Literature

Frederick Seidel is an American poet known for his distinctive voice, often characterized by his dark, ironic, and provocative style. Seidel's work frequently explores themes of power, privilege, and human desire, with a particular focus on the complexities of the modern world. His poems often reflect a detached, almost voyeuristic perspective on society.

Shirley Hazzard is one of the most singular, erudite, and elegant prose writers to have lived.

The Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry is the most famous and possibly the best surviving example of manuscript illumination in the late phase of the International Gothic style. It is a book of hours: a collection of prayers to be said at the canonical hours. It was created between c. 1412 and 1416 for the extravagant royal bibliophile and patron John, Duke of Berry, by the Limbourg brothers.

The Roxburghe Club is a bibliophilic and publishing society based in the United Kingdom. The spur to the Club's foundation was the sale of the enormous library of the Duke of Roxburghe, which took place over 46 days in May–July 1812. The auction was eagerly followed by bibliophiles, the high point being the sale on 17 June 1812 of the first dated edition of Boccaccio's Decameron, sold to the Marquis of Blandford for £2,260, the highest price ever given for a book at that time. The Club has had a total of 350 members from its foundation to 2017. The circle has always been an exclusive one, with just one "black ball" (negative vote) being enough to exclude an applicant. Since 1839 the number of members at any one time has been limited to forty.

"Elephant Walk" is a novel penned by Robert Standish, published in 1948. Set against the backdrop of colonial Ceylon (present-day Sri Lanka), the novel unfolds a tale of love, power, and cultural clash amidst the lush landscapes of a tea plantation. The narrative centers around the arrival of Ruth Wiley, the young and spirited wife of plantation owner John Wiley, to the sprawling tea estate known as Elephant Walk. Ruth finds herself thrust into a world of opulence and privilege, yet also faces the challenges of navigating the complex social dynamics of colonial society. At the heart of the story lies the titular Elephant Walk, a majestic path carved through the jungle by elephants, symbolizing the enduring legacy of British colonialism in Ceylon. The Elephant Walk serves as a metaphor for the clash between tradition and modernity, as well as the tensions between the colonizers and the colonized.

Originally created by Cardinal Mazarin as his personal library in the 17th century, it today has one of the richest collections of rare books and manuscripts in France, and is the oldest public library in the country.

Hanuman Books was a series of books published between 1986 and 1993 out of the Chelsea Hotel in New York City. Featuring some of the biggest names in avant-garde culture of the time – including figures from Beat poetry, gay and trans culture, Warhol's Factory, San Francisco's North Beach and New York's Lower East Side art scenes, the Naropa Institute, contemporary music and film – the series has since acquired a cult following.

The Bibliothèque de la Pléiade is a French editorial collection which was created in 1931 by Jacques Schiffrin, an independent young editor. Schiffrin wanted to provide the public with reference editions of the complete works of classic authors in a pocket format. Each of the volumes published presents a similar high-quality appearance: a leather binding, stamped in gold on the spine, enclosing a text block on bible paper, all in a practical small format. The use of bible paper allows the books to contain a high number of pages; it is common for a Pléiade book to contain 1,500. The leather covers of the books are also colour-coded according to period: 20th-century literature comes in tobacco leather; 19th-century, in emerald green; 18th-century, in blue; 17th-century, in Venetian red; 16th, in Corinthian brown; the Middle Ages, purple; Antiquity, green; spiritual texts, grey; and anthologies, in red.