Harvard Professor Robert Langton, visiting Paris, is called in when the curator of the Louvre is murdered. Alongside the body is a series of baffling ciphers. Langton and a gifted French cryptologist, Sophie Neveu, are amazed to find a trail that leads to the works of Da Vinci - and beyond.

The unvarying essential meanings of around 1,000 symbols and symbolic themes commonly found in the art, literature and thought of all cultures through the ages are clarified.

A dictionary that explores the symbols which abound in literature, religion, national identity and are found at the heart of our dreams and sub-conscious. It includes entries that give its interpretations - sexual and spiritual, official and subversive, cultural and religious - to bring meaning and insight to the symbol.

A practical encyclopedic guide to magical and religious symbolism.

The Flowers of Evil, which T. S. Eliot called the greatest example of modern poetry in any language, shocked the literary world of nineteenth century France with its outspoken portrayal of lesbian love, its linking sexuality and death, its unremitting irony, and its unflinching celebration of the seamy side of urban life. The volume was seized by the police, and Baudelaire and his published were .

The complete encyclopaedia of ancient mythology, ritual and symbolism that has been a classic bestseller since 1928.

A study of heroism in the myths of the world - an exploration of all the elements common to the great stories that have helped people make sense of their lives from the earliest times. It takes in Greek Apollo, Maori and Jewish rites, the Buddha, Wotan, and the bothers Grimm's Frog-King.

Explains the meanings associated with objects, plants, animals, myths, religious symbols, and images in art.

Brings together Arthur Rimbaud's poetry, prose, and letters, including The Drunken Boat, The Orphans' New Year , After the Flood , and A Season in Hell . This book is divided into eight 'seasons' including - Childhood, The Open Road, War, The Tormented Heart, The Visionary, and The Damned Soul - that reflect the facets of Rimbaud's life.

Born in France and Belgium, the cradles of literary Symbolism, Symbolist painting plunged headlong into the cultural space opened up by the poetry of Baudelaire and Mallarme and by the operas of Wagner. Symbolist painters sought not to represent appearances but to express the Idea, and the imaginary therefore plays an important part in their work.

This guide to how to interpret the common images and meanings in church art and architecture explains how to identify people, scenes, details and their significance, and explores the symbolism of different animals, plants, colours, numbers and letters. In this edition, full colour photographs show all key features and details.

Mircea Eliade--one of the most renowned expositors of the psychology of religion, mythology, and magic--shows that myth and symbol constitute a mode of thought that not only came before that of discursive and logical reasoning, but is still an essential function of human consciousness. He describes and analyzes some of the most powerful and ubiquitous symbols that have ruled the mythological ...

A comprehensive compilation of Jung's work on dreams, this book is without parallel and provides the perfect introduction to his concepts to those unfamiliar with Jung's work.

This title explores the origins, development, rituals, and symbolism of Freemasonry, and examines Freemasonry as part of a tradition of Western mysticism going back to the Middle Ages.

This guide to symbols is the first of its kind with a unique design to set us on the path of symbolism 1001 Symbols is a portable, pocket-sized guide to traditional symbolism, arranged by theme - as in a thesaurus. Following the symbols by subject allows us to compare all the symbols that different cultures have used to connote a particular quality, such as purity, love, deception or immunity. At

A directory of more than 800 esoteric symbols from around the world. It includes the symbols, signs and omens from many significant cultures and religions, including alchemy, Rosicrucianism, gnosticism, Voudoun and Ancient Egypt. There is a line drawing of each symbol.