History & Reference Books

The Queen’s Coronation, on 2 June 1953, should have been celebrated in blazing sunshine. Instead, it was one of the coldest June days in years, and it poured with rain. The enthusiasm of the hundreds of thousands of people who lined the streets waiting...

A paperback edition of the official illustrated history of the Crown Jewels, the most famous jewellery collection in the world housed at the Tower of London, incorporating spectacular new photographs with stunning details. Accessible text based on...

The Queen's Diamond Jubilee Galleries, which opened in June 2018, are an exciting new development in the history of Westminster Abbey.  The eastern triforium, which runs around the Abbey's interior 16 metres above floor level, has been transformed into...

With testimonies from historic figures such as Winston Churchill, Billy Graham, Mother Teresa, and Margaret Thatcher, this tribute explores the faith of the world's most famous Queen. Nearing seven decades on the throne, the Queen has faced many personal...

Many Kings and Queens of England suffered extraordinary deaths. Handsome and virile in his youth. a rare medical condition turned Henry VIII into a bloates and grotesque old man. The dashing and glamourous Henry V probably died of cancer of the rectum, a...

The Queen’s Window was designed by renowned artist David Hockney for Westminster Abbey and unveiled in autumn 2018. In an extended conversation between Hockney and fellow-artist Tacita Dean recorded specifically for this publication, the artist reflects...

This handy, easy to carry book provides the reader with a strictly visual approach to the reading of churches. Covering all the ecclesiastical building types of Western Christianity, readers are taken on a journey tracing the development of the church...

Westminster Abbey contains the only surviving medieval Cosmatesque mosaics outside Italy. They comprise: the ‘Great Pavement’ in the sanctuary; the pavement around the shrine of Edward the Confessor; the saint’s tomb and shrine; Henry...

Roy Strong has written an exemplary introduction to the history of Britain, as first designated by the Romans. It is a brilliant and balanced account of successive ages bound together by a compelling narrative which answers the questions: ‘Where do we...

'How refreshing, to read a book about music written for a music lover and not a musicologist. In clear, lucid, entertaining prose, Jane Glover makes those of us who lack musical literacy better understand and appreciate Handel's divinity.' - Donna Leon,...

Ground-breaking new studies of Henry V's chapel, tomb and funeral service have new revelations and insights into the time.Before Henry V set out in 1415 on the campaign which culminated in victory at Agincourt, he made a will laying down precise...

In this book Ian Mortimer reveals a country in which life expectancy is in the early thirties, people still starve to death and Catholics are persecuted for their faith. Yet it produces some of the finest writing in the English language, some of the most...