Cultural

When David Garrick, the most distinguished actor of his day, organised a splendid festival in honour of our greatest dramatist, writes Carola Oman, everything favoured him except the weather.

C.V. Wedgwood assesses the impact of the Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts, 1869-1969

Joanna Richardson describes how, during the 1830s, the world of Bohemia offered a warm and fruitful climate to artists and writers.

The Tower of London, writes E.A. Humphrey Fenn, contains on its walls an extensive collection of prisoners’ graffiti.

Lionel Kochan describes how ‘the game of kings’ found its apotheosis in the Soviet Union; the country of the proletariat.

Lionel Kochan traces the development of chess, from its origins to the end of the fifteenth century.

Michael Grant describes how the Greeks borrowed from other civilizations, and how they transformed their borrowing.

J.I. Whalley describes the development of handwriting in the early modern period.

Six Mughal Emperors between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries bequeathed an alien glory to the Indian scene.

Jack M. Sasson reads the letters of Shamsi-Adad and describes his humanity, patriarchal wisdom and easy sense of humour.