"Royalty has always been the object of intense curiosity; and even the most trivial detail in the everyday life of any royal figure continues to fascinate posterity, century after century. Gathered here is a rich and extraordinarily varied collection of anecdotes which literally breathes life into reigns that are now sometimes forgotten, or sometimes remembered for infamy, but were also sometimes magnificent. Kings and queens are observed firsthand--by their contempoaries and by each other. Compassion, sarcasm, wit and perception are mingled in the accounts of the rulers' public and private lives. From the first Capet reign...to the Bourbons, ladies-in-waiting and soldiers, courtiers and poets, ambassadors and footmen have left a stunning record unlike any other, broughts together here in one of the most remarkable works ever created on royalty."--Publisher's description.

Andre Penicaut, a carpenter, sailed with Iberville to the French province of Louisiana in 1699 and did not return to France until 1721. The book he began in the province and finished upon his return to France is an eyewitness account of the first years of the French colony, which stretched along the Gulf Coast from Florida to Texas and in the Mississippi Valley from the Balize to the Illinois country. As a ship carpenter, Penicaut was chosen as a member of several important expeditions: he accompanied Le Sueur up the Mississippi River in 1700 to present-day Minnesota, and he went with Juchereau de St. Denis on the first journey from Mobile to the Red River and overland to the Rio Grande, to open trade with the Spaniards in Mexico. Penicaut helped to build the first post in Louisiana, at Old Biloxi, and the second post on the Mobile River. Penicaut was at his best when describing the lives and social customs of the Indians of the region. He saw them in realistic terms, showing no prejudice toward their native habits. Neither were his French colleagues cast in heroic or villainous molds—though their accomplishments must strike modern readers as truly epic. When first published, Fleur de Lys and Calumet was a major stimulus to scholarship in the field. This new edition will be welcomed by a new generation of scholars and readers interested in the colonial history of the Deep South and the Mississippi Valley.

This historically significant novel of love and betrayal led to a renewed interest in preserving the grand architecture of Paris. Victor Hugo’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame was written in 1831, at a time when the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris was falling into disrepair. This epic novel helped spark a preservationist movement that led to the cathedral being restored to its full glory. Set in 1482, the story tells of how four men—the hunchbacked bell-ringer, Quasimodo; the archdeacon of Notre Dame, Claude Frollo; the dashing soldier Phoebus de Chateaupers; and the poet Pierre Gringoire—vie for the love of Esmeralda, a young Romani woman. As the story unfolds, readers come to realize that the focus of the story is not only on the human characters but on the grand cathedral itself.

This volume will showcase the 50 grandest estates in Southern California. Each estate will have its own chapter, with lavish colour illustrations of the house and grounds accompanied by a complete history from the home's original completion to the present day.

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