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1HuxleyTheCat
I recently started reading Mary Beard's Pompeii - The Life of a roman Town (Folio edition, of course) and at an early mention of a mosaic, I remembered that I have the superb Abbeville Press Greek and Roman Mosaics so I pulled that from the shelf to read the sections on Pompeii. I found that a previous read of Mommsen's History of Rome was complemented wonderfully well by a parallel reading of The History of Rome in Painting. Are there any other pairings of books which are equally complementary?
2gmacaree
I found Sei Shonagon's Pillow Book quite helpful in understanding the intricacies of The Tale of Genji
3podaniel
As I mentioned to Les Miserables on another string, The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens paired with Death and Mr. Pickwick by Stephen Jarvis. Although both are works of fiction, the Jarvis book is a work of historical fiction imagining the creation of The Pickwick Papers and the actual persons/places behind the various stories contained in it (including where the name "Pickwick" came from).
4affle
>1 HuxleyTheCat:
The classical pairs are fruitful: I kept the FS Plutarch at hand while reading Dictator, the long-awaited third part of Robert Harris's Cicero trilogy; and the FS Tacitus The annals of imperial Rome while reading Tom Holland's Dynasty. I've another pair waiting on the shelf, Robin Waterfield's Taken at the flood and the FS Polybius The rise of Rome.
More generally, I do like to be able to follow references from the books immediately on hand, giving rise to satisfaction with the book collecting process.
The classical pairs are fruitful: I kept the FS Plutarch at hand while reading Dictator, the long-awaited third part of Robert Harris's Cicero trilogy; and the FS Tacitus The annals of imperial Rome while reading Tom Holland's Dynasty. I've another pair waiting on the shelf, Robin Waterfield's Taken at the flood and the FS Polybius The rise of Rome.
More generally, I do like to be able to follow references from the books immediately on hand, giving rise to satisfaction with the book collecting process.
5jroger1
The FS "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee" by Dee Brown dovetails nicely with Easton Press's recent limited edition of "The Life of Sitting Bull and the History of the Indian War of 1890-91" by Fletcher Johnson. The two books describe many of the same events from different perspectives.
6LesMiserables
>1 HuxleyTheCat:
Brilliant idea for a thread, thanks.
Going slightly off topic, whilst I think of a suitable couple of books, I have found that any reading in Classical Mythology, but especially Greek and Roman, gives you an absolute edge when reading 16th-19th Century literature. More so when when reading biography, epistles etc
Brilliant idea for a thread, thanks.
Going slightly off topic, whilst I think of a suitable couple of books, I have found that any reading in Classical Mythology, but especially Greek and Roman, gives you an absolute edge when reading 16th-19th Century literature. More so when when reading biography, epistles etc
9kcshankd
Not knowing of any connection, I read the Consolation of Philosophy and followed it with A Confederacy of Dunces
10LesMiserables
>1 HuxleyTheCat:
Okay an obvious one, but reading The Life of Samuel Johnson is a beautiful platform to go on and read Boswell's Journal of a tour to the Hebrides with Samuel Johnson and Johnson's A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland. It really tells you something about the two characters who made the trip together. The Life of Samuel Johnson is a rather daunting tome, but definitely worth the read. However even reading the two journals without this, is well worth it and of course complimentary.
Okay an obvious one, but reading The Life of Samuel Johnson is a beautiful platform to go on and read Boswell's Journal of a tour to the Hebrides with Samuel Johnson and Johnson's A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland. It really tells you something about the two characters who made the trip together. The Life of Samuel Johnson is a rather daunting tome, but definitely worth the read. However even reading the two journals without this, is well worth it and of course complimentary.
11gmacaree
>7 EclecticIndulgence: Sei Shonagon spent much of her time talking about courting, relationships and poetry, which gave me a briefing as to how the characters in Genji ought to behave. I think without that grounding I'd have been a little lost.
12HuxleyTheCat
Many thanks for all the excellent suggestions! My TBR list has just expanded but that's the point. I'm still enjoying Pompeii paired with Greek and Roman Mosaics, which reminded me that I have seen quite a few of those mosaics described in that book, as they were part of the Pompeii and Herculaneum exhibition which the British Museum put on a couple of years ago. I didn't pick up the book/catalogue which accompanied the exhibition then so I've rectified that now - my complementary pair has just become a triplet.
13Polar_bear
>12 HuxleyTheCat: Hi! I was reminded by this that I was enabled by - I think - the Keeper of the Shed himself to start collecting the Abbeville Italian Frescoes set, which I still treasure. Some were very elusive...and expensive. They came to mind when a sudden shower whilst on a recent walk led to seeking shelter in Ickleton Church and discovering the amazing doom painting and other frescoes there, ironically revealed by arson in 1979. (See images on Google).
PS I trust that you have recently enjoyed at least one 'Jutland 100' long Naval lunch...
PS I trust that you have recently enjoyed at least one 'Jutland 100' long Naval lunch...
14HuxleyTheCat
>13 Polar_bear: Little did I know, when I attended church over 40 years ago, what lay beneath the limewash - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-25214557
I don't know if I dare start with the Italian Frescoes.
No, no Jutland lunches for me, I may try and get around the exhibition in the Historic Dockyard though - after half-term when it should be quieter.
I don't know if I dare start with the Italian Frescoes.
No, no Jutland lunches for me, I may try and get around the exhibition in the Historic Dockyard though - after half-term when it should be quieter.
15Polar_bear
>14 HuxleyTheCat: Thanks for the great film - and tip about the MRN exhibition too. I spent part of the bank holiday weekend in the Brecon Beacons and it was spectacularly beautiful - and wonderfully hot and sunny as well, in stark contrast to the Stygian blackness and torrential rain visited upon us here in Cambridge today!
16boldface
>14 HuxleyTheCat: "Little did I know, when I attended church over 40 years ago, what lay beneath the limewash . . ."
Time to dig out A Month in the Country for your matching pair.
>15 Polar_bear: ". . . the Stygian blackness and torrential rain visited upon us here in Cambridge today"
No better in Christchurch (Dorset, not NZ). I got absolutely soaked.
Time to dig out A Month in the Country for your matching pair.
>15 Polar_bear: ". . . the Stygian blackness and torrential rain visited upon us here in Cambridge today"
No better in Christchurch (Dorset, not NZ). I got absolutely soaked.
17folio_books
>16 boldface: 14 HuxleyTheCat: "Little did I know, when I attended church over 40 years ago, what lay beneath the limewash . . ."
Time to dig out A Month in the Country for your matching pair.
Oh yes, that's an inspired suggestion. I may even have to dig it out again for myself.
Time to dig out A Month in the Country for your matching pair.
Oh yes, that's an inspired suggestion. I may even have to dig it out again for myself.
18HuxleyTheCat
>16 boldface: What a capital suggestion! I should be done with Pompeii and Herculaneum in a week or so, provided that I don't get side-tracked to the extent that I have today by trying to get my completely non-scientific head around the conundrum of how wood and papyrus survived the pyroclastic cloud. All the books say is that organic material was carbonized, but my little brain keeps saying that charcoal and coking coal are carbonized and they burn to nothing, so how can papyri survive? Answers on a postcard...
19HuxleyTheCat
I seem to recall that Folio were selling the Abbeville Herculaneum: Art of a Buried City at one time. I (sort of) hesitate to ask, but did anyone buy it and, should I?
20boldface
>19 HuxleyTheCat:
I have the Abbeville Herculaneum : Art of a Buried City. It was published in 2012 (English edition, 2013). It's a large coffee-table-type book, bound in handsome grey cloth with a dust jacket. The dust jacket has the top and bottom folded over for extra strength. I think I'm right in saying that the slipcase was a special feature of the copies offered by the FS. It's somewhat sturdier than a typical FS slipcase and has cloth-covered ends and pictorial paper sides. The production values and striking photography will be familiar to you from the Greek and Roman Mosaics book. There are a few photographs of streets and exteriors but the main emphasis is on the art. The photos of paintings, statues, marble reliefs, mosaics, etc., are stunning. The text is arranged on the chronological periods of painting styles, and, within that framework, broken down into chapters on particular houses/villas and rooms: for example, the Villa of the Papyri is discussed in relation to "Second Style Painting". There are also chapters on The Destruction of the Ancient City, The History of the Excavations, The Theater (American spelling throughout), The Basilica Noniana, The Urban Fabric, and Living in Herculaneum. For reference, there is a chronology, a selected bibliography, and an Index of Proper Names (but no general index). In other words, if you don't like fantastic art books with amazingly vivid photographs and an informed text, steer well clear of it.
I have the Abbeville Herculaneum : Art of a Buried City. It was published in 2012 (English edition, 2013). It's a large coffee-table-type book, bound in handsome grey cloth with a dust jacket. The dust jacket has the top and bottom folded over for extra strength. I think I'm right in saying that the slipcase was a special feature of the copies offered by the FS. It's somewhat sturdier than a typical FS slipcase and has cloth-covered ends and pictorial paper sides. The production values and striking photography will be familiar to you from the Greek and Roman Mosaics book. There are a few photographs of streets and exteriors but the main emphasis is on the art. The photos of paintings, statues, marble reliefs, mosaics, etc., are stunning. The text is arranged on the chronological periods of painting styles, and, within that framework, broken down into chapters on particular houses/villas and rooms: for example, the Villa of the Papyri is discussed in relation to "Second Style Painting". There are also chapters on The Destruction of the Ancient City, The History of the Excavations, The Theater (American spelling throughout), The Basilica Noniana, The Urban Fabric, and Living in Herculaneum. For reference, there is a chronology, a selected bibliography, and an Index of Proper Names (but no general index). In other words, if you don't like fantastic art books with amazingly vivid photographs and an informed text, steer well clear of it.
21boldface
>1 HuxleyTheCat:
A pair of American complementary pairs, where original source material can be set against their respective authors' more polished published accounts, conveniently made available to us in beautiful volumes from the Folio Society:
1a. Henry David Thoreau, Walden, or Life in the Woods (FS fine edition, 2009).
1b. Henry David Thoreau, The Journal 1837-1861. There are various editions of this monumental diary which in the original runs to 14 volumes. I have the New York Review Books paperback abridged edition, 2009. Although a paperback, it's printed on good smooth acid-free paper and is a handy size for reading and reference. This abridgement by Damion Searls is the largest and most comprehensive one-volume edition available to date.
2a. Francis Parkman, The Oregon Trail, 1849 edition, published by FS in 2008. A beautiful volume in the 'Exploration and Adventure' series with Victorian-style covers.
2b. The Journals of Francis Parkman, edited by Mason Wade. This edition, illustrated with photographs, maps, and drawings (three taken from Parkman's journals), was published in 2 volumes by Harper & Bros., New York, in 1947. I have the equivalent British edition, published by Eyre & Spottiswoode, London, n.d. (c. 1949). The journals cover much more than Parkman's adventures in California and Oregon, for example, his European Journal of 1843-44 and his notebooks on Paris in 1869 and 1872.
A pair of American complementary pairs, where original source material can be set against their respective authors' more polished published accounts, conveniently made available to us in beautiful volumes from the Folio Society:
1a. Henry David Thoreau, Walden, or Life in the Woods (FS fine edition, 2009).
1b. Henry David Thoreau, The Journal 1837-1861. There are various editions of this monumental diary which in the original runs to 14 volumes. I have the New York Review Books paperback abridged edition, 2009. Although a paperback, it's printed on good smooth acid-free paper and is a handy size for reading and reference. This abridgement by Damion Searls is the largest and most comprehensive one-volume edition available to date.
2a. Francis Parkman, The Oregon Trail, 1849 edition, published by FS in 2008. A beautiful volume in the 'Exploration and Adventure' series with Victorian-style covers.
2b. The Journals of Francis Parkman, edited by Mason Wade. This edition, illustrated with photographs, maps, and drawings (three taken from Parkman's journals), was published in 2 volumes by Harper & Bros., New York, in 1947. I have the equivalent British edition, published by Eyre & Spottiswoode, London, n.d. (c. 1949). The journals cover much more than Parkman's adventures in California and Oregon, for example, his European Journal of 1843-44 and his notebooks on Paris in 1869 and 1872.
22HuxleyTheCat
>20 boldface: & >21 boldface: Many thanks, Jonathan. From what I've seen of the photography in the Herculaneum book it certainly seems a cut-above the standard. Here's hoping that Folio can secure some more for inclusion in a sale.
Your second post reminded me of a small (but wide at nearly 1000 pages) volume lurking in the corner of a rarely visited bookcase - American Earth: Environmental Writing Since Thoreau, published by the LOA.
Your second post reminded me of a small (but wide at nearly 1000 pages) volume lurking in the corner of a rarely visited bookcase - American Earth: Environmental Writing Since Thoreau, published by the LOA.
