Innovative and yet traditional, Laura Coombs Hills (1859-1952) was renowned for both her miniatures on ivory and, later, her pastels of flowers. “Queen of Miniature Painters”, “...a veritable John Singer Sargent of miniature painting” and “Dean of Flower Pastels” were merely some of the many accolades ascribed to this New England artist. However, Hills’ accomplishments and contributions to America’s art historical culture entailed so much more. Sense, Sensibility and Sensation: The Marvelous Miniatures and Perfect Pastels of Laura Coombs Hills, America’s Lyrical Impressionist was conceived and written as an atypical art history book to better explore Hills’ many contributions to American culture, with a view toward a broader understanding of Hill’s ethos. Beyond the presentation of her unique, biographical history as an independent, woman-entrepreneur, this book explores Hill’s role in perpetuating a sense of individualism associated more closely with the concepts of home, hearth, and honor of the nineteenth century than the psychological anomie associated with the Modernism of the twentieth, - her own time. In addition, on the pages of this book will be found relevant discussions regarding Hills’ ties to Sense, Sensibility and Sensation, that is, to the idea of individualism associated with nineteenth century miniatures and Walt Whitman’s celebration of America; the notion of beauty associated with Contemplative Romanticism espoused by Edmund Burke; the sentiments of the “Romance poets” (Lord Byron and Percy B. Shelley); as well as the nineteenth century color theories of Michel Chevreul favored by the Impressionists. Moreover, notions of “democratic empiricism”, “aesthetic lyricism”, and Hills’ passion for “symphonic colors” – are all contributory factors which help to identity Laura Coombs Hills as what I have termed “America’s Lyrical Impressionist”.

Your step-by-step guide to Marvelous Miniatures. Get enthralled with working small! Little quilts are big on charm and appeal, and with help and inspiration from our expert teachers and quilters, you'll find out how easy it is to adapt your quiltmaking skills to a smaller scale. Once you try these ideas on for size, your miniatures will be the ones that make people ask, "How did she ever do that?" Minis are simply irresistible-- * Create a quick little quilt with only a thimbleful of effort * Scale down a favorite quilt pattern to pint-size proportions * Piece with precision and appliqué with ease, no matter how tiny the pieces * Embellish with tiny stencils, embroidery stitches, and 3-D flowers * Customize quilts for dolls, teddy bears, doll furniture, and more * Use foundation piecing or English paper piecing for the ultimate piecing perfection * learn easy tricks for binding and quilting minis. Plus great gifts from miniature blocks!

50% Tactics – 50% Opening Book – 100% Enjoyment! Enter the world of chess miniatures where games are decided in 20 moves or less! Marvelous Modern Miniatures features the largest collection of miniatures chess games played in the last half-century. Over 500 pages of cut and thrust! Although every player is rated at least 2100, the overwhelming majority are strong masters or grandmasters. You will follow them as they do battle with tactical fireworks raging around them. The surprising depth of the annotations (each one of the 2,020 games has meaningful comments) turns this book into a virtual course on tactics. Looking for traps and pitfalls in your favorite openings? You’ll probably find them here. Marvelous Modern Miniatures will improve your tactical skills and alertness and sharpen your opening play. As a bonus, the entire collection is immensely enjoyable!

Presents facts, brief stories, and photos on topics including extreme body art, incredible inventions, and strange travel destinations.

One of Caissa’s Brightest Stars! The Belgian master Edgard Colle was one of the most dynamic and active chess players of the 1920s and early 1930s. Though his international career lasted only ten years, Colle played in more than 50 tournaments, as well as a dozen matches. Moreover, he played exciting and beautiful chess, full of life, vigor, imagination and creativity. As with such greats as Pillsbury and Charousek, it was a tragedy for the game that his life was cut short, at just age 34. Author Taylor Kingston has examined hundreds of Colle’s games, in an effort to understand his skills and style, his strengths and weaknesses, and present an informed, balanced picture of him as a player. Colle emerges as a courageous, audacious, and tenacious fighter, who transcended the limitations his frail body imposed, to battle the giants of his day and topple many of them. 110 of Colle’s best, most interesting, and representative games have been given deep and exacting computer analysis. This often revealed important aspects completely overlooked by earlier annotators, and overturned their analytical verdicts. But the computer’s iron logic is tempered always with a sympathetic understanding that Colle played, in the best sense, a very human kind of chess. Though not intended as a tutorial on the Colle System, the book has many instructive examples of that opening. Additionally, there is an extensive excerpt from Max Euwe’s Gedenkboek Colle, several other memorial tributes, biographical information about many of Colle’s opponents, his full known tournament and match record, and all his available tournament crosstables. We invite the reader to get acquainted with this wounded but valiant warrior, whom Hans Kmoch called a “chess master with the body of a doomed man and the spirit of an immortal hero.” About the Author: Taylor Kingston has been a chess enthusiast since his teens. His historical articles have appeared in Chess Life, New In Chess, Inside Chess, Kingpin, and the website www.ChessCafe.com. He has edited numerous books for Russell Enterprises, most recently Emanuel Lasker: A Reader. He has also produced many computer-assisted analytical critiques of classic works by Alekhine, Capablanca, Euwe, Tartakower, Nimzovich, Najdorf, Fine and others. In this book, he combines history and analysis in a new look at one of the early 20th century’s most variable but brightest stars.

In this book the distinguished medievalist Lynn Staley turns her attention to one of the most dramatic periods in English history, the reign of Richard II, as seen through a range of texts including literary, political, chronicle, and pictorial. Richard II, who ruled from 1377 to 1399, succeeded to the throne as a child after the fifty-year reign of Edward III, and found himself beset throughout his reign by military, political, religious, economic, and social problems that would have tried even the most skilled of statesmen. At the same time, these years saw some of England's most gifted courtly writers, among them Chaucer and Gower, who were keenly attuned to the political machinations erupting around them. I n Languages of Power in the Age of Richard II Staley does not so much "read" literature through history as offer a way of "reading" history through its refractions in literature. In essence, the text both isolates and traces what is an actual search for a language of power during the reign of Richard II and scrutinizes the ways in which Chaucer and other courtly writers participated in these attempts to articulate the concept of princely power. As one who took it upon himself to comment on the various means by which history is made, Chaucer emerges from Staley's narrative as a poet without peer.

This is the second volume in a series that traces, century by century, the role of Asia in the making of Europe. The rise to world dominance of the Western nations in modern times and the rapid industrial growth of the West, which outpaced the East in technical and military achievements, have led to a historical eclipse of the ancient and brilliant cultures of Asia. Historican Donald F. Lach, in his influential scholarly work, Asia in the Making of Europe, points out that an eclipse is never permanent, that this one was never total, and that there was a period in early modern times when Asia and Europe were close rivals in brilliance and mutual influence.

Morgan Ravn arrives in Denmark seeking clues about her mysterious heritage. What she finds is a flirtatious stranger who regales her with a story about a jewel thief from 1958 and then abandons her with a large unruly dog. Can Morgan locate the irresponsible pet owner before his monstrous canine drags her through every puddle in Copenhagen and sheds all over her last dress? And why are strangers dogging her every step, snapping photos? Is the shutter happy behavior a bizarre Danish custom or something more sinister?

Designed to provide English readers of German literature the opportunity to familiarize themselves with both the established canon and newly emerging literatures that reflect the concerns of women and ethnic minorities, the Encyclopedia of German Literature includes more than 500 entries on writers, individual work, and topics essential to an understanding of this rich literary tradition. Drawing on the expertise of an international group of experts, the essays in the encyclopedia reflect developments of the latest scholarship in German literature, culture, and history and society. In addition to the essays, author entries include biographies and works lists; and works entries provide information about first editions, selected critical editions, and English-language translations. All entries conclude with a list of further readings.