n this unflinching look at depression and the human struggle to find hope in its midst, acclaimed author Tim Farrington writes with heartrending honesty of his lifelong struggle with the condition he calls "a hell of mercy." With both wry humor and poignancy, he unravels the profound connection between depression and the spiritual path, the infamous dark night of the soul made popular by mystic John of the Cross. While depression can be a heartbreaking time of isolation and lethargy, it can also provide powerful spiritual insights and healing times of surrender. When doctors prescribe medication, patients are often left feeling as if part of their very selves has been numbed in order to become what some might call "normal." Farrington wrestles with profound questions, such as: When is depression a part of your identity, and when does it hold you back from realizing your potential? In the tradition of Darkness Visible and An Unquiet Mind, A Hell of Mercy is both a much needed companion for those walking this difficult terrain as well as a guide for anyone who has watched a loved one grapple with this inner emotional darkness.

In 1769 Thomas Gray (best known for his 'Elegy in a Country Chuchyard') made a tour of the English Lakes, and recorded it in a journal that is now widely accepted as the first example of modern travel writing. He delighted in what he saw and conveys vividly to us the lakes and the mountains through eighteenth-century eyes. A few years later the watercolourist Joseph Farington followed in Gray's footsteps and painted a series of key views along the way. These paintings, which were later engraved and published, are beautiful in the picturesque tradition, and, from a topographical point of view, are remarkably accurate, unlike the work of most artists of the time. John Murray has brought together for the first time Thomas Gray's journal, Joseph Farington's watercolours, and the engravings after the watercolours that sold widely at the time and were key to the popularising of the lakes. In addition he has photographed Farington's views as they appear today, and it is remarkable how many of them are so clearly and still easily recognisable today. Here is an unusual and original view of the Lake District, and one that has not been attempted before.

In this illustrated book, an eminent art historian examines the intriguing history and significance of the international art exhibition of the Old Master paintings.

William Blake, poet and artist, is a figure often understood to have 'created his own system'. Combining close readings and detailed analysis of a range of Blake's work, from lyrical songs to later myth, from writing to visual art, this collection of thirty-eight lively and authoritative essays examines what Blake had in common with his contemporaries, the writers who influenced him, and those he influenced in turn. Chapters from an international team of leading scholars also attend to his wider contexts: material, formal, cultural, and historical, to enrich our understanding of, and engagement with, Blake's work. Accessibly written, incisive, and informed by original research, William Blake in Context enables readers to appreciate Blake anew, from both within and outside of his own idiom.

Reproduction of the original: Lancashire Folk-Lore by John Harland, T.T. Wilkinson