of the author? For example, we have the title, author, copyright notifications and other publication information. In contrast what would you ...
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How significant was the literary loss due to WWII?
From the Wikipedia list of libraries damaged during World War II, I learnt that millions of books stored in libraries were lost from bombings and intentional destruction by the Nazis, especially in ...
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What does this source "IAA iii" mean? Which book?
I've been reading a book about Genghis Khan by Frank McLynn and, going through its notes, I saw sources where I couldn't find anything about it, i.e. what publication was referred to.
I want to find ...
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What irreplaceable manuscripts were lost in the burning of Jaffna Public Library and what history did they contain (and subsequently lost forever)?
Context
The burning of the Jaffna Public Library was a case of ethnic biblioclasm and cultural eradication of Tamil history. At the time of its destruction, the library was one of the biggest in Asia, ...
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What method was used to create book illustrations in late 1800s/early 1900s?
There were (and are) many processes for producing printed images that were used in the 1800s, mostly variants of engraving, etching and lithography.
Early books used woodcut images, which are usually ...
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History of nations - books
I'm not a historian at all but would be interested in reading not-too-technical (accessible and "enjoyable" for non-historians) books about a "global" history of nations; or maybe ...
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Have any palimpsests been found in medieval Icelandic (saga) literature?
Old Norse mythology and history are mostly known through Icelandic medieval parchements. Have those been found to include palimpsests, like medieval parchement in Europe has?
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How do art historians study the transactions of art merchants?
My question is the following: I would like to ask how to frame a research paper about transactions of art merchants and their transcription from the accounting book to a research paper. I would like ...
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Is there a WW2 European bomb damage atlas?
For London there is a comprehensive and accessible (and readily available) atlas of damage done during the Second World War by German aerial bombing.
Are there similar atlases available for Europe, ...
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Where and when is this dragon watermark from? [closed]
I'm doing some historical research on a manuscript. I'm having trouble finding where this watermark is from however. Watermark:
I'm very sure the watermark is a dragon type watermark from a printer ...
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Which "Wonders of the World" book does Malcolm X refer to in his autobiography?
In the Autobiography of Malcolm X, he references reading a book called "Wonders of the World". He lists no author or publisher. A Google search for "Wonders of the World book" ...
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Were there any missing opera actresses in Paris between 1881 - 1910?
As you might have guessed (or maybe not), my question was merely risen by the mystery of the Opera Ghost, from the Phantom of The Opera written by Gaston Leroux.
I have been all over the internet in ...
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What are some well-researched books about ships during the Age of Sail? [closed]
I have tried to find well researched and detailed books, but all I seem to be able to find are books about model ships or fiction books about sailors. As a layman, I’ve entertained the idea that I ...
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What's the meaning of the title of Manstein's book, 'Lost victories' - missed victories or victories won in vain?
I recently shot through Manstein's Lost victories in its English translation and am curious as to what is the precise or intended meaning of its title. The original German title is Verlorene Siege, ...
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How did pagination come to be used?
I've been gathering some information around the history of printing and noticed that the Gutenberg Bible did not feature page numbering. It makes sense pagination was not used then, even if it might ...
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Why did typesetting allegedly "make it difficult for illegal copiers"?
From the Wikipedia article Typesetting
One significant effect of typesetting was that authorship of works could be spotted more easily, making it difficult for copiers who have not gained permission.
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Good books on Kievan Rus era? [closed]
Title pretty much self explenatory.
Im a student myself (but not of history), and I am looking for a good book on the period that is not too heavy, but gives good coverage for early east Slavic ...
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Which historic figure does William Bolitho refer to with "The greatest adventurer that ever lived ended as a nervous, banal millionaire"? [closed]
Context: It was said in 12 Against the Gods which was published in 1929.
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How did philosophical and scientific knowledge in Christian Europe in 1085 compare to the body of knowledge contained in the library of Toledo?
In 1085, Moorish Toledo was conquered by Alfonso VI.
According to prof. Robert Sapolsky (he is a primatologist and neurobiologist, but usually all information he gives is very reliable), at the time ...
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Were women allowed to study at the Library of Alexandria?
The closest thing I've been able to find on the topic was in relation to Hypatia, the mathematician, who was born centuries after the library was burned. Is there a list of known people who studied at ...
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What are some sources on college life in the second half of the 19th century USA
Could someone please direct me towards books (diaries, memoirs...) on college life (particularly dental colleges) in the USA in the second half of the 19th century (particularly 1870s)? Thank you!
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Where can I find a scan of the translated "De re militari" in Bulgarian?
De Re Militari was translated into English, French and Bulgarian before the 15th century. Where can I find a scan of the Bulgarian translation?
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Why is the late Russian Empire associated with Byzantium while having little in common with it?
I have started reading the book A people's tragedy by Orlando Figes about the Russian revolution. I am no historian, however having read a few pages I have a few questions about the repeated ...
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What are the key Syriac pieces of literature?
There is very little info on the web about Syriac, but it sounds like it might have some hidden gems. I am looking here for the most detailed resource I've found. Wikipedia doesn't offer any insight ...
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Why is the Aztec/Nahuatl Syllabary incomplete? [closed]
I am looking at this:
Why is it not complete? Obviously they must not be able to find these glyphs, but what exactly does that mean? Where did they find these existing glyphs anyways? Are they ...
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Were any works completely lost during the Nazi book burnings?
When the Nazis rose to power, they began a campaign of burning books deemed incompatible with the Nazi ideology. During these book burnings, were there any works that were completely lost? By "...
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Book (and/or podcast) recommendations for providing a historical & cultural context for Sichuan?
A couple friends and I plan on taking a tour in the southwestern region of China, specifically Sichuan & Yunan, around spring of next year. I find that it always makes the trip more engaging and ...
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Which book about risk of war over time draws conclusions contrary to Pinker?
I thought I recently read about a book arguing that trends in warfare, when you use the right statistics on the right timescales, do not show a clear decline over time. The book was characterized as ...
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Where was the Barberini psalter created?
Would you know where the Barberini psalter was created?
I have checked the on-line sources and cannot find the answer (maybe I have overlooked it?)
It was created in the 11th century. The obvious ...
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How did the educational curriculum (books) flow from grade to grade in the 1800s?
I'd like to understand how educational curriculum (book choice/material) progression worked during the 19th century within the United States and perhaps even abroad.
We frequently hear of people only ...
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Are there any important biographies of nobodies?
Biographies usually cover interesting people who said and did notable things. I'm curious about lives notable just for their contexts: the stories of unremarkable people in historically remarkable ...
user18968
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Are there historical examples of audiences drawn to a work that was "so bad it's good"?
The concept of media that is enjoyable because it's incompetently executed is a big market nowadays. Movies probably have the biggest examples (Plan 9 From Outer Space, Troll 2, The Room, Samurai Cop, ...
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What is the history behind Library of Congress becoming/being the world's biggest library?
What is the history behind Library of Congress being the world's biggest library? It is rather new because USA is a rather young country. One would expect some library in Paris or London, or maybe the ...
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What's the meaning of a knight fighting a snail in medieval book illustrations?
Someone sent me this really weird picture of a medieval illustration.
It depicted a knight fighting a snail, and was basically a viral snarky commentary about how weird medieval ideas were.
I tried ...
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Was Donald Knuth the first person to typeset a book using a computer?
I came across this article, which recommends a few books. Below is a quote from the article from the part about Digital Typography by Donald Knuth:
For another, the book is, well, charming. Donald's ...
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Are there any books solely about the Umayyad Invasion of Gaul?
I am very fascinated by the Umayyad Invasion of Gaul (the Arabic wiki-page on this subject is very interesting, though it starts with a lengthy description of the condition of Franks) and I am looking ...
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Has Matéo Maximoff's book Die Ursitory been translated to English?
I've been unsuccessfully searching for a book called Ursitory by Matéo Maximoff. From what I have gathered so far, it seems to only be available in German (Die Ursitory) and in French (Les Ursitory). ...
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What are canonical sources about fifth century BCE Athens?
I am looking for a history book on fifth century BCE Athens, preferably with emphasis on culture and the daily lives of the Athenians.
I found recommendations of books about Ancient Greece in general, ...
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What's this flag flying on a fort at Kodiak, Alaska?
Naval captain Yuri Lisianskii drew a harbor scene in Alaska about 1805. It was engraved in England for an edition of his book.
(High-res version)
In the image, from left to right, there are flags ...
user18968
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What were John Milton's daily reading habits?
In a college course on John Milton, I believe I remember the professor saying that Milton had an extremely rigorous daily reading schedule, something like one hour of Greek and two hours of Hebrew ...
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