Books published by Yale University Press

Published in conjunction with the exhibition Mona Hatoum: Terra infirma organized by The Menil Collection, Houston, October 13, 2017-February 28, 2018.

The Paston Treasure, a spectacular painting from the 1660s now held at Norwich Castle Museum, depicts a wealth of objects from the collection of a local landed family. This deeply researched volume uses the painting as a portal to the history of the collection, exploring the objects, their context, and the wider world they occupied. Drawing on an impressive range of fields, including history of art and collections, technical art history, musicology, history of science, and the social and cultural history of the 17th century, the book weaves together narratives of the family and their possessions, as well as the institutions that eventually acquired them. Essays, vignettes, and catalogue entries comprise this multidisciplinary exposition, uniting objects depicted in the painting for the first time in nearly 300 years.

"This fascinating collection of letters, notes, and miscellanea from the archives of the Tchaikovsky State House-Museum sheds new light on the world of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Most of these documents have never before been available in English, and they reveal the composer's playful and unabashed sense of humor, private thoughts and daily concerns, and devotion to the Russian monarchy. Often intimate and sometimes bawdy, these diverse materials also offer a fresh perspective on Tchaikovsky's upbringing, his relations with family members, his patriotism, and his homosexuality, collectively contributing to a greater understanding of a major artist who had a profound impact on Russian culture and society. This is an essential compendium of substantial interest to cultural and social historians as well as to musicologists and music lovers."--

"A lavishly illustrated book that offers an in-depth look at the cultural practices surrounding the tradition of collecting ancient bronzes in China during the 18th and 19th centuries In ancient China (2000-221 b.c.) elaborate bronze vessels were used for rituals involving cooking, drinking, and serving food. This fascinating book not only examines the cultural practices surrounding these objects in their original context, but it also provides the first in-depth study tracing the tradition of collecting these bronzes in China. Essays by international experts delve into the concerns of the specialized culture that developed around the vessels and the significant influence this culture, with its emphasis on the concept of antiquity, had on broader Chinese society. While focusing especially on bronze collections of the 18th and 19th centuries, this wide-ranging catalogue also touches on the ways in which contemporary artists continue to respond to the complex legacy of these objects. Packed with stunning photographs of exquisitely crafted vessels, Mirroring China's Past is an enlightening investigation into how the role of ancient bronzes has evolved throughout Chinese history"--

An unprecedented and comprehensive survey of Latin American artists in interwar Paris

From the walls of the Salon to the pages of weekly newspapers, war imagery was immensely popular in postrevolutionary France. This fascinating book studies representations of contemporary conflict in the first half of the 19th century and explores how these pictures provided citizens with an imaginative stake in wars being waged in their name. As she traces the evolution of images of war from a visual form that had previously been intended for mostly elite audiences to one that was enjoyed by a much broader public over the course of the 19th century, Katie Hornstein carefully considers the influence of emergent technologies and popular media, such as lithography, photography, and panoramas, on both artistic style and public taste. With close readings and handsome reproductions in various media, from monumental battle paintings to popular prints, Picturing War in France,1792-1856 draws on contemporary art criticism, war reporting, and the burgeoning illustrated press to reveal the crucial role such images played in shaping modern understandings of conflict. --

In an account of the first 30 years of Shakespeare's life, Eric Sams controverts all orthodox editions, biographies and references. He reveals how the playwright's youth has been concealed within a web of literary theories which misrepresent his life and work, and his early plays.

Once an early supporter of the Bolsheviks, the author became disillusioned after the 1917 revolution and wrote a series of critical articles, analyses on the Russian national character, a condemnation of Bolshevik methods and a vision of the future. This is a collection of those articles.

One of the most famous episodes from Water Margin, a traditional Chinese novel, is here retold in simple Chinese. This text is the fifth volume designed to supplement the Intermediate Chinese Reader by John DeFrancis. It is presented in simplified characters, with pinyin romanization, and an accompanying audio program is available.

Laden with works of art acquired by young British travellers on the Grand Tour in Italy, the British merchant ship Westmorland sailed from the Italian port of Livorno before being captured by French naval vessels and escorted to Malaga in southern Spain. This book tells the story of the ship's capture and the disposition of its artistic contents.

An illustrated history of popular musical theatre, offering details about the origins and development of the genre over a century and a half. Andrew Lamb moves from country to country, showing how different cultures interpreted and were influenced by different types of musical theatre.