Judy Blume, Shakespeare, and Secondhand Books' Secret Lives: April Books Roundup

Our regular look at new books that have recently caught the eye of our print and online editors this month.
 
Finders, Keepers: The Secret Life of Second-hand Books by Nicholas Royle

Royle is a genuinely unique, and witty, commentator on the world of books, and this third collection of literary wanderings represents the final part of his trilogy for Salt Publishing which began with White Spines and Shadow Lines. As before, he browses Britain's secondhand and charity bookshops, looking not just to add to his various collections (including Picador paperbacks, and books with London in the title), but also to walk scraps of maps left in books, and forward books to the owner of business cards found within their pages. 

Black Studies on 135th Street: The Founding and Future of the Schomburg Collection, edited by Barrye Brown, Laura E. Helton, and Vanessa K. Valdes
 
This collection of essay marks the centennial of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture and celebrates its role in the development of Black Studies. It features a list of the 4,000 books, pamphlets, papers, and prints that Arturo Schomburg deposited at the 135th Street branch of the New York Public Library in 1926

The Making of the Middle Ages: An Atlas of Europe by John Haywood and Michael Wood

A new history of the period from the fall of the Roman Empire to 1000AD told via 85 specially commissioned maps showing the spread of Christianity, the emergence of Islam, and the birth of modern Europe. Published by Thames & Hudson.

Hildegard von Bingen: The Fountain of Wisdom by Sara Salvadori

The 12th century abbess and mystic's finished her final manuscript recounting her visions, the Book of Divine Works, in 1173. This is presented here in its entirety for the first time, reproducing the two Bingen codices with previously unseen images hidden within the miniatures. Published by Skira.

Reading Pictures: A History of Illustration by D. B. Dowd

A global history of illustration (with more than 400 images) from ancient scrolls to digital tablets, looking at how it has developed into a fundamental element of the reading experience. From Princeton University Press.

America Through Foreign Eyes: The US Photojournalism of Annemarie Schwarzenbach, 1936-1941, edited by Sibyl Ann Schwarzenbach, translated by Laura Radosh

The Swiss writer, journalist and photographer Annemarie Schwarzenbach survived a troubled childhood before travelling to the US in 1936 to document the Great Depression, touring parts of the country little known at that time to most Europeans, and reporting back on the state of American democracy at a time of rising fascism in Europe. This is the first English translation of her work as well as a critical introduction to her life and work. Published by Palgrave Macmillan

Thinking Through Shakespeare by David Womersley

A look at how and why Shakespeare’s thoughts on morality, identity, and politics continue to remain relevant today. From Princeton University Press

Shut Up and Read: A Memoir from Harriett’s Bookshop by Jeannine A. Cook

Cook's memoir of leaving an abusive past and establishing a bookshop (via imaginary dialogues with abolitionist and social activist Harriet Tubman) and satellite stores in unusual locations. Published by HarperCollins.

Walking Shadow: Love, Loss and Shakespeare by Greg Doran

When the former Royal Shakespeare Company director Doran's husband of 35 years actor Antony Sher died in late 2021, Doran's coping strategy included a quest to visit every Shakespeare First Folio around the world. The first half of the book contains Sher's final diaries, while in the second Doran goes on what he calls his Folio Roadshow, heading to Japan, the Folger Library in Washington, and Skipton in Yorkshire where he contemplates a Folio possibly read by the Brontë sisters. An emotional and fascinating journey. From Bloomsbury.

Judy Blume by Mark Oppenheimer 

A biography of the much-loved author of Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret featuring extensive interviews with Blume, and access to her papers and correspondence. Published by Penguin Random House