This is the first history of the guitar during the reign of the Stuarts, a time of great political and social upheaval in England. In this engaging and original volume, Christopher Page gathers a rich array of portraits, literary works and other, previously unpublished, archival materials in order to create a comprehensive picture of the guitar from its early appearances in Jacobean records, through its heyday at the Restoration court in Whitehall, to its decline in the first decades of th...

In 1893 Clara Lindow sang the ballad Dreamtide to her own guitar accompaniment in the Cumbrian hamlet of Lowick. A writer for the local newspaper not only admired her 'marked skill and ability' but also considered the concert to be a sign of 'the onward march of light and learning in our time'. Amateurs like Miss Lindow were at the heart of a Victorian revival of guitar playing, especially for accompanying the voice, which has never been fully acknowledged and has often been denied. This b...

Few now remember that the guitar was popular in England during the age of Queen Elizabeth and Shakespeare, and yet it was played everywhere from the royal court to the common tavern. This groundbreaking book, the first entirely devoted to the renaissance guitar in England, deploys new literary and archival material, together with depictions in contemporary art, to explore the social and musical world of the four-course guitar among courtiers, government servants and gentlemen. Christopher ...

Ferns gives the reader an introduction to the reasons for the variety of ferns in the British Isles, as well as the history of their development within this landscape and their use by man. This edition is exclusive to newnaturalists.comFerns, horsetails and clubmosses, or to use their technical term the Pteridophyta, are a fascinating area of the British flora that ranged from the prehistoric-looking horsetails to the delicate beauty of the Aspleniaceae family (otherwise known as t...

The arborescent gymnosperms are the most prevalent trees in one-third of the world's forests, and have dominated the Earth's forest ecosystems through much of evolutionary time. They encompass over 70 living genera and nearly 700 species of evergreen conifers and related trees, and include the largest and longest-lived organisms on this planet. This two-volume treatise provides detailed descriptions of each genus based on first-hand surveys of their structure, adaption, ecology, function a...

Lake Michigan, winding creeks, sprawling swamps, and one of the world’s great rivers--Illinois’s variety of aquatic habitats makes the Prairie State home to a diverse array of fishes. The first book of its kind in over forty years, An Atlas of Illinois Fishes is a combination of nature guide and natural history. It provides readers with an authoritative resource based on the extensive biological data collected by scientists since the mid-1850s. Each of the entries on Illinois’s 21...

The arborescent gymnosperms are the most prevalent trees in one-third of the world's forests, and have dominated the Earth's forest ecosystems through much of evolutionary time. They encompass over 70 living genera and nearly 700 species of evergreen conifers and related trees, and include the largest and longest-lived organisms on this planet. This two-volume treatise provides detailed descriptions of each genus based on first-hand surveys of their structure, adaption, ecology, function a...

This is the inspiring tale of an alternative way to view life. The author narrates as he is guided by a Pied Crow through the African bush in search of wisdom in the form of ancient writings. He is fortuitously introduced to the crow whist on sabbatical in the quiet space of nature. He allows himself to be led by the crow to a variety of locations where cryptic verses are written and corresponding interpretations found. Each verse presents thought provoking ideas on aspects of life. All of...

Our mainstream information landslide is infested with wild expectations of excess. We are constantly told to have all of our dreams come true. How about becoming moderately successful? Why don’t we start with three dreams and see how that goes? We are all told to give 110%. How about 70%? Our narrow perception of succeeding consistently points to the top three billionaires, even though the seven hundredth richest person in the country is quite comfortable. The airwaves and bookstores are c...

CHRISTOPHER RORY PAGE Two bodies, two souls and an inspiring four way conversation between contrasting mortals as they journey through the African bush and discover the way from Fear to faith. The author awakens one morning riddled with fear from a deafening noise outside his bungalow window. This is the beginning of an exploration into the self as he meets a primitive man who proves that there is more to someone than meets the eye. A non-verbal form of communication develops between as th...

Holden Hollister had everything a man could dream for, a beautiful home, a loving family, and a career as a best-selling author, but how much of it really belongs to him?After leaving the scene of a fatal car crash in 1992, which has Holden's best friend and writing partner serving a life sentence for manslaughter, he tries to forget his past and enjoy life to its fullest. Despite needing massive doses of pain to make it through each day only to be visited by his past in his dreams,...

As a crime scene photographer for the Toronto Police, Elizabeth Reid has seen her share of tragedy. After losing her mother in a fire as a child, she was gifted with the ability to see things that other's couldn't, including the spirit of a mysterious woman who appears in her dreams, often forewarning her of impending death.After receiving a letter from her grandmother, and accompanied by her best friend and Crime Scene Specialist, Alex Buchanan, "Lizzie" is returning home to Woods ...