A ghost story, a swashbuckling romance, a puzzle... Jean-Pierre Petitfeu and his wife, Claire, have spent time each year in Venice, ever since they lost their ten-year-old son in a boating accident. Each year they take familiar walks and eat in their favorite restaurants, swept away again and again by the beauty and history of Venice. On the first day of their twelfth visit, Jean-Pierre discovers, hidden behind the cornice of a wall in their room, an old manuscript, the memoir of a man named Giovanni Pietro Pofoco, who lived in Venice at the turn of the sixteenth century. Rich with death and passion, Pofoco’s memoir reads like an adventure story full of sex and violence, with idealism at war with the corrupt establishment. Presumably Pofoco died in the early fifteen hundreds, although as we read more of this remarkable story, we may come to doubt that he died at all. “Lovers of Venice, of history, of complexity will delight in these repeated rambles across ancient waterways and down winding streets. The novel is an intriguing palimpsest in which several characters’ journals provide layers of experience and inquiry.” —Sheila Ortiz Taylor, novelist “Braendlin’s Through a Venetian Looking Glass is an original and nuanced evocation of Venice populated with compelling characters that ricochet around one another over centuries. Read it, love it, bring it to Venice, read it again.” —William Luhr, Ph.D., Professor of English and Film, St. Peter’s University

Step into a world where fire dances with sand, where history, science, and art fuse into an enchanting journey spanning centuries, waiting to engulf your senses – this is "Through the Looking Glass." Prepare to embark on an intellectual odyssey that begins with the alchemical wonders of ancient civilizations. Witness their hidden truths and legends, as glittering artifacts emerge from the sands of time. Transform your understanding of an art that has defined empires and sparked revolutions. Your guide a kaleidoscope of stories laid out in meticulously crafted chapters, unveiling the mystique behind one of humanity's most mesmerizing crafts glass blowing. "Through the Looking Glass" paints a vivid tableau of stained glass windows, whose every piece tells a spiritual tale from a bygone medieval era. Trailblaze through the Renaissance, as innovative glass techniques shatter the limits of creativity. Marvel at Venetian artisans, whose mastery turns molten glass into unrivaled beauty. Your journey is not just about looking—it's about truly seeing. Venture into the courts of royalty and discover how, through a delicate alchemy, glass transcended mere utility to become a symbol of power and prestige. Feel the heat of the scientific revolution – glasses not just for seeing through, but for seeing beyond, becoming a vital tool in humanity's relentless quest for knowledge. You'll encounter modern alchemists who wield fire and air to mold the glass canvas into contemporary masterpieces. Tools and techniques that have withstood the test of time make their secrets known, as the roles of kilns and glassblower's instruments are revealed. Explore the elusive dance of light as it plays with glass to create breathtaking architectural spectacles. Discover sustainable practices breathing new life into this ancient art. Dive deep into the microcosm of economics, where art collides with commerce, and investment whispers through the galleries. Feel the restorative power of glass as it transitions into a therapeutic medium, and uncover the mentorship and apprenticeship models that preserve the flames of tradition. As you approach the book's culmination, consider the environmental implications, restoration challenges, and look ahead to the digital innovations poised to redefine glass artistry's future. Embark upon a literary adventure with "Through the Looking Glass," where every chapter is a looking glass of its own, reflecting a world where art and science, the physical and metaphysical, tradition and innovation converge. This isn't just a book. It's your passport to a realm shimmering with ingenuity, inviting you to a rendezvous with beauty, history, and the endless possibilities within the heart of every shard of glass.

Children’s book author Lyon Wentworth and his wife, Bea, investigate a murder from the vantage of a hot-air balloon in this charming seaside thriller. For Lyon Wentworth’s birthday, his wife, Bea, gives him something spectacular: a custom wicker basket made to fit his prized hot-air balloon. In return, Lyon gives Bea what she wants more than anything else: a promise to end his career as an amateur sleuth and stop risking his neck to solve impossible murders. But promises are hard to keep, and Lyon will be caught up in another mystery before his feet touch the ground. Lyon is cruising over Long Island Sound when he sees his friend Tom’s private plane spewing black smoke. Before he can radio the coast guard, the plane crashes and is swallowed by the waves. Tom was an expert pilot, and Lyon is certain that he wouldn’t have made a fatal error. Perhaps the plane was tampered with . . . But when a phone call from Tom comes after his supposed death, Lyon realizes this murder has taken the leap from improbable to impossible. Richard Forrest’s Lyon and Bea Wentworth Mysteries are some of the most intelligent thrillers ever written. As witty and urbane as Dashiell Hammett’s Nick and Nora Charles, the Wentworths approach homicide with effortless style. Death Through the Looking Glass is the 3rd book in the Lyon and Bea Wentworth Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.

The papers in this volume derive from the 29th Spring Symposium of Byzantine Studies. This was held for the Society for the Promotion of Byzantine Studies in the University of London in March 1995, in order to complement the British Museum exhibition 'Byzantium. Treasures of Byzantine Art and Culture'. The objective of the symposium was to explore the ways in which British scholars, travellers, novelists, architects, churchmen and critics came into contact with Byzantium, and how they perceived what they saw. The present volume sets out some of the results of this enquiry. Byzantium is treated both as a source of influence on British culture as well as an 'idea' which British culture constructed in different ways in different periods of history. To give some comparative context, attention is also paid to attitudes towards Byzantium in continental Europe. Papers deal, amongst other topics, with the collecting of objects representative of Byzantine culture and with the changing appreciation of Byzantine manuscripts. They also include a series of case studies of individual historians and Byzantinists, and two deal in particular with Ruskin, who emerges as a perceptive 19th-century critic of Byzantine culture. Through the Looking Glass is volume 7 in the series published by Ashgate/Variorum on behalf of the Society for the Promotion of Byzantine Studies.

Look around you! Glass is everywhere: the mirror where you brush your teeth in the morning, the test tube in your science class, and your cup of juice on the dinner table. But what do you really know about it? Where did it come from? To find out, you have to travel all the way back to ancient Egypt, where glass was first in use. Beautiful illustrations give a sense of the time and place as you span the globe and thousands of years to see glass's use expand from small pots, to bottles, to cathedral stained-glass windows to telescope lenses and more! Lots of diagrams detail the step-by-step processes of glassmaking through the ages. Another vivid and informative book from a master of explanation, Bruce Koscielniak.

The evolving technology of the looking glass -- First glimpses : mirrors in seventeenth-century New England -- Looking glass ownership in early America -- Reliable mirrors and troubling visions : nineteenth-century white -- Understandings of sight -- Fashioning whiteness -- Mirrors in black and red -- Epilogue

The convulsive history of foreign journalists in China starts with newspapers printed in the European factories of Canton in the 1820s. It also starts with a duel between two editors over the future of China and ends with a fistfight in Shanghai over therevolution. This book tells the story of China's foreign journalists.

The Origins of the Consumer Revolution in England explores the rise of consumerism from the end of the medieval period through to the beginning of the nineteenth century. The book takes a detailed look at when the 'consumer revolution' began, tracing its evolution from the years following the Black Death through to the nineteenth century. In doing so, it also considers which social classes were included, and how different areas of the country were affected at different times, examining the significant role that location played in the development of consumption. This new study is based upon the largest database of English probate records yet assembled, which has been used in conjunction with a range of other sources to offer a broad and detailed chronological approach. Filling in the gaps within previous research, it examines changing patterns in relation to food and drink, clothing, household furnishings and religion, focussing on the goods themselves to illuminate items in common ownership, rather than those owned only by the elite. Using a combination of qualitative and quantitative evidence to explore the development of consumption, The Origins of the Consumer Revolution in England will be of great use to scholars and students of late medieval and early modern economic and social history, with an interest in the development of consumerism in England.

This book offers the reader a comprehensive and visually fascinating excursion into the history of Venetian glass from 1900 until today : the most significant period of Muranese glass.