While the issues are being resolved we have had the time to muse a little on the future of books and book publishing; paper versus the much vaunted electronic form. There is no doubt that e-books will continue to grow in popularity. Thousands of titles can be held in a single palm sized unit saving space in the travellers luggage and on bookshelves at home. New titles can be downloaded from anywhere on the globe in moments and old titles rediscovered with ease at the readers convenience. Removal of favourite titles by publishers due to space constraints will be gone; the environment will benefit as the book industry becomes virtual and authors will have greater freedom to experiment.

And yet, we wonder. A book, once bought, does not require batteries for it to be used. It does not suffer from compatibility issues over time or when passed to another reader, nor require maintenance such as software upgrades. It does not disappear off the shelf nor its content undergo strange changes due to a virus or other ‘bugs’. And while a book doesn’t recover totally from an immersion in the bath, at least all the other books are not affected when it does.

There is no doubt that this is an exciting time for the whole of the book industry and we look forward to presenting the very latest works in whatever format is then current. Yet, while Publishers and Retailers continue to hail the advent of the paperless library, we believe there will always be a place for the handsomely bound book with brilliant prose and beautiful images, and we will always endeavour to find and present them…don’t make plans for those bookshelves just yet!

As ever we bid you good reading!

Paul and Loreena

While not coffee table books, we find they quickly become part of the travelling kit and a fieldwork reference source.

ShireBooks, now a part of Osprey, has reprinted titles that had been removed previously due to publishing constraints. There are some absolute gems and as always, the standard of research is solid and the presentation excellent.

To the Old; As they say, all good things must come to an end but it is with great sadness that we relay the decision by the Mary Rose Trust to not reprint ‘Before the Mast’ in the foreseeable future. There had been a possibility that this amazing book might be re-printed as a soft cover however, it is not to be. New titles in the series will be forthcoming shortly although as far as is known, they will not be covering the domestic paraphernalia of everyday life on board ship.

This month will see the introduction of our designation system. We are starting with the new titles and will gradually work our way through the back catalogue. Our aim is provide the reader with more information regarding the type of content; It is most definitely not meant as a reflection or a commentary on the quality of the content.

Last but not least, we will also be introducing a new category ‘Re-enactor article care’. This will contain the manufacturers instruction protocols and care instructions for many of the various re-enactor items sold on this site. Please be assured that full instructions will always be included with every item sold; this is merely a ‘spare’ copy.

As ever we bid you good reading!

Paul and Loreena

Thank you to everyone who dropped through our stall; It was great to meet and chat with so many of you. We have come back enthused, full of new ideas and already looking forward to attending next year’s festival. Meanwhile life returns to its normal rhythms. Please note that the new category ‘T-shirts’ that has just appeared, is only a temporary category. For a variety of reasons, we only offer the T-shirts as an Event special and will be taking additional orders only for the next few days as a favour before removing this section.

New stock is being added to the website and in the near future we will also be introducing a grading system in the ‘Further Details’ section. This is to help qualify the books as regards being a primary, secondary and tertiary source. We have modified the standard definitions slightly to meet our own needs and a full description will be available when this system is in place.

So until next time, we bid you good reading.

Paul and Loreena

Onward and upward! We have spent this temporary lull adding to our stock entries and taking on new projects including another range of re-enactor pamphlets, Creative Anachronist. Look for the new section in the Books catalogue in the next couple of weeks. Meanwhile we are also preparing for our first trek to the Abbey Museum Festival in Queensland. For all of those attending, please do stop in and say hello and with any luck, we will even have new stock for your viewing pleasure.

Until next time, we bid you good reading.

Paul and Loreena.

Plenty of new stock has arrived including new titles from the University of Toronto as well as the latest of the Boydell offerings and some tasty additions to our range of re-enactment goods. All of this and more will be appearing on the site in the not too distant future, we promise!

As always I bid you good reading.

Paul.

With this in mind I’d better give you a quick idea of some of the titles and items that have quietly snuck into the catalogue while no one was looking.

I’ll lead off with the Stuart Peachy offerings including some that I found very special. Please note that it is now our intention to keep the full Peachy range is stock and they will be listed in the coming weeks. Also note that we have just received a new list of titles and there will be some price changes occurring so get those orders in if you want the current prices.

But wait there is more! So much more …..

And having saved the best till last, this brings us to the last two of this offering.

Ok so it's not the Medieval period, but it's fantastic. I do wish that someone would do a Medieval one just like this but it will probably have to wait for me to win a Lottery. This same group went on to do life on a Victorian Farm with the same level of accuracy and gusto that was applied to Green Valley. Get your mits on this and watch as there are hours of entertainment here and a lot of thought provoking stuff as well!

Now as for “The Building of The Green Valley” I am going to quote the book blurb wholesale as really I can’t describe it to you better myself …

This book presents the story of the construction of the 17th century historical landscape used in the BBC2 television series "Tales from the Green Valley". On one level it is the tale of a bizarre social project carried out by some 400 muscular historians, re-enactors, international volunteers, cavers and mountain climbers. On another it provides a detailed account of the development of a valuable experimental history project with wide educational and research applications, on a minimal budget. It catalogues a unique restoration of a derelict historic farming landscape, from buildings and field boundaries to woodlands and weed patterns, and describes its current management, on a social farming basis, with livestock co-operatives and adopted orchards.

Ok that is this tranche for the moment, plenty more to come and it’s already in there if you want to have a dig. I’ll give you a hint …. Start looking for Music.

Back in a week or so ….

As always I bid you good reading!

Paul.

Mark Copplestone has been one of my favourite sculptors since forever. He really got his hooks into me with the release of his Darkest Africa range when he was still with Foundry. Since then he moved on to his own company and continues the good work. From the Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang series for all your favourite 70’s shows (The Sweeney, The Avengers, The Professionals just to name a few) to his Future Wars series for all your Post-Apocalyptic skirmish adventures (it has been suggested that these would work well with the Serenity RPG too).

Now, Copplestone did very well at the MOAB convention last weekend (thanks to Nick Fletcher for taking the above photo of our display cabinet!). I am in the midst of a major restock so please get your orders in so that they can be include with this shipment and cut down on the delays.

Malifaux Missing Cards

Now for a spot of bad news on the Malifaux front, some of the boxed sets that were supposed to have the stat cards included didn’t …… it happens unfortunately. I am in contact with the Wyrd crew about it and I am organising replacements. If you are missing cards please contact me at sales@mainlymedieval.com with what you need and a delivery address. Wyrd are very snowed under at the moment but they have promised to get the cards out as quickly as possible. Please be aware that this is not just an issue with our stock, others from overseas have been affected too. Here's the thread on the Wyrd forums if you want to see the discussion.

We have just returned from a very successful 3 days at the Mother of all Battles convention here in Sydney. This was our first real opportunity to take the new game Malifaux out to meet the fans. Based in an alternate Earth, Malifaux uses gothic, steampunk and victorian horror with a dose of the wild west to inject fun and depth into the magical lawlessness of a world rife with monsters, necropunks, manmachine hybrids, gunslingers, and power-hungry politicos. Oh and did I mention that the figures for the game are fantastic as well?

Everything went so well that I am having to organise a restock this very week! So if you are reading this and want something I would suggest that you place your orders now!

Once that order is out of the way I will be working hard to get all of the Copplestone stock up and running on the web. Once again this was well received and I will have to organise a restock in the very near future. I'll give a general announcement here when we are close to that re-order so that I can include any last minute goodies that you were after.

Please remember that if there is anything in particular that you are interested in purchasing for miniatures or role-playing games that we have full access to pretty much anything your heart desires. Just drop me a line and I'll organise a quote for you and get the product in question up on our site so that you can then order it.

I look forward to helping you acquire what you need at the best possible price that I can!

Cheers for now!

Paul.

PS. The OzPainters forum how has the results of both the MOAB Painting Competition and the Wyrd Painting Competition that we sponsored.

Here is a quick list of titles that have been awaiting their introduction for quite some time but have been available on the site.

Our first book in the list is from the Time Team stable and is the first book in the series. I have presented the second book previously and if you missed my post about this companion title go for a little scroll down and you will find it linked in the previous updates. It took it's time to get here as I had to await it's reprinting but I feel that it has been worth the wait. This books strength is in it's illustrations and unfortunately that makes it difficult for me to describe it to you. You can take my word for it or keep an eye out for it next time you catch-up with the store to see this one for yourself; I really don't think you'll be disappointed.

Marignano and the Barons War are the next two new titles out of Freezywater Press.

The Battle of Marignano was fought during the War of the League of Cambrai phase of the Italian Wars (1494–1559), that took place on 13 and 14 September 1515, near the town today called Melegnano, 16 km southeast of Milan.

On one side were the French forces of Francis I and some German landsknechts — and, eventually, his Venetian allies — and on the other the mercenaries of the Old Swiss Confederacy, since 1512 in control of Milan, where the nominal Sforza duke, Massimiliano — son of Lodovico il Moro, whom the French had previously defeated for possession of Milan — was under Swiss control. The bloody Battle of Marignano was fought to retake control of the Duchy of Milan, the French gate to Italy. This battle really did have the lot. Plots, politics, risky strategy. Click on the picture and read the more in-depth review that is the books description.

The Barons War looks at a much earlier and longer time period of 1264 to 1267. This is actually the 2nd Barons War and England’s 2nd civil war, the first one being caused by the fallout from the signing of the Magna Carter and King John’s refusal to abide by it. One has to remember that England has been no stranger to civil strife over the course of its long history. The 2nd Barons War was like the First, an attempt to curb the Kings power or more realistically to shift some of his power to the Baronial Council. So it was not a civil war in the sense of a popular rising to empower the masses, but still an attempt to change the status quo. Once again and more in-depth summary can be found on the books page, just click on the picture for more information.

Our next title for introduction is Leprosy in Medieval England. Ok how do I approach this book, cause it certainly isn’t easy. Before I read this book if you mentioned Leper in the Medieval context to me my response would have been something along the lines of begging bowl, hand bell, cries of unclean and a fully hooded habit for the wearing of. So while some of this is partially correct a lot of it is pure Victorian and current misconception. It would appear that I have been socialised quite a lot in my views and this book tears down a lot of them and helped me build a more balanced view of the subject. All in all it was and is a horrific disease but the social reaction to it and the manner in which it was dealt with by the Medieval society are all fascinating. One can draw a lot of information about a group from the manner in which they tend and deal with their sick and wounded and this book cast more than a little light on Medieval English Society. I found it utterly fascinating.

Now what would one of our updates be without a cookbook. My final offering for this missive is Medieval Cuisine of the Islamic World, which also contains 174 recipes. Now of these 174 only 143 are actually from Medieval Islamic cookbooks and there are 4 cookbooks that are referenced. The book is roughly of two parts, the first section covers the history and sources of the receipts as well as looking at the historical back drop against which these dishes were being prepared. The second half is the recipes, unfortunately it does not offer the original manuscript but the translations do seem to be taken direct from the books complete with asides and off stage references. Each receipt of the first 143 is also referenced to which of the four cookbooks it comes from. The book also contains a fine notes, glossary and index. The last little section is a treatment of contemporary North African cuisine which contains the remaining receipts though these are unreferenced being modern receipts.

This little book makes my mouth water, which I feel is always a good sign in a cookbook. So if you are looking for a little something out of the ordinary or wish to take the taste buds on a Medieval trip but outside of the European experience then I would suggest that you give this book a try. Though I will note that I do think that it will be sometime before I try the Locust Sahna, anything that involves sealing bugs in a jar to ferment doesn’t strike me as a good thing. Guess I’m just not hungry enough ….. and I hope to never be that hungry!

Ok well that brings us to the end of my literary adventures for today. I’m looking over the piles of new items that have yet to be introduced and I get the feeling that you will be hearing again from me before the weeks is out. I’ll be starting with some music in our next update as this is defiantly one of our underdeveloped areas which we hope to fix. So in the mean time good reading to you and chuck a Locust on the Barbie for me!

Cheers,

Paul and Loreena.

I have been carrying Anglo-Saxon titles for just over a year now and they are gaining in popularity. These are some of their most recent offerings and they have benefited from lessons learned from their earlier publishing efforts; all are very well presented indeed.

I have very limited personal knowledge of the Dark Age era, so I am guided by the publisher’s notes and what feedback I receive from you all. If anyone cares to provide me with a review of any of their titles, I will be more than happy to put it up.

The first item Rune Cards, I can best describe as a set of Anglo-Saxon Tarot cards but this does do them an injustice. It contains some 30 heavy weight card stock cards with attractive black and white illustrations. There is also a 60 odd page book which looks at what little is known about the practise of casting runes and also examines their use in literature. I will state here the main thrust seems to be in the divination and augury department and it does contain a modern interpretation of a system to use them as such.

I find the set interesting for the questions that it makes me ask about the society from which it hails and stirs in me wonder at what information we have lost from this period of time. It would also appear to be a fine substitute for those that don’t have the time to sit and carve a set of rune stones for one’s self.

Our next title is Anglo-Saxon FAQ’s. Set out in a format of questions asked under broad headings this is serving me as an excellent primer to the period. As is pointed out in the introduction, the common time line that most people seem to have is Romans, Normans, Tudors, Victorians then everything else and this book hopes to fill in some of the Anglo-Saxon blanks. It is heavily illustrated with both period and modern examples as well as a number of colour photographs of re-enactors garbed or using artefacts. It has a solid glossary, suggested reading list and an interesting list of places to visit for more information/inspiration.

My call on this title is that if you have little or no knowledge of this period then this is a great title to start with. It might not have had all the answers to my question but it has provided me with the resources to answer the few it didn’t.

Our final item is the book Anglo-Saxon Burial Mounds. It is specific to the 6th and 7th centuries of England. The book falls into two broad parts; the first is an examination of mound and chamber burial rituals which is compared and contrasted to mainland Europe practises of the time. The second section is an exhaustive listing of the currently known burial mounds of Anglo-Saxon England and also gives any known information on the site. This is generally a list of the time that it was first excavated and what had been found at the site over time. It also references any known reports that were prepared for that site.

This book is a great resource on two fronts. For those with an interest and a wish to visit some of the lesser known sites this is a great travel guide as well as giving one a good idea as to what were common grave goods. As a social resource for this style of funerary practise I found it answering a great many of my questions and also developing my appreciation of their society. I feel that you can draw a great deal of information about a society from the way they farewelled their dead and the Anglo-Saxon are no exception to this.

So that is the Anglo-Saxon offerings for this week! Next week is a cook book and some later period items for those of you with a later period interest.

As always, I bid you good reading!

Paul.