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A biography of the Virginian who became tenth president of the United States upon the death of William Henry Harrison. ... Read more

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John Tyler
Tippecanoe and Tyler too! That whig slogan swept the country in the outlandish campaign of 1840

The troubled presidency of "Honest John" Tyler
"Tippecanoe and Tyler, too!" is one of the most famous political slogans in American history, even if the two Presidents who are forever linked by it are among the lesser known occupants of the White House.In the Encyclopedia of Presidents series the opening chapter is always a pivotal moment in the history of its subject, after which we go back to the beginning and tell the story of how they became President of the United States.However, what Dee Lillegard provides in the first chapter of this informative juvenile biography of John Tyler, 10th President of the United States, is more of a situation.

The Whigs won the election for the first time in 1840 in a campaign that focused on personality (William Henry Harrison as a military hero) rather than on issues; in fact, the candidates took no stand on slavery or any other issue.However, a month after his inauguration, Harrison died of pneumonia, the first president to die in office.Strange as it will sound to younger readers today, who probably learned as much about the rules of Presidential succession from "The West Wing" than they have from their history books, there was actually a question as to what happened at that point.The Constitution did not exactly say, and as Lillegard points out, nobody was left who had drawn up the Constitution to ask (James Madison had died five years earlier).With the Cabinet deciding Tyler should "beat the title of 'Vice-President, Acting President,'" Tyler had himself sworn in as President and refused to listen to the leaders of his party.The result was that Tyler established the precedent that the vice president would take the office with the full power of the chief executive and endured a remarkably troubled term as President.

Lillegard makes a point of giving Tyler his own identity as "Honest John," a man who was as "obstinate as a bull" when he thought he was right.Tyler was the first President born after the Revolutionary War and this volume traces his political rise through the U.S House of Representative and the Senate to being the choice of the Whigs for the second spot on the title two elections in a row.But the strength of this volume is the detail that Lillegard goes into for Tyler's years as "The Veto President."Having also done the volumes in this series on James K. Polk, James A. Garfield, and Richard Nixon, she shows a flair for providing information and putting it into appropriate contexts, including a look at Tyler's efforts on behalf of President James Buchanan in 1861 to try and keep the Union together.Tyler then served as a member of the Virginia convention that voted to secede from the Union and was elected to the Confederate Congress.However, Tyler died before the South was devastated by the war, and for years was considered a traitor to the Union.

The volume is filled with black & white historic drawings, paintings, and etchings, including a few choice political cartoons and some early photographs.The back of the book includes a Chronology of American History with a shaded area devoted to Tyler's lifetime, and an index.Once again, the Encyclopedia of Presidents series shows that it would not be the first choice for an introductory juvenile biography to Tyler for younger readers, but for those who are looking for some serious information about "The Accidental President," this is an excellent volume. ... Read more

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Due to the very old age and scarcity of this book, many of the pages may be hard to read due to the blurring of the original text. ... Read more

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1599. Another rare manuscript of Dr. John Dee, this letter contains a brief discourse apologetical with a plain demonstration, and fervent protestations, for the lawful, sincere, very faithful and Christian course, of the philosophical studies and exercises of a certain studious gentleman, an ancient servant to her most excellent Majesty Royal. This letter was written to the Lord Bishop of Canterbury. The entire text is written in Old English. ... Read more

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Elizabethan England's most famous natural philosopher John Dee recorded his reflections on the natural world, the practice of natural philosophy, and the apocalypse in a series of conversations with angels, which have long been an enigmatic facet of his life and work. This book makes extensive use of Dee's library and annotations to clarify this mystery by providing a detailed analysis of these conversations. Professor Harkness contextualizes Dee's angel conversations within the natural, philosophical, religious, and social contexts of his time, arguing that the conversations represent a continuing development of John Dee's earlier concerns and interests.This book will appeal to those with an interest in the history of science, students of religion, and everyone who approaches the new millennium with a wary eye. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

John Dee's Conversation with Angels
This book is well researched and the author also happens to be a good writer. Certainly deserves a place on the shelf for any study of Dee.

Very useful for those interested in angel magic and intellectual history
Deborah Harkness' book is remarkable among scholarly works on Dee in that the entire text is dedicated to an in-depth analysis of his angelic conversations. She has brought a powerful voice to Renaissance scholarship with methodological insight into how to study Dee's place in the wider cultural "conversations" of his time. Up to date on the difficult issues surrounding the interpretation of the place of alchemy and cabala in Dee's work, she provides a compelling argument in support of the sophistication of both his scientific and theological learning.

Harkness has also made a solid contribution with her research into Dee's sources on angel magic, offering the reader tantalizing glimpses into Dee's marginalia in texts like the dionysian corpus (see her longer PhD dissertation for more juicy text gossip) and other neoplatonic texts, without falling into the trap of blindly following the opinions of past scholars either positive (F. Yates) or negative (K. Thomas).

This book is dense but readable and offers and excellent place to start in the intimidating world of John Dee studies. As a student transitioning from undergrad to graduate work I found it most helpful, and a ready jumping-off point for more. The bibliography is rich but not unwieldy.

If you're interested in the "Dee and Renaissance Talk" angle a good place to go next is Sherman's book on Dee and the Politics of Speaking and Writing. If the "Dee and Renaissance Magic" topic is more to your liking seek out Szonyi's book on Dee's Occultism. For language/theorycheck out Hakansson's "Seeing the Word." If you just want to know about Dee's place in the history of science read Clulee. To get up to date on the cutting edge of Dee scholarship see Clucas' interdisciplinary volume. For Alchemical information see the recent Dee-centered issue of the Ambix journal.

Google Claire Fanger's excellent review for a more academic point of viewthan mine.

No bookshelf or library on Dee, or Renaissance Magic in general, could be complete without this book, and will be well-used by those with curiosity and a demand for efficient management of information. ... Read more

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1946. Translated into English for the first time, this book was written by the Elizabethan magus, Dr. John Dee in 1564. He explains his discovery of the monas, or unity underlying the universe, as seen in a hieroglyph or symbol. The monad is representative of the alchemic process and goal of the magus, who in partaking of the divine, achieves that gnostic regenerative experience of becoming God and thus furthering the redemption and transmutation of the worlds. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

One of the very best esoteric masterpieces
Note: Amazon has perhaps easy for them but in this reviewer's humble opinion sub-optimal practice of copying reviews of one edition of a book to all other editions. This reviewer has the Red Wheel / Weiser paperback edition including an introduction and comments, the latter after the text.

From the frontispiece: "Qui non intelligit, aut taceat, aut discat." (Who understands not should either be silent or learn.)

Dr. John Dee, according to the short biography included, lectured when 23 years old on Euclid in Paris, "which caused a sensation in the intellectual circles of the continent." The Hieroglyphic Monad is the esoteric complement to Euclid's "Elements" in pure Hermetic Tradition with extremely little theological addition, this little to help avoid persecution.

The "keys" are within one's Self. The reader will understand exactly what he is "entitled" to. The introduction and comments are at times helpful but of course not exhaustive.

Dr. John Dee has manifested a true traditional masterpiece. It is symptomatic of our times (end of the iron or dark age) that the French translation is currently out of print. As the introduction states, "... the Dons and men of academic degrees ... are neither concerned nor interested."

The monad
This is an excellant book and it covers the philosophorum calculus.All you need is in the symbolizm of this monad but I suggest also getting the hieroglyphica monas which is the original latin version which omitts nothing like this book jones omitts the letter to maxamillian that its acential to have because dee argues his points of his monad.When studying
stuff like this you need as much of the information as you can.But trust me no key is left out you just have to search right and with open eyes
these symbols will tell there own story.But its worth the effort for those interested in the philosophers stone.

The Lost Key
A very interesting and unique work by Dr John Dee. The problem with this work is that there is no "key" to the interpretation of The Hieroglyphic Monad! Although there are 2 instances where Dee explained it, the instructions are lost to it. The book therefore contains ingenious interpretive fancies and intuitions in the extensive commentary following the main work "Dee's Monad" which I could not logically accept.

Synthesis, the great difference
Dr. Dee is one of those well-known as best occultists. Their book focuses on an excellent work synthetically explained, and very well based about the monad, and if you read under the veils, about all the mathematical system of the universe. ... Read more

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The book has no illustrations or index. Purchasers are entitled to a free trial membership in the General Books Club where they can select from more than a million books without charge. Subjects: Mathematics; Philosophy; Geometry; Philosophy / Metaphysics; Body, Mind ... Read more

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This rare and very old manuscript discusses the general and rare memorials pertaining to the perfect art of navigation. This present two-fold treatise written in Old English, is written under the names of three diverse proprieties, states or conditions of man. ... Read more

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The five tracts found in this work are by the brilliant and learned chemist, mathematician and astronomer, Dr. John Dee. Includes: The Compendious Rehearsal of John Dee, an extremely rare document; Supplication to Queen Mary; Articles for the Recovery and Preservation of the Ancient Monuments, which serve to illustrate the Compendious Rehearsal; A Necessary Advertisement, another excessively rare document which forms the preface to Dee's General and Rare Memorials Pertaining to the Perfect Art of Navigation; and A Letter Containing a Most Brief Discourse Apologetical, a letter by Dee sent to Whitgift. Most of the text is written in the Old English style. ... Read more

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1909. The Life of John Dee With portrait and illustrations. ... Read more

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Issue 0 leads with Debbie Moorhouse's Sundown, a near-future science fiction reflection on death and life. It follows through with a solid variety of works from semi-gritty fantasy; far-future time travel; modern sci-fi humor; historical paranormal; mainstream literary; a fable; poetry that doesn't rhyme but has a rhythm (involving coffee, mayhem, love, death, and television); reports concerning poetry and software and narrating a journey to a poetry conference in Taiwan; and art of all sorts, from humorous and surreal line drawings through haunting brush work and even a single-panel comic from a celebrated illustrator. ... Read more

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The Cape Region, at the southern tip of Africa, is easily among the richest centers for bulbous plants and probably the most famous. Nearly 1200 species of bulbous plants find their home there and almost three-quarters of them occur nowhere else. This first complete account of all the bulbous plants of the Cape Floral Region is an essential aid to the identification of all species presently in cultivation as well as the many others that are potentially valuable horticultural subjects. The book is richly illustrated with high-quality color photographs of more than half the species of Cape bulbs, many of which have never before been illustrated. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Cape Bulbs only
A great encyclopedia on Cape bulbs.
I was disapointed in that it related only to Cape bulbs and not South African Bulbs.No crocosmias shown that I was searching for, however a nice read and photos.

The colour encyclopedia of Cape Bulbs
An excellent book on South African Bulbs, well written and well photographed. For anyone who has an interest in the bulbs of South Africa this book is a must have. I highly recommend it.

A GEM OF A BOOK
As an amateur grower of Cape Bulbs I can say that this book has brought me more joy than any other on my book shelves. The 500 pages are crammed with detailed text on every bulb found in the Cape region right up to the Sundays River and the quality of the color photography is outstanding. Of course anyone who recognises the three authors names will not be surprised at the quality of this publication.

Each genus is given an overview and then all the species falling into the region is detailed, usually with a photograph. That is a total of 1 200 species - about 75% of them unique to the region!

Great refference book.
An excellent reference book on cape bulbs. A wealth of photo's and information. Aspects of the book are on the technical side for a layman. But worth having.Highly recomended.

A magnificent guide to a magnificent group of plants
The flora of South Africa is a stunning example of bio-diversity in the world. Due to a large variety of habitats many plant families have developed a wide range of species, a lot of them endemic to this region. While botanical enthusiasts worldwide focus on succulent and caudiciform plants the unbelievably rich geophytic flora of the Cape (including the orchids) is not fully discovered for cultivation yet.

The Color Encylopedia of Cape Bulbs is a wonderful approach to overcome this situation. The authors present essential information about everything concerning this topic. Their book provides a general survey of the physical and biological features of the habitats. The topics cultivation and gardening are included as well. The information given is concise and precise and a very helpful background for botanists and cultivators, too. A glossary, a key to the species, a table of synonyms and a suppliers list at the end of the book finish the bulk of basic information.

The encyclopedic part of the book offers detailed descriptions of a wide range of bulbous plants of different monocot families. It is built up following an alphabetical order of the genera which allows to quickly find a species without expert knowledge about botanical taxonomy. Specified information about habitat and cultivation is given in the genus description.The species descriptions include all necessary items and are accompanied by wonderful photographs of many of these impressingly beautiful plants. It is astonishing to see what a variety of different looking species some genera have produced, for instance Gladiolus and Moraea from the Iridaceae family.

In summary, I highly recommend this book for botanists, for travellers to the Cape region with botanical interests and for gardeners as well. When I opened the encyclopedia for the first time I was fascinated for hours. The species descriptions and pictures alone are worth the prize of this book, in my opinion! Along with Karsten Wodrich's books about the South African orchids, the Encyclopedia of Cape Bulbs gives an impression of the geophytic plant treasures this region offers to all enthusiasts. And, last but not least, these books are an indispensable help to successfully cultivate them. ... Read more

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Chapters: Maximilian Ii, Holy Roman Emperor, Bess of Hardwick, Abraham Ortelius, John Dee, Luis de León, Hamida Banu Begum, Giuseppe Arcimboldo, Sakai Tadatsugu, John Lesley, Elizabeth Clinton, Countess of Lincoln, Pellegrino Tibaldi, Antonio Del Corro, Hiravijaya, Alexander Ii of Kakheti, Humphrey Llwyd, Pedro de Ribadeneira, Luca Cambiasi, Johannes Stadius, William Brooke, 10th Baron Cobham, Edward Fitton, Caspar de Robles, Hugues Doneau, George Bowes, Benito Arias Montano, Barbara Blomberg, Annibale Padovano, Maria Manuela, Princess of Portugal, Hans Vredeman de Vries, William Drury, Kōsaka Masanobu, Agustín de Cepeda Y Ahumada, Barbara of Brandenburg, Duchess of Brieg, Ulrich, Duke of Mecklenburg, Kunkhyen Pema Karpo, Renaud de Beaune, William Good, Leonard Pilkington, John Garvey, Tolomeo Gallio, Saitō Yoshitatsu, Louis I, Cardinal of Guise, Philippine Welser, Li Zhi, Bartolomé de Medina, Hermann Finck, Ethelreda Malte, Paul Hainzel, Saito Tomonobu, Okada Shigeyoshi, Jean de Nogaret de La Valette, Łukasz Górnicki, Miyoshi Yoshikata, Nomi Munekatsu, Kawajiri Hidetaka, Hatakeyama Takamasa. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 201. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: John Dee (13 July 15271608 or 1609) was a noted mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, occultist, navigator, imperialist, and consultant to Queen Elizabeth I. He devoted much of his life to the study of alchemy, divination, and Hermetic philosophy. Dee straddled the worlds of science and magic just as they were becoming distinguishable. One of the most learned men of his age, he had been invited to lecture on advanced algebra at the University of Paris while still in his early twenties. Dee was an ardent promoter of mathematics and a respected astronomer, as well as a leading expert in navigation, having trained many of th...More: http://booksllc.net/?id=8457942 ... Read more