Upcoming Books and Exhibitions for June 2019

Books

Here’s a book that I missed last month, but I had to include it because I’m so happy to see more work on Thomas Harriot, an overlooked scientist from the early era of modern astronomy. As some of you might recall, I have a degree in astronomy and I’m also very interested in the history of science and Thomas Harriot has been a pet interest of mine for a while after I came across his early sunspot drawings (in fact, he was probably the first person to observe them with a telescope). Early astronomers did a variety of things to observe the sun without burning their retinas and one method Harriot employed was observing the sun at sunrise through the mist over the Thames. So romantic! (This is where I put on my solar astronomer hat and say “don’t look directly at the sun without specialty equipment that is certified as safe for looking at the sun!”)

Thomas Harriot: A Life in Science by Robyn Arianrhod was released in early May in the US and at the end of May in the UK.

Continuing Exhibition

The Many Faces of Tudor England opened at The Mary Rose Museum in Portsmouth (England) on March 18 and will run through the of the year. Admission to the exhibit is including with the admission to the museum.

Picture of the Week #545

The 19th century organ at Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-upon-Avon. Photo May 2015.

Regular readers won’t be surprised to see the church where Shakespeare is buried featured in some way this week, but hopefully I mixed it up a little by posting a picture of the organ and not a grave!

Upcoming Books and Exhibitions for April 2019

Books

Last month I mentioned that I didn’t have anything on my tracking sheet for March, so of course right after I posted the March round-up I found out that the Mary Queen of Scots Colouring Book by Roland Hui and Dmitry Yakhovsky was out the first week in March in both the Uk and US. So here it is, better late than never. 🙂

In new April releases, two of Henry VIII’s queens get new biographies! First up is Anna, Duchess of Cleves: The King’s Beloved Sister by Heather R. Darsie which is out mid-month in the UK and will be out in the US in the summer.

And next is a new biography of Henry’s fifth wife by Conor Byrne titled Katherine Howard: Henry VIII’s Slandered Queen that is out April 23 in the UK and in September in the US.

And finally, The Afterlife of King James IV: Otherworld Legends of the Scottish King will be out on April 26 in the UK and the US.

New Exhibit

This one actually opened back in March, but I missed it!

The Many Faces of Tudor England opened at The Mary Rose Museum in Portsmouth (England) on March 18 and will run through the of the year. Admission to the exhibit is including with the admission to the museum. About the exhibit from the website:

Tudor England – As you never expected it!

Just who crewed the Mary Rose?

Discover a whole new view of Henry VIII’s navy with our exciting exhibition, using the latest scientific and genealogical research to show us who really crewed the Mary Rose.

You’ll never look at Tudor England the same way again!

Continuing Exhibitions

Elizabethan Treasures – Miniatures by Hilliard & Oliver opened at the National Portrait Gallery London on February 21, 2019 and runs through May 19, 2019.

“We are Bess” re-opened at Hardwick Hall on February 16 and runs to June 2 this year. The exhibition is also be available online – something I always appreciate for those of us who can’t easily visit in person.

Upcoming Books and Exhibitions for March 2019

I somehow don’t have any new books for March in my tracking info, so this month will just be a reminder of some on-going exhibitions. I really wish I could see the miniatures exhibit at the NPG. I just might have to console myself with the catalogue!

Exhibitions

Elizabethan Treasures – Miniatures by Hilliard & Oliver opened at the National Portrait Gallery London on February 21, 2019 and runs through May 19, 2019.

From the website:

Described as ‘a thing apart from all other painting or drawing’, the portrait miniatures of the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods are some of the greatest works of art to be produced in the British Isles. Hilliard and Oliver were compared by their contemporaries to Michelangelo and Raphael, and gained international fame and admiration.

This will be the first major UK exhibition of these miniatures for a generation. It will explore what these intimate images reveal about identity, society and visual culture in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries.

“We are Bess” re-opened at Hardwick Hall on February 16 and runs to June 2 this year. The exhibition is also be available online – something I always appreciate for those of us who can’t easily visit in person.