The long-awaited English translation of a pioneering account of af Klint's oeuvre

For the first time since its original publication in 1989, Åke Fant's pioneering account of Hilma af Klint's life and career is available to read in English. Following her training at the Royal Swedish Academy of Fine Arts in Stockholm and 20 subsequent years of painting, Hilma af Klint (1862-1944) began working with an abstract visual language in 1906. She then dedicated the rest of her life to her magnum opus, a series of large-scale abstract paintings intended to be exhibited as part of an immense spiritual temple. Af Klint drew upon contemporaneous occult sources to develop her work, such as Spiritualism and the writings of Theosophical writers Madame Blavatsky and Annie Besant, as well as Rudolf Steiner, who claimed to be clairvoyant. This edition supplements Åke Fant's original text and curator Lars Nittve's foreword with a new preface by Kurt Almqvist (President, Axel and Margaret Ax: son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit). An updated timeline, full-color reproductions of af Klint's art and a beautiful cloth binding further emphasize the momentousness of Fant's work, which remains vital even in the light of subsequent research, at a time when interest in Hilma af Klint and her work has never been greater.

A nuanced and multidisciplinary examination of Tiberius' political, philosophical, intellectual and military influences

One of the most enigmatic figures of antiquity, Tiberius lacked the imperial splendor of his great predecessor Augustus and the excesses of many of his successors. Yet this compelling study offers a portrait of a complex and contradictory man, both emperor and exile, tyrant and recluse.

A revelatory introduction to the spiritualist abstractions of the Swedish painter and lifelong friend of Hilma af Klint

Until now, the Swedish painter Anna Cassel (1860-1937) had mostly been famed for her paintings of landscapes and urban environments, with motifs from the Swedish rural counties Jämtland and Västmanland, and from Stockholm. She is less known for her deep involvement with spiritualist groups, the circle of Hilma af Klint and the occult art group known as The Five. Only now, nearly a century after her death, is Cassel's significant, mesmerizing and original contribution to abstract and spiritual art garnering attention, not least thanks to her lifelong friendship and collaboration with Af Klint. The two women met while studying at Slöjdskolan in Stockholm and later were part of the group The Five in 1896, along with Sigrid Hedman, Mathilda Nilsson and Cornelia Cederberg. The Five began as a regular spiritualist group but soon experimented with seances, developing the automatism technique used decades later by the Surrealists. Cassel, hailing from a wealthy family, also financially supported Af Klint throughout much of her career.
In this beautifully produced volume, the life and work of Anna Cassels is presented for the first time to a wider audience, revealing her as a creator of gorgeous, radiant abstractions and spiritual diagrams. Cassel is introduced to a wider audience in two essays that make clear that the collaboration between her and Af Klint was much deeper than previously known. This is also the first time that Cassel's spiritual work The Saga of the Rose has been published.

Long unavailable and highly sought after, Ringbom's classic 1970 volume launched the study of esotericism's influence on abstract art

For many years, relatively few people knew of spiritualism's impact on the birth of abstract art. But when the Finnish art historian Sixten Ringbom's book The Sounding Cosmos was published in 1970, the writing of history changed forever. Through his research on Wassily Kandinsky, one of the pivotal figures in modern art, Ringbom showed how Theosophy and esoteric teachings were absolutely essential to the development of nonfigurative painting.
This discovery generated great debate at the time, and the book was both celebrated and controversial. Although the original publication is extremely rare and sought after, to this day The Sounding Cosmos is a classic of art history that continues to be discussed--especially in recent years, as the presence of esotericism in modernist art from Hilma af Klint to Mondrian and beyond has been revisited.
The Sounding Cosmos is now being reissued for the first time in this elegant new edition. The richly illustrated original text has been supplemented with a new foreword by Daniel Birnbaum and Julia Voss.
Sixten Ringbom (1935-92) was an influential Finnish art historian. In 1965 he completed a PhD under the great art historian Ernst Gombrich. Ringbom succeeded his father as professor of art history at Åbo Akademi University in 1970, and became the first art historian to explore in depth the connections between early abstract art and occultism. He published prolifically until his death in 1992.

How history is written: an anthology of classic texts from Thucydides and Machiavelli to Nietzsche and E.H. Carr

The admonition that we should learn from history is a well-known truism, but what does that actually mean? In other words, what is history? This anthology compiles the best-known discussions of the topic. From Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War, Machiavelli's Discourses and Friedrich Nietzsche's The Use and Abuse of History to more contemporary studies on the subject such as E.H. Carr's What Is History?, the excerpts gathered here offer a comprehensive overview of how history is created and recorded.
Contributors include: Lord Acton, Graham Allison, Carl Becker, J.B. Bury, Herbert Butterfield, E.H. Carr, Johann Gustav Droyson, Niall Ferguson, John Lewis Gaddis, Pieter Geyl, J.H. Hexter, Michael Howard, Niccolo Machiavelli, Margaret MacMillan, Ernest May, Richard Neustadt, Friedrich Nietzsche, Polybius, John Robert Seeley, Benjamin F. Shambaugh, Thucydides, Leopold von Ranke and Philip Zelikow.

Timely meditations on human flexibility

In this anthology, 25 leading scholars from across the globe describe and analyze how different societies have handled crisis. In ancient Greek, a crisis refers not necessarily to a catastrophic situation but to an opportunity for great change. Edited by Swedish historian Mattias Hessérus and Scottish commentator Iain Martin, Society in Crisis takes this classical understanding of the term to heart as it acknowledges the many ways in which humans have made the decision to reorient their societies as a result of crisis.
Contributors include: Clive Aslet, Philip Bobbitt, Peter Burke, Gillian Clark, Jonathan Fenby, Peter Frankopan, Jessica Frazier, Lawrence Freedman, Matthew Goodwin, Andrew Graham-Dixon, Johan Hakelius, Vanessa Harding, Tom Holland, Mark Honigsbaum, Alex Lee, Tim Marshall, Lincoln Paine, Iskander Rehman, Donald Sassoon, David Seedhouse, Graham Stewart, Hew Strachan, Helen Thompson, Richard Whatmore and Adrian Wooldridge.

A gorgeous leatherbound compendium of flora, shells, rare insects and more from the golden age of curiosities

Featuring amazing reproductions of floral specimens, minerals, seashells and more from rarely seen collections, and beautiful engravings of 18th- and 19th-century collections, this stupendously produced volume takes as its starting point the famous Timm Collection at Engelsberg Ironworks in Sweden, created by Gabriel Casper Timm and his son Paul August in the 19th century. Throughout their lives, father and son devoted much of their leisure time to collecting plants, insects, minerals and other natural treasures across Scandanavia, which they preserved in beautiful collector's cabinets. Maintaining close contact with collectors and scientists, they also assembled a library of volumes on natural science along with books on spirituality and faith.
Drawing on a range of historical materials, Collecting Nature places the Timm Collection in a larger dialogue with other collectors, thinkers and scientists of the 18th and 19th centuries, showing how the world of ideas in collecting has developed and continues to influence us today.

On the intersection of royalty and architecture throughout the ages

This volume looks at the robust link between architecture and royalty--from palaces and gardens to ornamental interiors and other artworks--and presents historical examples in which leaders of European nobility or aristocracy served as surprisingly active patrons of the projects that they commissioned.

Tracing the past, present and future of technology's impact on culture, industry and economics

In this anthology of essays, leading historians, academics and writers trace the influence of technology on industry and economics, warfare and espionage, culture and communication, and ponder what the future holds in the continuously evolving relationship between man and technology.

A meditation on the meaning of liberty throughout history

This critical anthology presents a collection of essays from leading academics, writers and historians exploring what liberty has meant through the ages. They reflect on this great drama of freedom at work and why we so readily suffer to defend liberty when it comes under threat.

A three-volume slipcased facsimile of sketchbooks from Hilma af Klint and her Spiritualist circle

Hilma af Klint (1862-1944) was a pioneer of modern abstract art who turned away from the visible, physical world to embrace a spiritual reality in both her life and work. In 1896, together with Anna Cassel (1860-1937), Cornelia Cederberg (1854-1933), Sigrid Hedman (1855-1922) and Mathilda Nilsson (1844-1923), af Klint left the Edelweiss Society--a group which combined Christian concepts with ideas of Theosophy and Spiritualism--and established The Five. The all-female group, which met every Friday in Stockholm to practice group meditations and séances, believed they could channel mystic beings whom they called the High Masters, with names such as Amaliel, Ananda and Gregor. In trancelike states, the women transcribed the messages from these High Masters via automatic writings and drawings into a series of shared sketchbooks, resulting in a kaleidoscope of collective and raw work that is firmly rooted in the spiritual realm.
Over the course of the group's existence, up until 1908, they filled 15 such sketchbooks, three of which have been reproduced in facsimile form for the first time and are presented in this sumptuous slipcased edition. The set includes sketchbook nos. 2, 6 and 13, dating from October 1896 to January 1906, and provides a rare look into the early influential years of af Klint's artistic and spiritual practice.

Acclaimed British architect Quinlan Terry's guide to more than 2,000 years of classicism in architecture

In this beautiful illustrated survey, British architect Quinlan Terry (born 1937) presents his ultimate guide to classical architecture. With intricate and lively sketches, he explains the classical orders of architecture that were created by Vitruvius around 100 AD. The tradition of building using these orders was maintained well into the 20th century, until modernism began to dominate architecture. With this book, Terry, a strong proponent of classical architecture, aims to place focus on the kind of architecture that dominated the field for almost 2,000 years in the West--the vocabulary and heritage of which is known by few today. The book contains a large number of Terry's drawings and sketches from travels, as well as linocuts. Also included are his drawings of such quintessential examples of the use of classical orders as St. Mark's Square and San Giorgio Maggiore in Venice and Inigo Jones' St. Paul's Cathedral in London, alongside drawings of Terry's own structures, such as Brentwood Cathedral in Essex, England. In addition, Terry compares his own studies with those of Andrea Palladio and Vincenzo Scamozzi.
Prince Charles, another advocate for classical architecture, who holds Quinlan Terry as his favorite among contemporary architects, provides the preface.

An astounding and luxurious facsimile of a rare Victorian gardening guide, bound in cloth with exquisite color illustrations

Since its initial publication in 1900, Thomas H. Mawson's book The Art and Craft of Garden Making has become the go-to guide for garden design, with multiple reprints that continue to withstand the test of time. Its chapters address numerous topics essential to successful landscape design, from The Choice of a Site and Its Treatment to Flower Gardens, Beds, and Borders.

The book's author, Thomas Hayton Mawson (1861-1933), was a British garden designer, landscape architect and town planner. He began his own landscape firm in the 1880s; he combined his botanical knowledge and eye for architectural details into unique plans for parks throughout Europe, many of which have since been restored to their former floral glory. With great attention to detail and diligent research, Mawson's expertise is apparent throughout the book.

This facsimile of the fifth edition of The Art and Craft of Garden Making (1926) preserves both the beauty of the book's original design and the encyclopedic information contained within its pages. Featuring a sumptuous clothbound cover, gold detailing and illustrations, this publication is an art piece in and of itself as much as it is a valuable resource for professional and hobbyist gardeners alike.

Reintroducing a forgotten maverick of Swedish modernism

Axel T rneman (1880-1925) was a key innovator of Swedish modernist painting, yet he has been largely written out of the history of early European modernism. This book collects his paintings and previously unpublished photographs and drawings.

How architecture and trade foster civic and urban health, from the Renaissance to Brexit

What role does architecture and trade play in creating civilized societies? How can we create urban environments where the individual can flourish? These questions have taken on a new significance as COVID-19 has reshaped the way cities operate. This collection of essays examines the history of urbanism and trade in order to shed perspective on the future of the city. Nine contributors discuss how architecture, urban planning and trade have contributed to civility and political order. The authors cover historical topics from Florentine frescos and churches to ideas on citizenship and statehood from Rosseau, Hobbes and Machiavelli, as well as more contemporary issues such as the impact of global capital on the functioning of public space.
Contributors include: Yolande Barnes, Erica Benner, Anne Fairfax, Antony Molho, Kjell A. Nordström, Juliet Samuel, John Simpson, Nicholas Boys Smith and Maurizio Viroli.

From Mongol invasions to modern US-Russia relations--how global geopolitics shift in unforeseeable ways

It has been almost 30 years since Francis Fukuyama proposed that we were entering into an era of triumph for Western liberalism he called the end of history. Today this notion seems absurd. Political and military strong men once again hold sway over large portions of the globe; emerging world superpowers revive Great Game-style geopolitics; and worldwide catastrophes destabilize what were once thought stable borders. The essays in this volume give the reader purchase on the seemingly quickening pace of history by considering specific areas of geopolitics today, as well as historical moments when the global situation seemed to shift decisively.
Contributors include: Jeremy Black, Philip Bobbitt, Michael Broers, Roger Crowley, Gregory Feifer, Noah Feldman, Jonathan Fenby, David Frum, Gabriel Gorodetsky, Peter Heather, Josef Joffe, Anna-Lena Laurén, John H. Maurer, Sean McMeekin, Walter Russell Mead, Richard Miles, Fraser Nelson, Richard Overy, Lincoln Paine, Andrew Preston, Morris Rossabi, Charly Salonius-Pasternak, Norman Stone, Barry Strauss and Mikael Wigell.

What history teaches us: writers and theorists on the lessons of the past

How can our understanding of the past help to solve our present political or economic conditions and conflicts? Edited by Swedish author Kurt Almqvist and historian Mattias Hessérus, the essays in this volume range from discussions of the history of ideas and ideologies to evolutionary psychology, as writers configure new ways in which to apply history to today's concerns such as international relations, geopolitics, economics and the role of the individual--as well as human nature at large--throughout history. The essays in this anthology derive from the Engelsberg Seminar held in Västmanland, Sweden, in 2019.
Authors include: Erica Benner, John Bew, Phillip Bobbitt, Vernon Bogdanor, Michael Burleigh, Cory J. Clark, Christopher Coker, Jonathan Fenby, Niall Ferguson, Janne Haaland Matlary, Josef Joffe, Rob Johnson, Elisabeth Kendall, Iain Martin, Rana Mitter, Andrew Monaghan, Fraser Nelson, Gudrun Persson, Peter Ricketts and Brendan Simms.

A clothbound anthology on the abiding presence of religion and spirituality in cultures worldwide

The belief in a governing, celestial principle has long been an essential element of human society worldwide. More than 80% of the world's population has a religious affiliation and even in secular states, religion continues to play an important role. Politics and international relations today cannot be understood without accounting for the religious context of a society's history. The essays in this volume explore religion and spirituality as both a societal force and an individual experience.
Contributors include: Reza Aslan, Benedetta Berti, Jessica Frazier, Armin W. Geertz, Ariel Glucklich, Martin Goodman, Wouter J. Hanegraaff, Gary Lachman, Julius J. Lipner, Diarmaid Macculloch, Janne Haaland Matláry, Simon May, Richard Miles, Candida R. Moss, William O'Reilly, Robin Osborne, Elaine Pagels, Wolfgang Palaver, Marco Pasi, Daniel T. Potts, Chakravarthi Ram-Prasad, Göran Rosenberg, Malise Ruthven, John Scheid, Mona Siddiqui, Pär Stenbäck, Jayne Svenungsson, Harvey Whitehouse, A.N. Wilson and Adrian Wooldridge.