What common condition was once treated with cow dung? How might oyster shells relieve heartburn? Can eels really cure deafness? Is the secret to stopping a stubborn case of hiccups a simple ingredient found in most pantries? If you were struck by illness or injury in the late eighteenth century, you would most likely have been referred to Scottish physician William Buchan’s Domestic Medicine—and, as a result, you may have found yourself administering urine to your ears or drinking a broth made from sheep’s brains.

Originally published in 1769, Domestic Medicine was produced for the benefit of those without access to—or means to afford—medical assistance, and copies of the book were found in apothecaries and coffee houses, private households and clubs. In 1797, Bounty mutineer Fletcher Christian and his crew even had the foresight to pack a copy before fleeing to the Pitcairns. Derived from folklore and the emerging medical science of the day, some of Buchan’s recommendations for how to live a healthy life still ring true: for instance, exercising, enjoying a varied diet, and getting an abundance of fresh air. Others are delightfully dodgy or even downright dangerous, such as genital trusses, the prescription of mercury, or the suggestion that Spanish fly might soothe aching joints.

Bringing together an exceedingly entertaining selection of entries from one of the earliest self-help books, Can Onions Cure Ear-ache? offers fascinating insight into the popular treatments of the time.

Carl Sandburg was an ardent champion of Chicago, famously issuing the challenge: “Show me another city with lifted head singing so proud to be alive and strong and cunning.” For pianist Otis Spann, it was the “mother of the blues,” and a beacon to “every good musician who ever left the South.” But the union leader Eugene V. Debs had harsher words for the city, calling it “unfit for human habitation,” and Rudyard Kipling claimed it was “inhabited by savages” and hoped never to see it again.
           
Whether you look upon the city with admiration, disgust, or an incongruous combination of the two, Chicago has captured the imagination of generations of poets, novelists, journalists, and commentators who have visited or called it home. Chicago in Quotations offers a compendium of the most colorful impressions that citizens of—or visitors to—the Second City will appreciate.

The custom of formal dining at Oxford and Cambridge dates back to the earliest days of college life. Before each dinner, according to ancient statutes, grace must be said in Latin, and, although the text and nature of grace for each college has changed over the years, the tradition itself remains current to this day.

Following a historical introduction, The College Graces of Oxford and Cambridge reproduces in chronological order the full Latin texts of all the graces alongside facing English-language translations. Also included are the special graces reserved for feast days, as well as an explanation of some of the traditions that accompany them, including the trumpeters that summon students to dinner to the use of the Sconce Cup and the Rose Bowl.

From the twelfth-century monastic texts and the two-word graces of the nineteenth century to the new graces written for the modern age, this meticulous collection reveals how the tradition of the Latin grace has survived and evolved over the centuries and offers a rare glimpse inside the private halls of Oxford and Cambridge.

A charm of goldfinches. An ostentation of peacocks. A murder of crows. The English language brims with witty words for flocks of birds! Thought to have originated from hunting manuals, the practice of inventing collective nouns for birds has since evolved into a sport all its own, with new words striving to perfectly capture the essence of each bird.
           
A Conspiracy of Ravens presents readers with a compendium of collective bird nouns from the distant and not-so-distant past. Some of the nouns are portentous, like a tiding of magpies. Others, like a murmuration of starlings or a chattering of choughs, convey sound. Still more reflect with literary flourish the beauty of the bird: what could be more celebratory than a crown of kingfishers or an exaltation of larks? Featuring songbirds, aquatic birds, garden favorites, and birds of prey, this book collects more than one hundred of the best and most imaginative expressions and illustrates them with charming woodcuts by the eighteenth-century artist and naturalist Thomas Bewick.
           
A beautiful and entertaining read, A Conspiracy of Ravens will delight bird-lovers and word-lovers in equal measure.

The Enlightenment, which marked a social and philosophical turn away from religion and toward science and reason, swept across Europe in the eighteenth century, and these civil and rational values were embraced byJewish intellectuals, bringing about a cultural revolution within traditional Jewish society. The story of this transformation is presented here through a close look at the works held in the Leopold Müller Memorial Library of the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies, which was the private library of Leopold Zunz, the father of the “Science of Judaism.”

 

As Shmuel Feiner and Natalie Naimark-Goldberg reveal in this insightful and approachable history, the Jewish Enlightenment (Haskalah) was a multifaceted movement, articulated in many different ways in the varied settings where Jews lived. Rather than providing a comprehensive story of the Haskalah, Feiner and Naimark-Goldberg use these impressive literary treasures to trace the cultural transformation that took place mainly in Germany, from its moderate and scattered beginnings in the early 1700s, through the height of the movement in the second half of the eighteenth century, until its final stage around 1800, when the Haskalah began to give way to new movements and ideologies.

 

Richly illustrated with images of eighteenth-century manuscripts, books, and pamphlets, Cultural Revolution in Berlin provides an excellent guide to the significant cultural metamorphosis brought about by the Jewish Enlightenment.

Beachcombing, overturning a boulder, or simply parting the strands of seaweed in a rock pool can offer a glimpse into a thriving underwater world of astonishing creatures. Starfish which, upon losing an arm, can grow a new one; ethereal moon jellyfish pulsating in the current; baby sharks hatching from their fancifully named ‘mermaids’ purses.’

This veritable marine bestiary tells these fascinating stories of life between the tides. Featuring stunning oil paintings by the author, Curious Creatures on our Shores presents over fifty of the most unusual and remarkable marine organisms found on British coasts, from beloved seahorses and starfish to lesser-known critters like sea potatoes and sea lemons.

Inspired by the Oxford University Museum of Natural History’s exceptionally rich zoology collections, which contain millions of specimens amassed from centuries of expeditions, this book invites us to marvel anew at the natural wonders found where water and land meet.
 

Charles Dickens is among the greatest English novelists, and the power of his prose can be found in his portrayals of the harsh social realities of his time, from the depiction of poverty-stricken orphan Oliver Twist to the squalor of the slums and skewering of the justice system in Bleak House.

Published to celebrate the twohundredth anniversary of Dickens’s birth, this book brings together quotations from Dickens’s novels and letters with photographs of their original covers and Victorian-era images—among them, prints, posters, and newspaper pieces—that shed light on the topics about which Dickens writes. Ordered by theme, the book covers such topics as schools in Victorian England, domestic entertainment, the introduction of the railroad, and the poor conditions in prisons and workhouses, which loom large in Dickens’s novels—and, indeed, his own childhood. Dickens was also an avid theater enthusiast who arranged productions and public readings of many of his works, and this book explores his role throughout his later years in adroitly adapting his novels for the stage.

The Curious World of Dickens breathes new life on this momentous occasion into the vibrant world inhabited by Dickens and his characters.