May 2nd, 2013 at 9:00AM:
The Courtauld Gallery in London has opened a new exhibition of two of the smallest Bibles you'll ever see.
"Dess Alten Testaments Mittler" and "Dess Neuen Testaments Mittler" are tiny illustrated Bibles produced by two sisters from Augsburg, Germany, in the late 17th century. It was a time of increased private devotion, when people looked for more from religion than the rituals in the church. ...Click on a label to read posts from that part of the world.
book posts
London's Courtauld Gallery Shows Off German Miniature Bibles
May 2nd, 2013 at 9:00AM:
The Courtauld Gallery in London has opened a new exhibition of two of the smallest Bibles you'll ever see.
"Dess Alten Testaments Mittler" and "Dess Neuen Testaments Mittler" are tiny illustrated Bibles produced by two sisters from Augsburg, Germany, in the late 17th century. It was a time of increased private devotion, when people looked for more from religion than the rituals in the church. ...World's Biggest Book Fair Coming To London
Apr 23rd, 2013 at 4:00PM: Love books? You'll want to be in London this June when seven book fairs will all take place over a nine-day period.
Billed as the world's largest book fair in a press release by the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers, it runs June 8-16 and features not only rare books and first editions but also maps, photographs and ephemera.
London has several annual and monthly fairs, but ...Book Review: 'The Food Traveler's Handbook'
Feb 22nd, 2013 at 2:00PM: Full disclosure: I know Jodi Ettenberg, author of "The Food Traveler's Handbook." I've eaten with Jodi and explored cities with her; she's even inspected the spices in my Istanbul sublet apartment. Rather than let my friendship with her just guarantee a great review of her book, I will use it to vouch for the fact that she's the perfect person to write a food guide for travelers: intrepid, ...Beautiful And Bizarre Bookstores Of The World
Sep 17th, 2012 at 10:00AM:
Wherever I travel, I always find myself drawn to bookstores. They're a pleasant comfort zone when far from home. I love hunting for local authors and books of local interest while chatting with the people who frequent these places. I've found that bibliophiles are pretty much the same whether they're American, Ethiopian, Arab, Tibetan or whatever.
One bookstore I haven't shopped in (but would ...Travel Clichés: They Go With The Territory
Jul 9th, 2012 at 9:00AM: I've recently been dipping into "The Cat's Pyjamas: The Penguin Book of Cliches" by Julia Cresswell, which is a good summer read.
Cresswell really put her nose to the grindstone for this weighty tome, leaving no stone unturned in her quest for the real deal about cliches. We're informed that "wend your way" dates back to the Anglo-Saxons, with "wend" meaning "to go." It was on its way out as a ...St. Brendan: Did An Irish Monk Come To America Before Columbus?
May 16th, 2012 at 10:30AM: Today is St. Brendan's feast day. To the Irish, St. Brendan needs no introduction. For those less fortunate in their birth, let me tell you that he may have been Ireland's first adventure traveler.
Saint Brendan was an Irish holy man who lived from 484 to 577 AD. Little is known about his life, and even his entry in the Catholic Encyclopedia is rather short. What we do know about him mostly ...Classic Travel Writing: Jack Kerouac's 'Lonesome Traveler'
May 15th, 2012 at 9:30AM: While blogs take up most of my travel reading these days, every now and then I like to dip into an old classic. So on a recent flight to Washington DC to attend the Gadling bloggers summit, I read "Lonesome Traveler" by Jack Kerouac.
This slim volume contains eight stream-of-consciousness essays in the style you'd expect from one of the leaders of the Beat Generation. For example, the author ...Medieval manuscripts in Los Angeles and London
Dec 14th, 2011 at 4:30PM: Two major exhibitions on opposite sides of the globe are focusing on the art of medieval manuscript illumination.
At the Getty Center in Los Angeles, a show has just opened highlighting the burst in creativity and education in what is popularly called the Gothic period. Gothic Grandeur: Manuscript Illumination, 1200–1350 features books from this important period, when educated Europe ...Hikes near Madrid: a new guidebook shows you the way (in English!)
Sep 30th, 2011 at 1:00PM: Every year, thousands of English speakers visit Madrid on holiday or to teach English. Most never explore the many hikes near Madrid, and that's a shame. The Sierra de Guadarrama offers some challenging and varied routes, and the lowland areas of the Comunidad de Madrid offer pleasant rambles. One of the best spots is La Pedriza, which can be a tough slog and easy to get lost in.
One of the ...Will Christopher Robin's bookshop be saved?
Aug 20th, 2011 at 2:00PM:
A couple of days ago we reported that a bookshop once owned by the real Christopher Robin was closing.
The Harbour Bookshop in Dartmouth, England, was opened in 1951 by Christopher Robin Milne, son of Winnie-the-Pooh author A.A. Milne. The author used his son as a character in his books. Christopher Robin died in 1996, and rising rents and a slump in sales are forcing the current owners to ...Books by Gadling bloggers
Aug 19th, 2011 at 3:00PM: Gadling bloggers are a busy bunch. When we're not posting the latest travel news or accounts of our adventures, we're writing for newspapers, magazines, and anthologies. Many of us have written books too.
David Farley takes the prize for weirdest subject matter with An Irreverent Curiosity: In Search of the Church's Strangest Relic in Italy's Oddest Town. So what's Catholicism's strangest ...Christopher Robin's bookshop closing
Aug 18th, 2011 at 10:30AM: A bookshop opened by the original Christopher Robin of Winnie the Pooh fame will close, the BBC reports.
The Harbour Bookshop in Dartmouth, England, was opened in 1951 by Christopher Robin Milne, son of Pooh author A.A. Milne. The bookshop became a destination for Pooh fans, even though Christopher Robin often hid from visitors. He died in 1996, and the current owners say that a slump in sales ...Travel Read: The Coffee Story
Jul 15th, 2011 at 4:00PM: As a writer, I read many books by authors I know. As a traveler, I read lots of books set in places I've been. The Coffee Story by Peter Salmon gave me the rare chance to read a book about a place I love written by someone I met there.
For the record, I don't review books by friends because that's both unprofessional and unwise. Peter isn't a friend except in the Facebook sense of "I got drunk ...New Florence App hits app store (and it's free!)
Jun 21st, 2011 at 5:00PM: Update! The app is now also available for Android devices.
Our old friend and partner-in-crime Leif Pettersen has been busy since his departure from Gadling in 2007. The wayward Lonely Planet author, travel guru and generally affable guy has been bombasting around the planet on various projects, but one in particular recently got our attention at Gadling Labs.
Turns out, Pettersen just ...Expanding the Memory of the World: great books and other records
May 31st, 2011 at 11:30AM: When we think of UNESCO lists, we tend to think of UNESCO's list of World Heritage Sites. UNESCO has another list, however, and it just got a lot longer.
The Memory of the World program lists books, inscriptions, libraries, and other documentary heritage to protect them from "collective amnesia" and the ravages of time. Last week the program held its annual meeting and voted to add 45 new ...Top five travel gadgets NOT to take on your next trip (and what to pack instead)
Feb 23rd, 2011 at 8:30AM:
I'm in the throes of packing for a two-month journey to Ethiopia. I try to pack light, other than the inevitable pile of books. While some tech freaks pack a lot of travel gadgets, I find these to be more of a hindrance than a help. Here are five things that you might want to leave behind if you're heading out for some adventure travel.
GPS
Yes, these are handy, but they can break with rough ...Books! Travelers share what to read on the road
Feb 22nd, 2011 at 2:00PM:
There's nothing like a trip for catching up on your reading. Even if you've filled your schedule with dawn-to-dusk sightseeing, there are still quiet moments at the hotel or by the pool, not to mention those long flights. So what's best to read while traveling? On Saturday I'm heading to Harar, Ethiopia, for two months, so this has been on my mind. I asked a bunch of seasoned travelers what's in ...The Joy of Cookbook Shopping: Why Bookstore Tourism Matters
Jan 31st, 2011 at 10:30AM:
The first puzzle one encounters when seeking out (or stumbling upon) Bonnie Slotnick's bookstore in New York is how to enter. Perplexed non-locals can often be seen standing in front of the shop, housed in a century-old building in the miasma of the West Village's tangled streets, staring into the big picture window where Slotnick usually displays books based on a theme. Here's a hint: walk up ...Book Review: Underground England
Dec 14th, 2010 at 2:30PM: England is a land of countless half-forgotten legends and secret hidden places.
In Underground England: Travels Beneath our Cities and Countryside, Stephen Smith explores these places, worming his way through damp caves and exploring haunted tunnels under crumbling castles. While he starts with natural caves, of which England is blessed with more than its fair share, he soon veers off into ...Cambridge named UK's most boring place to shop
Sep 15th, 2010 at 4:00PM: Cambridge is high on many visitors' lists of places to go in England. The historic colleges of Cambridge University are almost as impressive as those of Oxford, and punting on the River Cam rivals a boat journey on the River Isis.
Oxford and Cambridge have always been rivals, but now Oxonians can sit back, smug in the knowledge that the "other" university is in a town deemed the blandest place ...
