In A Modern Miscellany: Shanghai Cartoon Artists, Shao Xunmei’s Circle and the Travels of Jack Chen, 1926-1938 Paul Bevan explores how the cartoon (manhua) emerged from its place in the Chinese modern art world to become a propaganda tool in the hands of left-wing artists. The artists involved in what was largely a transcultural phenomenon were an eclectic group working in the areas of fashion and commercial art and design. The book demonstrates that during the build up to all-out war the cartoon was not only important in the sphere of Shanghai popular culture in the eyes of the publishers and readers of pictorial magazines but that it occupied a central place in the primary discourse of Chinese modern art history.

In Making the Miscellany Megan Heffernan examines the poetic design of early modern printed books and explores how volumes of compiled poems, which have always existed in practice, responded to media change in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century England. Heffernan's focus is not only the material organization of printed poetry, but also how those conventions and innovations of arrangement contributed to vernacular poetic craft, the consolidation of ideals of individual authorship, and centuries of literary history. The arrangement of printed compilations contains a largely unstudied and undertheorized archive of poetic form, Heffernan argues. In an evolving system of textual transmission, compilers were experimenting with how to contain individual poems within larger volumes. By paying attention to how they navigated and shaped the exchanges between poems and their organization, she reveals how we can witness the basic power of imaginative writing over the material text. Making the Miscellany is also a study of how this history of textual design has been differently told by the distinct disciplines of bibliography or book history and literary studies, each of which has handled—and obscured—the formal qualities of early modern poetry compilations and the practices that produced them. Revisiting these editorial and critical approaches, this book recovers a moment when compilers, poets, and readers were alert to a poetics of organization that exceeded the limits of the individual poem.

With Scottish Miscellany, author Jonathan Green lets you revel in the fun and fascinating explanations behind Scottish traditions and folklore, giving you the answers to questions you’ve always had—or never knew you had—and more as he covers all aspects of Scotland. From Scottish culture to the ancient history of the country to modern pastimes, this book has all that and more. Learn why the thistle is the floral emblem of Scotland, how Scotch whisky is made, why the Scots celebrate Hogmanay, how to play the bagpipes, and much more. This delightful book is the perfect gift for anyone planning a visit to Scotland, with an interest in Scottish history, or a drop of Scottish blood.

From ancient Greek lore to vampire movies and modern medicine, what other herb invokes such strong feelings in people as allium sativum—better known as garlic? Most people know garlic can season food and may even protect from evil spirits but they may not know it can cure colds, attract lovers, and sweeten luck—until now. A Miscellany of Garlic reveals all of the splendors of this amazing plant, including: to keep them safe and strong, Egyptian slaves chewed on garlic while building the pyramids eating garlic can help repair lung damage caused by smoking Tibetan monks were banned from eating garlic—due to its reputation as an aphrodisiac large quantities of raw garlic can prevent roundworm and other parasites and a mixture of crushed garlic and water can rid roses of aphids Packed with hundreds of aromatic facts, trivia, and quick-to-table recipes, A Miscellany of Garlic is an homage to the savory herb no garlic lover can resist.

Perhaps more than any other kind of book, manuscript miscellanies require a complex and ‘material’ reading strategy. This collection of essays engages the renewed and expanding interest in early modern English miscellanies, anthologies, and other compilations. Manuscript Miscellanies in Early Modern England models and refines the study of these complicated collections. Several of its contributors question and redefine the terms we use to describe miscellanies and anthologies. Two senior scholars correct the misidentification of a scribe and, in so doing, uncover evidence of a Catholic, probably Jesuit, priest and community in a trio of manuscripts. Additional contributors show compilers interpreting, attributing, and arranging texts, as well as passively accepting others’ editorial decisions. While manuscript verse miscellanies remain appropriately central to the collection, several essays also involve print and prose, ranging from letters to sermons and even political prophesies. Using extensive textual and bibliographical evidence, the collection offers stimulating new readings of literature, politics, and religion in the early modern period, and promises to make important interventions in academic studies of the history of the book.

Taking up the invitation extended by tentative attempts over the past three decades to construct a functioning definition of the genre, Jonathan Bradbury traces the development of the vernacular miscellany in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Spain and Spanish-America. In the first full-length study of this commercially successful and intellectually significant genre, Bradbury underlines the service performed by the miscellanists as disseminators of knowledge and information to a popular readership. His comprehensive analysis of the miscelánea corrects long-standing misconceptions, starting from its poorly-understood terminology, and erects divisions between it and other related genres. His work illuminates the relationship between the Golden Age Spanish miscellany and those of the classical world and humanist milieu, and illustrates how the vernacular tradition moved away from these forebears. Bradbury examines in particular the later inclusion of explicitly fictional components, such as poetic compositions and short prose fiction, alongside the vulgarisation of erudite or inaccessible prose material, which was the primary function of the earlier Spanish miscellanies. He tackles the flexibility of the miscelánea as a genre by assessing the conceptual, thematic and formal aspects of such works, and exploring the interaction of these features. As a result, a genre model emerges, through which Golden Age works with fragmentary and non-continuous contents can better be interpreted and classified.

Introducing the all-new, indispensable collection of necessary trivia, uncommon knowledge, and vital irrelevance from Schott--the inventor of the Miscellany genre.

This miscellany explores the fascinating and enigmatic world of Sherlock Holmes, his place in literary history and how he has become the iconic, timeless character who is loved by millions. Contains facts, trivia and quotes from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's legendary stories, the reader can also explore the often weird and wonderful characters who graced Conan Doyle's pages. Do you know the difference between a Penang Lawyer and a Tide-Waiter? And if you think a 'life preserver' is a cork-filled flotation device, how does Wilson Kemp fit one into the sleeve of his jacket? The Sherlock Holmes Miscellany is light-hearted and highly informative, and perfect for both the Sherlock aficionado and those new to the world of 221B Baker Street.

Seaweed is so familiar and yet its names - pepper dulse, sea lettuce, bladderwrack - are largely unknown to us. In this short, exquisitely illustrated portrait, the Dutch poet and artist Miek Zwamborn shares her discoveries of its history, culture and use, from the Neolithic people of the Orkney Islands to sushi artisans in modern Japan. Seaweed troubled Columbus on his voyages across the Atlantic, intrigued von Humboldt in the Sargasso Sea and inspired artists from Hokusai to Matisse. Covering seaweed's collection by Victorians, its adoption into fashion and dance and its potential for combating climate change, and with a fabulous series of recipes based around the 'truffles of the sea', this is a wonderful gift for every nature lover's home.

A remarkable, fascinating and beautiful visual guide to the world as you have never seen it. Vargic’s Miscellany of Curious Maps is a wonderfully weird collection of meticulous and striking cartographic creations, such as the infamous Map of Stereotypes. Based on a Westerner’s stereotypical view of the world, Slovakian artist and cartophile Martin Vargic assigns more than two thousand labels and prejudices to cities, states, countries, continents, oceans and seas on a large-scale, visually stunning world map, which alone took more than four months to create. The conceptual Map of the Internet and the Map of Sports are exquisite and surprising, and infographic maps showing the number of heavy-metal bands per capita, the probability of getting struck by lightning, average penis length, and the number of tractors per 1,000 inhabitants make it hard not to share with the person next to you. Including more than 70 maps, four foldout maps and two oversized removable posters, this book is a treasure trove of unexpected facts of our quirky, glorious and diverse big beautiful world.