Light Paperback (1 lb or less)

Pennsylvania

Five Centuries of Sex, Adventure, Vice, Treachery, and Folly from Royal Britain

Spanning 500 years of British history, a revealing look at the secret lives of some great (and not-so-great) Britons, courtesy of one of the world’s most engaging royal historians Beleaguered by scandal, betrayed by faithless spouses, bedeviled by ambitious children, the kings and queens of Great Britain have been many things, but they have never been dull. Some sacrificed everything for love, while others met a cruel fate at the edge of an axman’s blade. From the truth behind the supposed madness of King George to Queen Victoria’s surprisingly daring taste in sculpture, Behind the Palace Doors ventures beyond the rumors to tell the unvarnished history of Britain’s monarchs, highlighting the unique mix of tragedy, comedy, romance, heroism, and incompetence that has made the British throne a seat of such unparalleled fascination. Featuring: • stories covering every monarch, from randy Henry VIII to reserved Elizabeth II • historical myths debunked and surprising “Did you know . . . ?” anecdotes • four family trees spanning every royal house, from the Tudors to the Windsors

Behind the Palace Doors

811a4a40-8d03-4fca-97e9-97c3205fe39c-1

Carolly Erickson

Light Hardcover (1 lb or less)

New York

A tale inspired by the life of Mary Queen of Scots depicts her as a spirited young woman who fights to keep her throne, enters into a happy but scandal-marked third marriage, and is betrayed by her cousin, Queen Elizabeth. 75,000 first printing.

The Memoirs of Mary Queen of Scots

df1ea717-33fd-4f49-a1eb-be3d7a64d3d6-1

Hardcover (1 to 2 lbs)

Louisiana

Edward Hackemer

Heavy Paperback (2 to 4 lbs)

Florida

It's England. It's the early 1800's. Using pen and ink, by candlelight or oil lamp, J. Rutherford Pendragon described his life as he lived it from boyhood and beyond. It wasn't only the foot paths, dirt roads, alleyways, cobbled streets, or turnpikes he traveled. From the country lanes of Cock Marling and Winchelsea to the cobbled streets of Maidstone, he gathered tales across all of southeast England. His personal stories from Surrey, Kent, and Sussex have been collected, interpreted, and transcribed in this volume. Whether it was on foot, behind a goat cart, on a wares wagon or in a stagecoach, it wasn't only horse manure that dropped to the dirt and cobblestones along the way. Wash water and chamber pots were emptied from the windows up above. Tales of happiness, tears, trauma and tragedy were ground into the dust and wedged between the cobbles. From a humble thatched roof cottage, a small county vicarage, or a brick and stone Manor House, Pendragon's life and dreams were recorded on vellum, parchment, and eventually, paper made from either hemp or wood pulp. Life stories, legends, and secrets fell from the lips of passersby and settled into the gravel and cracks underfoot. As the years went by, the dung and waste were washed away, but the timeless sagas that fell between the fieldstone pavers remained to be told again as Cobble Tales.

Cobble Tales

b5e484a0-edcc-4167-9c76-02e74ce0b11d-0

#hardcover #sallybedellsmith #princecharles #biography #britishhistory #monarchy #royalfamily #thecrown #royals #royalty

Heavy Hardcover (2 to 4 lbs)

Virginia

This is an unprecedented in-depth look at Prince Charles: the real man, with all of his contradictions, complexities and ambitions. Beginning with his lonely childhood, and moving through his many love affairs, his intellectual quests, his entrepreneurial pursuits, the tragedy of his marriage to Diana and his eventual reunion with his true love Camilla - this is a riveting, insightful portrait of a man who possesses a fiercely independent spirit and yet who has spent his life in waiting for the ultimate role

Prince Charles

09aa0da7-0bbe-4381-a231-265f349df530-1

Nancy Horan

Ohio

Imagines the unconventional love affair of Scottish literary giant Robert Louis Stevenson and American divorcee Fanny Van de Grift Osbourne, who after meeting in late-19th-century rural France take refuge from their respective unhappy lives and embark on two shared decades of international turbulence. By the author of Loving Frank.

Under the Wide and Starry Sky

ec780d0e-da42-4053-8881-643e4c88a337-1

Geraldine McCaughrean

#paperback #british #britishhistory #movers #recordbreakers #history #soldiers #wars

20 Stories from British History

Movers, Shakers and Record Breakers

95868b11-e554-4bdd-9824-98e3ce686336-1

#paperback #americanhistory #britishhistory #declarationofindependence #childrens #history #homeschool #landmarkbooks 

Massachusetts

How the Revolutionary War Began

How the Revolutionary War Began

The American colonists were fed up with British law. They refused to buy English goods. They formed a militia of tradesmen and farmers ready to fight at a moment's notice. Most importantly, they joined together. All 13 colonies sent representatives to decide whether they should form a new country. That group wrote the Declaration of Independence, the document that summed up a revolution.

Liberty!

6781b988-ef9c-404a-82f4-38a41588081b-1

Andrew Morton

The Intimate World of the Windsor Sisters

Perfect for fans of The Crown, this captivating biography from a New York Times bestselling author follows Queen Elizabeth II and her sister Margaret as they navigate life in the royal spotlight. They were the closest of sisters and the best of friends. But when, in a quixotic twist of fate, their uncle Edward Vlll decided to abdicate the throne, the dynamic between Elizabeth and Margaret was dramatically altered. Forever more Margaret would have to curtsey to the sister she called 'Lillibet.' And bow to her wishes. Elizabeth would always look upon her younger sister's antics with a kind of stoical amusement, but Margaret's struggle to find a place and position inside the royal system--and her fraught relationship with its expectations--was often a source of tension. Famously, the Queen had to inform Margaret that the Church and government would not countenance her marrying a divorcee, Group Captain Peter Townsend, forcing Margaret to choose between keeping her title and royal allowances or her divorcee lover. From the idyll of their cloistered early life, through their hidden war-time lives, into the divergent paths they took following their father's death and Elizabeth's ascension to the throne, this book explores their relationship over the years. Andrew Morton's latest biography offers unique insight into these two drastically different sisters--one resigned to duty and responsibility, the other resistant to it--and the lasting impact they have had on the Crown, the royal family, and the ways it adapted to the changing mores of the 20th century.

Elizabeth and Margaret

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Mary Sharratt

Mississippi

The granddaughter of a folk healer becomes the target of an ambitious local magistrate who plays neighbors and family members against one another until paranoia reaches frenzied levels.

Daughters of the Witching Hill

eb52d245-acc4-4e58-bfe4-bc2f1526d2e2

Alison Weir

Nebraska

Offers a solution to the centuries-old mystery of the fate of the boy king Edward V and his younger brother, who were believed killed by their uncle, Richard III

The Princes in the Tower

242f771e-c452-48c7-97b0-fae9ac8d332b-1

Richard Barber

Colorado

A Biography

This volume is a biography of King Henry II of England (1133-1189). The author offers both a study of his character, and an estimate of his work as a ruler. Considered one of the most effective of all England's monarchs, Henry's many innovations in civil and criminal procedure had a lasting effect upon English Law and his expansion of the royal court system made royal justice available throughout England. Henry's expansion of royal justice did, however, bring him into conflict with Thomas Becket, the archbishop of Canterbury, who opposed the king's efforts to punish members of the clergy who had been convicted of crimes in ecclesiastical courts and removed from their clerical status.

Henry Plantagenet

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John Guy

The Forgotten Years

COSTA AWARD FINALIST ECONOMIST BOOK OF THE YEAR FINANCIAL TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR Film rights acquired by Gold Circle Films, the team behind My Big Fat Greek Wedding "A fresh, thrilling portrait... Guy's Elizabeth is deliciously human." -Stacy Schiff, The New York Times Book Review A groundbreaking reconsideration of our favorite Tudor queen, Elizabeth is an intimate and surprising biography that shows her at the height of her power. Elizabeth was crowned queen at twenty-five, but it was only when she reached fifty and all hopes of a royal marriage were behind her that she began to wield power in her own right. For twenty-five years she had struggled to assert her authority over advisers, who pressed her to marry and settle the succession; now, she was determined not only to reign but to rule. In this magisterial biography, John Guy introduces us to a woman who is refreshingly unfamiliar: at once powerful and vulnerable, willful and afraid. We see her confronting challenges at home and abroad: war against France and Spain, revolt in Ireland, an economic crisis that triggers riots in the streets of London, and a conspiracy to place her cousin Mary Queen of Scots on her throne. For a while she is smitten by a much younger man, but can she allow herself to act on that passion and still keep her throne? For the better part of a decade John Guy mined long-overlooked archives, scouring handwritten letters and court documents to sweep away myths and rumors. This prodigious historical detective work has enabled him to reveal, for the first time, the woman behind the polished veneer: determined, prone to fits of jealous rage, wracked by insecurity, often too anxious to sleep alone. At last we hear her in her own voice expressing her own distinctive and surprisingly resonant concerns. Guy writes like a dream, and this combination of groundbreaking research and propulsive narrative puts him in a class of his own. "Significant, forensic and myth-busting, John Guy inspires total confidence in a narrative which is at once pacey and rich in detail." -- Anna Whitelock, TLS "Most historians focus on the early decades, with Elizabeth's last years acting as a postscript to the beheading of Mary Queen of Scots and the defeat of the Spanish Armada. Guy argues that this period is crucial to understanding a more human side of the smart redhead." - The Economist, Book of the Year

Elizabeth

e6268536-9da9-4963-9661-f6da66fc324c-1

Harold F. Hutchison

1284-1327

Explores the dramatic facts of the life of Edward II and gives a new understanding of this tragic figure.

Edward II

244d159e-b10d-4725-ac59-7f38e4ce5308-0

Des Ekin

Previously owned.  Minimal wear.  Nameplate sticker on inside front 

Paperback (1 to 2 lbs)

Baltimore and the Barbary Pirates

In June 1631 pirates from Algiers stormed ashore at the little harbour village of Baltimore in West Cork. They captured almost all the villagers and bore them away to a life of slavery in North Africa. The prisoners were destined for a variety of fates - some would live out their days as galley slaves, while others would spend long years in the scented seclusion of the harem. Only two of them ever saw Ireland again. The Sack of Baltimore was the most devastating invasion ever mounted by Islamist forces on Ireland or England. Des Ekin's exhaustive research illuminates the political intrigues that sealed the captives' fate, and provides insight into life amid the souks and seraglios of old Algiers.

The Stolen Village

c3b4f945-1722-4bda-8011-f1bc53726c0b-0

First Edition 
Interesting story about Robert Louis Stevenson and his wife, Fanny Van de Grift Osbourne. 
Beautiful condition with minimal shelf wear. 

Michigan

Helen Rappaport

Hardcover with dustjacket, minor wear from reading and handling.

Texas

Victoria, Albert, and the Death That Changed the British Monarchy

As she did in her critically acclaimed The Last Days of the Romanovs, Helen Rappaport brings a compelling documentary feel to the story of this royal marriage and of the queen's obsessive love for her husband - a story that began as fairy tale and ended in tragedy. After the untimely death of Prince Albert, the queen and her nation were plunged into a state of grief so profound that this one event would dramatically alter the shape of the British monarchy. For Britain had not just lost a prince: during his twenty year marriage to Queen Victoria, Prince Albert had increasingly performed the function of King in all but name. The outpouring of grief after Albert's death was so extreme, that its like would not be seen again until the death of Princess Diana 136 years later. Drawing on many letters, diaries and memoirs from the Royal Archives and other neglected sources, as well as the newspapers of the day, Rappaport offers a new perspective on this compelling historical psychodrama--the crucial final months of the prince's life and the first long, dark ten years of the Queen's retreat from public view. She draws a portrait of a queen obsessed with her living husband and - after his death - with his enduring place in history. Magnificent Obsession will also throw new light on the true nature of the prince's chronic physical condition, overturning for good the 150-year old myth that he died of typhoid fever.

A Magnificent Obsession

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Slightly tattered cover but inside is in good condition 

Oregon

1559-1581

Elizabeth I and her Parliaments

Bernard Cornwell

Originally bought at library book sale ('discarded'). Damage on inside of hardcovers shown on photos.

New Jersey

2000 B. C. --A Novel

Four thousand years ago, a stranger's death at the Old Temple of Ratharryn-and his ominous "gift" of gold-precipitates the building of what for centuries to come will be known as one of mankind's most singular and remarkable achievements. Bernard Cornwell's epic novel Stonehenge catapults us into a powerful and vibrant world of ritual and sacrifice at once timeless and wholly original-a tale of patricide, betrayal, and murder; of bloody brotherly rivalry: and of the never-ending quest for power, wealth, and spiritual fulfillment. Three brothers-deadly rivals-are uneasily united in their quest to create a temple to their gods. There is Lengar, the eldest, a ruthless warrior intent on replacing his father as chief of the tribe of Ratharryn; Camaban, his bastard brother, a sorcerer whose religious fervor inspires the plan for Stonehenge; and Saban, the youngest, through whose expertise the temple will finally be completed. Divided by blood but united-precariously-by a shared vision, the brothers begin erecting their mighty ring of granite, aligning towering stones to the movement of the heavenly bodies, and raising arches to appease and unite their gods. Caught between the zealousness of his ambitious brothers, Saban becomes the true leader of his people, a peacemaker who will live to see the temple built in the name of salvation and regeneration. Bernard Cornwell, long admired for his rousing narrative and meticulous historical imaginings, has here delivered his masterpiece, the most compelling and powerful human drama of its kind since Ken Follett's Pillars of the Earth and Edward Rutherford's Sarum. His re-creation of civilization as it might have been in 2000 B.C. at once amplifies the mystery of his subject and makes the world of Stonehenge come alive as never before.

Stonehenge

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Philippa Gregory

The daughters of a ruthlessly ambitious family, Mary and Anne Boleyn are sent to the court of Henry VIII to attract the attention of the king, who first takes Mary as his mistress, in which role she bears him an illegitimate son, and then Anne as his wife. Reprint. 250,000 first printing. (A Columbia Pictures film, written by Peter Morgan, directed by Justin Chadwick, releasing Fall 2007, starring Natalie Portman, Scarlett Johansson, Eric Bana, and others) (Historical Fiction)

The Other Boleyn Girl

85926c51-6b2b-4fa3-9b33-67446e8ce70f-1

Martin Latham

A Curious and Quirky History of London

A paperback reissue of Londonopolis (9781849941655) This curious history of London whisks you down the rabbit hole and into the warren of backstreets, landmarks, cemeteries, palaces, markets, museums and secret gardens of the great metropolis. Meet the cockneys, politicians, fairies, philosophers, gangsters and royalty that populate the city, their stories becoming curiouser and curiouser as layers of time and history are peeled back. Find out which tube station once housed the Elgin Marbles and what lies behind a Piccadilly doorway that helped Darwin launch his theory of evolution and caused the Swedes to wage war against Britain. Do you believe in fairies? Do you know which Leadenhall site became a Nag's Head tavern, morphing into the mighty East India Company, before taking flight as the futuristic Lloyds Building? Who named the Natural History Museum's long-tailed dinosaur Mr Whippy? Spanning above and below ground, from the outer suburbs to the inner city, and from the medieval period to the modern day, Londonopolis is a celebration of the weird and the wonderful that makes the mysterious city of London so magical.

Londonopolis

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Amanda Foreman

Duchess of Devonshire

The winner of Britain's prestigious Whitbread Prize and a bestseller there for months, this wonderfully readable biography offers a rich, rollicking picture of late-eighteenth-century British aristocracy and the intimate story of a woman who for a time was its undisputed leader. Lady Georgiana Spencer was the great-great-great-great-aunt of Diana, Princess of Wales, and was nearly as famous in her day. In 1774, at the age of seventeen, Georgiana achieved immediate celebrity by marrying one of England's richest and most influential aristocrats, the Duke of Devonshire. Launched into a world of wealth and power, she quickly became the queen of fashionable society, adored by the Prince of Wales, a dear friend of Marie-Antoinette, and leader of the most important salon of her time. Not content with the role of society hostess, she used her connections to enter politics, eventually becoming more influential than most of the men who held office. Her good works and social exploits made her loved by the multitudes, but Georgiana's public success, like Diana's, concealed a personal life that was fraught with suffering. The Duke of Devonshire was unimpressed by his wife's legendary charms, preferring instead those of her closest friend, a woman with whom Georgiana herself was rumored to be on intimate terms. For over twenty years, the three lived together in a jealous and uneasy ménage à trois, during which time both women bore the Duke's children—as well as those of other men. Foreman's descriptions of Georgiana's uncontrollable gambling, all- night drinking, drug taking, and love affairs with the leading politicians of the day give us fascinating insight into the lives of the British aristocracy in the era of the madness of King George III, the American and French revolutions, and the defeat of Napoleon. A gifted young historian whom critics are already likening to Antonia Fraser, Amanda Foreman draws on a wealth of fresh research and writes colorfully and penetratingly about the fascinating Georgiana, whose struggle against her own weaknesses, whose great beauty and flamboyance, and whose determination to play a part in the affairs of the world make her a vibrant, astonishingly contemporary figure.

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Michael Farquhar

Behind the Palace Doors

Carolly Erickson

The Memoirs of Mary Queen of Scots

Carolly Erickson

The Memoirs of Mary Queen of Scots

Edward Hackemer

Cobble Tales

Sally Bedell Smith

Prince Charles

Nancy Horan

Under the Wide and Starry Sky

Nancy Horan

Under the Wide and Starry Sky

Nancy Horan

Under the Wide and Starry Sky

Geraldine McCaughrean

Movers, Shakers and Record Breakers

Lucille Recht Penner; David Wenzel (Illustrator)

Liberty!

Andrew Morton

Elizabeth and Margaret

Mary Sharratt

Daughters of the Witching Hill

Alison Weir

The Princes in the Tower

Richard Barber

Henry Plantagenet

John Guy

Elizabeth

Harold F. Hutchison

Edward II

Des Ekin

The Stolen Village

Nancy Horan

Under the Wide and Starry Sky

Helen Rappaport

A Magnificent Obsession

J.E. Neale

Elizabeth I and her Parliaments

Bernard Cornwell

Stonehenge

Philippa Gregory

The Other Boleyn Girl

Martin Latham

Londonopolis

Amanda Foreman

Georgiana