James Scott, Duke of Monmouth, may have been the eldest and illegitimate son of a monarch, but when he entered the world his father, Charles II, was a monarch without a kingdom, and with little prospect of getting it back from Parliamentary rule. His mother meanwhile was a commoner with a wanton reputation. His paternal grandfather, Charles I, had recently lost his head upon a scaffold on Whitehall. Due to his illegitimate status, James had no surname of his own. He was no normal royal child - he was born on the cusp of modernity and would become a true child of the 17th century, encapsulating it socially, politically and religiously. From this near hopeless start, little James would go exile in Europe, where he lived in near poverty, to triumphantly rejoicing his father's restoration to the thrones of England and Scotland. Monmouth would become part of one of the most libertine royal courts within Europe. His status as a royal bastard ensured that he was able to rise within the family firm, first by being made a duke, and then by marrying into the most eligible aristocratic family in Scotland. He would become his father's son when it came to matters of the opposite sex; he made a poor husband but a willing and lusty lover. He was also a skilled military man, with experience in the field and at sea, and his ability to communicate with those of all social statuses added to his effectiveness as a military leader, as well as making him popular with the general public. Monmouth deserves to be remembered for more than the failed act of treason against his uncle, James II, and the consequent blundered and bloody forfeit of his life on Tower Hill. The story is also fascinating in that Monmouth was witness to some of Britain's biggest historical events of the 17th century as well as central to political crises, plots and eventually the rebellion that now bears his name. Among these events were the Plague of 1665, the Great Fire of London 1666, the discovery of the so-called Popish Plot 1678, the emergence of political parties, the start of the Exclusion Crisis, the discovery of the Rye House Plot 1683 and the Monmouth Rebellion 1685. And the country was still dealing with the memory of the bloody and divisive Civil War which had its own complexities of state and religion. 145pp, eight pages of plates.

Sub-titled 'The Life and Achievements of a Self-Taught Polymath, Artist and Wit from Devonshire', John Cranch was born in the same small town in the same year that Gray's Elegy was published. Taught to read and write but little else, only his own personality and talent allowed him to break free to become a respected lawyer, scholar and artist. But his story would be a dry one if thought of only in terms of social mobility, because even across two centuries his strivings, disappointments and successes have a modern human appeal. Significant amounts of his own writing and letters have survived, and the numerous quotations in this biography allow his own voice to speak to us. This took on greater historical significance when he was writing to relatives and acquaintances caught up in the events surrounding the birth of the independent United States of America. One important fact is that his uncle Richard Cranch was the brother-in-law and great friend of John Adams, second President of the United States. When John Cranch's (1751-1821) paintings appeared at auction in the 20th century, the importance of his art was finally appreciated. As a painter he often depicted domestic life of ordinary people and tradesman, popular themes of Dutch art in the period but not fashionable in England for some time afterwards. His role as mentor to the young John Constable is acknowledged nowadays. What should also be acclaimed to his fame was his pioneering antiquarian work, but despite the importance attached to preservation of ancient things, he sought to alert the world to their destruction. Cranch never married or had children. He appreciated the work of the blue stocking author Hannah More and this polymath certainly noted the talents of others which may have led to his near abandonment of his legal practice, which bored him. Long periods of his life were spent in Kingsbridge and Axminster in Devonshire, London and finally Bath. 203pp, illustrations.

Sub-titled 'The Life and Times of Dorothy Peel OBE', the author is the great-great granddaughter of Mrs Peel who wrote many books on cookery and household management. Dorothy's recipes are featured in their original form such as the long forgotten Devilled Bananas and wartime Potato Gateau, Chicken en Casserole, Cheese Pufflets and delicious teatime treats such as Feather Tart and Candied Pears, Nursery Cake and Madeleines. From the Foreword: 'She was an enlightened woman, who lived long before her time. She wrote with great passion on other subjects too like Women's Suffrage, homosexuality in the Great War, the work carried on by women, the rationing of food during it and the heavy burden women carried with great stoicism and dedication to keep life going on as normal as possible. Soon I was asked to do Granny Dot's lunches, teas, dinners and given cake or biscuits to comment on... I was very pleasantly surprised at how delicious they were... simplicity and the very few ingredients they contain.' Apart from recipes, Mrs Peel in all her books gives advice and suggestions that are all very up to date. For instance she writes about fruit 'Fruit, if fresh, is better eaten raw, as in the cooking its value is destroyed.' She refers to bone stock, fried chopped onion and a little Worcestershire Sauce, well seasoned and spice 'excellent and when mixed with crumbs or cooked, rice can be made into croquettes or rissoles.' This is similar to how any contemporary thrifty cook will cook. Mrs Peel gives the recipe of an Italian Macaroni Pie which is her version of the many pasta pies made up and down the Italian peninsular using a little baking powder in the shortcrust pastry. The book explores the social and cultural history and how Dorothy played a key role and was awarded an OBE in 1918 for services to the Ministry of Food. Using extracts from her autobiography, her witty, poignant and informative comments reveal a woman with a genuine social conscience. The many original wartime recipes also include Scalloped Salmon, Maize Woodcock, Anchovy Butter and Ragout of Mutton. 200 splendid large pages, colour and archive photos.

The circus is a very British institution, and its imagery is everywhere from brightly coloured circus posters to advertising motifs, seen in films, toys and games and in our language - juggling the finances, walking a fine wire, clowning around, and putting one's head into the lion's jaw. The brightly coloured big top and razzmatazz are very much an American import. The whole world of the circus has a long and colourful history, but it was with a man named Philip Astley that the 'modern' circus was founded, 250 years ago plus, in April 1768. He pegged out a circular ride on the banks of the River Thames and gave performances of trick riding to a paying audience. An accomplished horseman, military hero and instinctive showman, above all Astley was an entrepreneur who realised that people would pay good money to be entertained and entertained well. He created the comic character of Billy Buttons and other acts were added to his performances - clowns, rope dancers, tumblers and strongmen. The book goes back to his early days as an apprentice cabinetmaker and his military exploits in the 15th Dragoons, to his trials and tribulations of establishing himself as a respected performer and his international successes in France and Ireland. He truly was a larger-than-life figure. Includes quotes from newspapers and letters of the time. 126pp, paperback.

England in the 15th century was dominated by the Wars of the Roses in which descendants of King Edward III struggled for power. Edward's son John of Gaunt had numerous children by two wives, and they all divided into the factions of Yorkists and Lancastrians in the next two generations. Out of this melee emerged a series of strong women who wielded great power, including the "she-wolf" Margaret of Anjou. The author of this book focuses on four women who were all accused of witchcraft as a way of reducing their power, or that of their husbands. Joan of Navarre was the second wife on the Lancastrian Henry IV, a widow who wrote encouragingly to the new king shortly after he had seized the crown from the Yorkist Richard II and lost no time in marrying him. When Henry died and his son Henry V defeated the French at Agincourt, Joan was in a difficult position as her daughter's husband had fought with the French and was killed. Henry V now plundered his stepmother Joan's vast wealth and finally brought a charge of witchcraft against her and Friar Randolph, leading to her arrest and detainment. When Henry died his son Henry VI was only an infant, and Humphrey Duke of Gloucester became Protector. Humphrey's wife, Elanor Cobham, had been his mistress until his first marriage was annulled, and her precarious position at court was strengthened by Joan of Navarre's favour, but when Humphrey lost influence over Henry VI to his great rival Cardinal Beaufort, Eleanor was tried for witchcraft and imprisoned, with Humphrey also being disgraced and possibly murdered. Jacquetta of Luxembourg, the sister-in-law of Lancastrian Henry V, became a Yorkist following her marriage to Richard Woodville and gave birth to Elizabeth Woodville, later the Queen of Yorkist Edward IV. Both woman were accused of witchcraft and exonerated. 320pp, softback, genealogical tables.

First published in 1927, this stylish and absorbing biography was one of the first examples of popular narrative history writing, and it is a classic of its time. This edition has a new introduction by bestselling historian Dan Jones. Saviour, antichrist, warrior, scholar, tyrant, emperor. Dubbed the 'stupor mundi', the wonder of the world, Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, led a life of extraordinary drama and ambition. Born in 1194, he was the son of Emperor Henry VI and Constance, Queen of Sicily. His grandfathers were Frederick I Barbarossa and King Roger II - a diabolical combination. He inherited the Sicilian throne when he was only four years old and, in adulthood, the charismatic Frederick fought for control over the lands he considered his birthright to become King of the Germans and Holy Roman Emperor. At the zenith of his power he crowned himself King of Jerusalem in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, thereby securing an empire which embraced vast areas of Western Europe and the Holy Land. He was a towering figure of his age, but a man full of contradictions. For some he was a Messiah, an enlightened monarch and a bringer of justice and peace. For others, he was a tyrant and a devil, bent on absolute power. He led crusades but was excommunicated four times. He was a warrior but also an influential patron of the arts. He welcomed Christian, Jewish and Muslim scholars to his court, whilst persecuting Arabs and Jews in his Sicilian homeland. Myth, legend, prophecy, poetry, melodrama and fatalism are all marshalled alongside the familiar tools of careful source analysis in this monumental biography of a Renaissance man, politician, negotiator and tyrant, an expert in falconry and a polymath. Latin chroniclers tutted at the sight of his 'Saracen' dancing girls in his entourage, and he forced the Jews of Sicily to wear yellow stars and conducted ethnic cleansing of Sicilian Arabs. 623 monumental pages, pagemarker.

In 1931, when Thomas Edison was at the end of his life, it was suggested to President Hoover that the entire electrical system of the United States should be shut off for one minute as a mark of respect for the man who mobilised the power of electricity. Fortunately Hoover realised that the gesture would immobilise the nation and quite possibly kill a lot of people. Even turning the lights out was unthinkable. Since his birth in 1847 Edison's discoveries had changed everything. This big and authoritative biography takes the unusual step of recounting Edison's life in reverse. It is at the end of the book that we finally learn of the interest in science and discovery that was awakened in the young Thomas, or Alva as he was known then, by his mother's home schooling, and which extraordinarily was not stifled by his deafness at the age of 12. Edison left home to become a telegraph boy in the southern states at the time of the Civil War, when faster communications were being developed. He developed a method of receiving Morse code on cylinder tape and managed to patent the invention, though he also had to suffer setbacks, jealousies and obstructive bureaucracy. By this time he was running his own business. In 1871 he married his first wife Mary, aged 16, who died aged 28 leaving Edison with three children. His second wife Mina bore three more children, neglecting the offspring of his first marriage, whose chaotic lives caused endless anxiety to their troubled father. Edison's laboratory at Menlo Park was the scene of thousands of experiments that led to the invention of the phonograph, which he was still perfecting decades later, early forms of X-ray which were used by surgeons to locate embedded bullets, and invention of the storage battery. The goal of creating a mass-market electric light was a long time in development in the 1880s but finally assured his place in history. Altogether Edison had over 1000 patents to his name. 783pp, black and white reproductions. Remainder mark.

The 13th century mystic Christina of Hane is only just beginning to achieve the same kind of fame as other female mystics such as Julian of Norwich. Our main source is the Life of Christina, translated here with a scholarly Introduction, and found in a manuscript dating from the late 15th century, but almost certainly incorporating 13th and 14th century material. Christina may have been a younger sister of the 13th century King Adolf of Nassau, and although the Life modestly claims that she did not know Latin, the evidence suggests she was a highly educated woman. According to the Life, she entered the convent at the age of six, returning to her family when the convent was in financial difficulty. On her return she experienced overwhelming temptations, particularly of a sexual nature, and gave herself a self-punitive programme to combat the seven Cardinal Sins. Elements of self-harming are comparable with those of other female mystics, but particular to Christina is the damage she inflicts on her vagina, the details of which suggest biological knowledge unique in medieval sources. She flagellates, puts nettles in her bed, and probably experiences the stigmata. In modern terminology, her mortified body becomes the performative stage of her sanctity. The middle section of the Life consists of direct speech from a vision of Christ, and the final part is a treatise on the Annunciation. The editor relates the Life to the Helfta mystics Mechthild and Gertrude, together with later Rhineland mystics such as Meister Eckhart, details which may have been added by a later scribe. Peculiar to Christina is the motif of an animated sculpture, when a statue of the Virgin Mary comes to life and slaps her in the face. Theological discussion includes whether Mary could have been free of Original Sin. 144pp, excellent Introduction.

Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress is one of the great classics of English Literature, arising out of the Puritan religion that was at the heart of England's Civil War and Oliver Cromwell's Commonwealth. Christopher Hill was a leading historian of the 17th century and this biography of Bunyan aims to "set Bunyan against the history of his own turbulent times". Bunyan joined Cromwell's Parliamentary army in 1644 and was discharged in 1647. The following years led to his conversion and are described in his autobiographical account Grace Abounding. Bunyan was well-versed in the Bible but had a strong sense of his own sin, and came to oppose the popular movements led by Ranters and Quakers because they did not give him assurance of salvation. For Bunyan, conversion was not a once and for all event but had constantly to be renewed, and the story of the Pilgrim's Progress is one in which the hero, Christian, has to overcome recurring temptations and soldier on in spite of the ravages of Despair. In common with most Puritans, Bunyan regarded preaching as the chief means of salvation, and his work as a popular preacher led in 1660 to his being imprisoned for 12 years for seditious activity. His wife and five children struggled to support themselves, and prison conditions were often harsh, but he was able to receive visitors and also to write Part I of The Pilgrim's Progress. At the Palace Beautiful, signifying the congregation of the faithful, the pilgrim is given a sword and armour, and this reflects the liberation experienced by the New Model Army, where ordinary working people like Bunyan were supplied with arms. A fascinating study combining history, theology and literary analysis. 394pp, paperback, footnotes.

A young girl seven years old maybe, naked of shoulder and chest and dressed in decorously disarranged linen rags is lazing coquettishly against a crumbling garden wall of limestone and sandstone, standing in a corner in her bare feet. She looks with a calm directness right into the camera lens, her face bearing an expression of impish, secret knowledge, a winsome look that manages to be both confident and disturbing. The picture is a portrait of Alice Pleasance Liddell, the daughter of the Dean of Christchurch College, Oxford, the great classicist and lexicographer Henry Liddell. Charles Dodgson, who had befriended the girl and already photographed her several times, encouraged her on this occasion to dress for him as a starveling and beggar-maid. The result is one of the most memorable photographic likenesses ever taken, heavy with uneasy resonances, but later having powerful literary consequences and association that remain with us to this day. Dodgson, a lecturer in mathematics, took the photograph on a summer's day in 1858 with a Thomas Ottewill Registered Double Folding camera, recently purchased in London. Acclaimed biographer Simon Winchester deftly uses the image, as unsettling as it is famous, as the vehicle for a brief excursion behind the lens, a focal point on the origins of a classic work of English literature, Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. Dodgson's love of photography framed his view of the world and was partly responsible for transforming a shy and half-deaf mathematician into one of the world's best-loved observers of childhood. The book marks the origins of Dodgson's lifelong fascination with very young girls, how he encountered a very different world when sent to Rugby School in 1846 and his keen interest in astronomy and symbolic logic and his academic life in Oxford when it was his time to invent himself a wholly new life and live on an entirely different plane. 110pp. Oxford University Press.