Two things happened at roughly the same time this year:
- I brought three boxes of books to the used bookshop and ended up with a bunch of store credit.
- The used bookshop took in a portion of the collection of a professor emerita of history who had recently passed away.
Needless to say that over the past several weeks, I’ve bought a bunch of books about medieval history. They all look so interesting, too, and can get into rather niche topics (though not as niche as one I did not purchase, which was about the material culture of Hungarian queens from 1000-1350).
Suffice it to say that I will be reading about a lot of medieval history this year, and I couldn’t be happier about it.
- The Paston Letters compiled by Norma Davis
- The Maid and the Queen: The Secret History of Joan of Arc by Nancy Goldstone
- Women in the Medieval English Countryside by Judith M. Bennett
- The Witch in History edited by Venetia Newall
- The Arabic Role in Medieval Literary History by Maria Rosa Menocal
- Time, Space, and Women’s Lives in Early Modern Europe by Ann Jacobson Schutte and Thomas Kuehn
- Other Middle Ages: Witnesses at the Margins of Medieval Society edited by Michael Goodich
- The Most Noble of People: Religious, Ethnic, and Gender Identity in Muslim Spain by Jessica A. Coope
- The Rise of Magic in Early Medieval Europe by Valerie I.J. Flint
- The Yellow Cross by Rene Weis
- The History of the Medieval World by Susan Wise Bauer
There is one book I’ve picked up since I took this photo:
- The Lais of Marie de France by Marie de France
Of these, only two of the book are primary sources (The Paston Letters and The Lais of Marie de France) and I wish there had been more books with works that were actually from the time period, but overall I’m happy with this book haul, as I will be learning a lot about my favorite time period in history. It’s going to be so interesting to hear about the lives of people who are usually overlooked or straight-up ignored by most historians (especially popular historians) in favor of royal figures and battles. While I enjoy a good royal biography as much as the next person, there are only so many times I can read about Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn before I want to find out something (anything) about someone (anyone) else.
Traveling in Books 
Pretty cool coincidence! I would’ve been beyond happy to discover newly-acquired books that I get to get my hands on first, especially if I’m in the middle of a whole obsession over X theme! I hope you enjoy these when you get around to them.
By the way, how much does your local bookstore tend to give back in-store credit for a book? 20%? More? 😮
It was a fantastic coincidence! I perked right up when the bookshop owner mentioned their acquisition, but as we’ve known each other for twenty years, I’m sure she knew exactly what she was doing when she brought it it. 🙂
I honestly have no idea what percentage I get for in-store credit. I take in more books I bought used than books I bought new, and since I’ve been a customer there so long, they bump my credit up a bit more than they would if I were some person they’d just met. It’s good to be a good customer!
I just keep my books! I tried the used book store and the store credit they offered was a joke! I still ended up spending more money even with the books I brought in. I have tried selling them at the flea market. There is not much readers where I live.
Very nice. It looks like a wide range of topics within what is already a fairly niche one. That’s awesome. I hope you end up really enjoying all of these. I remember being fascinated by the history of witches and witchcraft when in school so The Witch in History stood out to me.
The Witch in History stands out to me, too, since it’s so easy to make assumptions about religious beliefs in the medieval world. I’ve been finding that there is so much more nuance than we think there was when we look back at the time period. Which is usually how it goes, I guess.