Posted with Kass's approval, since costume has to have context!
June 26, 2008 (Los Angeles, CA) Did you know that the first shopping mall was opened in London in 1571? That in 16th century England, gifts were given on New Year's Day but not on Christmas? That beer could be flavored with anything from pepper to lupins? All this and more can be found in Maggie Secara's A COMPENDIUM OF COMMON KNOWLEDGE 1558-1603 (210 pps, trade paperback, $19.95) The Compendium website at www.elizabethan.org has long been the go-to website for authors, students, actors, re-enactors, and Elizabethan enthusiasts of all kinds. Now in paperback from Popinjay Press, anyone can have the Compendium on hand wherever they go! The Compendium, as web fans already know, is a series of snapshots of daily life in the court and countryside of Shakespeare and Good Queen Bess, written for the everyday reader. Painstakingly researched and illustrated from period sources, each page dishes up details about food, language, games, and gossip, as well as the work, weddings, and beliefs of more than 400 years ago. There's a detailed index to make it especially easy to use, plus notes on the sources so you can find out more. This new paperback version even features a bonus chapter on persona building that's perfect for guildmasters and authors both. What can you do with the COMPENDIUM in paperback that you can't do online? - Make notes in the margins - Read it in bed - Take it to workshops - Stash it in the tourney box - Write a book report - Give extra copies as gifts - And best of all—you can use it even when the computer is down! Author Maggie Secara is a technical writer by trade, with a Master's degree from CSU Northridge. She is the author/editor of other Web publications including the Trial of the Earls of Essex and Southampton. She has at various times been a Highland gentlewoman, a Landsknecht campfrau, and the Countess of Southampton, and is currently editing a 1595 household book. ISBN: 978-0-9818401-0-9 http://elizabethan.org/compendium/paperback.html PayPal only (account not required) Maggie Secara ~Available NOW from Popinjay Press A Compendium of Common Knowledge 1558-1603 _______________________________________________ h-costume mailing list [email protected] http://mail.indra.com/mailman/listinfo/h-costume
