Kulturalis

The Khalili Anis al-Hujjaj (Pilgrims’ Companion) presents a ground-breaking new exploration of Safi ibn Vali Qazwini''s richly illustrated manuscript dating from 1676-77. This beautifully produced volume, with a scholarly introduction by Qaisra M. Khan and translation by Michael Burns, documents the author''s year-long journey to Mecca and Medina from Mughal India via the Indian Ocean and Red Sea.Commissioned by Zeb un-Nisa, the daughter of Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb, this delightfully vivid account belongs to a long-established tradition of guides to the Holy Sanctuaries. It gives comprehensive advice to prospective pilgrims on every aspect of the maritime journey, such as which ships to select, the best foods to consume, rituals to observe, significant places to visit and the people one might encounter.This volume extensively explores the original manuscript''s detailed illustrations and text, providing an invaluable window into 17th-century religious practices, maritime travel, and the cultural landscape of the Indian Ocean world.

It is a perilous time for the Roman Republic. Victory over her nemesis Hannibal in the Second Punic War and the subsequent conquest of Greece have led to widespread debauchery and mayhem on the Italian peninsula. Into the breach steps Spurius Postumius Albinus, Consul of Rome in 186 BC, who turns detective to investigate a series of crimes attributed to the cult of the wine god Bacchus that, he argues, threaten the very heart of the State. Based on events recorded by the Roman historian Livy and confirmed by a surviving bronze plaque in Vienna’s Kunsthistorisches Museum, Spurius is at once an ancient political whodunit and the first major treatment of a cataclysmic event in Roman history: according to Livy, some 3,500 Romans perished in the witch hunts resulting from Spurius’ investigation. In its finely balanced examination of freedom of belief and expression, and the manipulation of truth in times of national emergency, the novel has great relevance to today’s troubled world. Kulturalis’s edition of Spurius gives the novel a striking and luxurious new treatment. Renowned Argentinian-born illustrator Jorge González’s vivid images - including full-page and double-page illustrations within the text and an arresting slipcase design - brings the graphic events of the novel to life. Based in Madrid, González previously illustrated the edition of William Golding’s Lord of the Flies published by Los Libros del Zorro Rojo and The Folio Society’s edition of Carlos Ruíz Zafón’s The Shadow of the Wind. Working hand-in-glove with González through Maria Cardelli’s IllustrationZone is award-winning hand-lettering artist Ruth Rowland who has designed album covers for Elton John, Kate Bush and Cliff Richard.

The Age of Johnson: The Library of Loren and Frances Rothschild brings together the most comprehensive collection of rare books and autograph works in private hands of the 18th-century literary giant Samuel Johnson, together with extensive collections of the works of the other principal authors of the period long-known as the Age of Johnson— including James Boswell, Edmund Burke, Frances Burney, Oliver Goldsmith, Hester (Thrale) Piozzi, Alexander Pope, and Jonathan Swift.An introduction to each of these authors provides information placing the author in his or her historical and literary context, and the descriptive entries for each of the over 900 individual manuscripts, letters, and rare books records bibliographical information, significant facts, and critical information about the work recorded.    The individual entries, when viewed in the aggregate, survey and illuminate the breadth and depth of the literary and intellectual canon of the authors of the Age of Johnson, illuminate their relationships and their works to one another. The text taken as a whole demonstrates why Samuel Johnson, as an individual and as an author, defined the era long named for him.