Midsea Books Catalogue 2014

BOOKS ON

MALTA ARCHAEOLOGY • KNIGHTS OF MALTA • ART • ARCHITECTURE

C ATA L O G U E

2 | Archaeology and Prehistory

Malta: Prehistory and Temples

The Human Form In Neolithic Times

Uncover Malta’s past! Experience Malta’s varied history as never before! ‘Malta’s Living Heritage’ series produced with the aim to bring together academic text and graphic content, thus appealing to a wider audience. Each volume is packed with the most updated information, colour photography and exclusive illustrations prepared by our team of international illustrators.

This remarkable book, described by Oxbow Books as “the super book of Maltese archaeology”, makes a marvellous gift. This book presents a superb pictorial record of all the temples, hypogea and artefacts.

With more than 300 photographs by Daniel Cilia and illustrations, in full colour, the book features a detailed visual treatment of 30 key sites. This book is a definite must have.

Aunique study in the figurative art of the people who lived in Malta some 5000 years ago. The many prehistoric statues and figurines in the National Museum of Archaeology, Valletta, never fail to capture the visitor’s interest. Found in Malta’s many megalithic temples and underground cemeteries, these figurines are part of a rich material culture that has intrigued archaeologists and the public alike. Perhaps, the statues and figurines of the human form are the most intriguing. The body has been a source of fascination and debate for many years and the term human is perhaps restrictive and fails to take into account the many meanings behind these statues. The large body of these human portrayals are brought together, re-interpreted and photographed for the first time since Temi Zammit’s and Charles Singer’s Neolithic Representations of the Human Form from the Islands of Malta and Gozo (1924), with the addition of newly excavated material.

David H. Trump

Isabelle Vella Gregory

The is the first volume of the series ‘Malta’s Living Heritage’ Specifications Dutch-bound, 320 pp in full colour, 210x140 mm, ISBN 99909-93-94-7 €28.50; US$33.00, GB£17.95

Specifications Hardbound, 200 pages in full colour, 300x225 mm ISBN 99932-7-058-X €54.00; US$68.00; GB£37.00

3 | Archaeology and Prehistory

The Ħal Saflieni Hypogeum, Paola Anthony Pace

At first, it seemed that yet another early Christian catacomb had been discovered. For, indeed, the Ħal Saflieni Hypogeum is not unlike the underground cemeteries of the early christian era. It was only after the interior of the underground structure was examined that the unusual character of the monument’s features was noticed. As weeks passed, it soon became clear that the Ħal Saflieni discovery was much older than at first thought. The year was 1902. A century later, the hypogeum became a centrepiece of maltese cultural heritage and a recognized milestone in the history of world architecture. Its place among unesco’s long list of world heritage sites remains undisputed.

The Prehistoric Temples at Kordin III, Kordin Nicholas C. Vella

Malta’s prehistoric temples are probably the most spectacular memorial to ancient european history.

Have you ever wondered what went on inside them?

Based on the lesser-known temple complex at kordin iii, this fully illustrated guidebook attempts to answer this question and others. It describes the excavations of the site and the objects discovered by the archaeologists. It also shows how humans harnessed available resources to survive on these islands. Changes to the kordin landscape and the grand harbour area are highlighted in order to put the prehistoric temples in a wider historical context.

Fondazzjoni Wirt Artna – the malta heritage trust – has taken into its care Kordin III with the objective of making it accessible to the public on a regular basis.

Part of the ‘Malta Insight Heritage Guides’ series

Part of the ‘Malta Insight Heritage Guides’ series

Specifications Limpbound, 48 pages in full colour, 240x170 mm ISBN 99932-39-93-3 €8.50; US$9.95; GB£5.50

Specifications Limpbound, 32 pages in full colour, 240x170 mm ISBN 99932-39-87-9 €8.50; US$9.95; GB£5.50

4 | Archaeology and Prehistory

The National Museum of Archaeology: The Neolithic Period Sharon Sultana

The National Museum of Archaeology is housed in one of the most stylish baroque buildings still distinguishable in Valletta, more precisely at the auberge de provence, in republic street. The ground floor hosts artefacts from Malta’s unique neolithic period, which spans from the ghar dalam phase to the tarxien phase. Artefacts of particular distinction are the ‘sleeping lady’ and the ‘venus of Malta’.

The display includes numerous artefacts used as implements, human and animal figurines, as well as personal decorative items. A number of monumental architectural altars illuminate the art of the ancient prehistoric craftsmen.

The Tarxien Temples, Tarxien Anthony Pace

The megalithic temple complex of tarxien was constructed at the height of malta’s late neolithic period, on a site that was used over a span of several millennia. The site appears to have first been used as early as the Żebbuġ phase (beginning c.4100 Bc).

The megalithic character of the site emerged as early as 3600 bc, reaching a highly complex layout by about 3000 bc. The Tarxien temples are, therefore, an important source of information. Their value lies in the wealth of relics and traces of the past that have been transmitted down to our generation.

Part of the ‘Malta Insight Heritage Guides’ series

Part of the ‘Malta Insight Heritage Guides’ series

Specifications Limpbound, 40 pages in full colour, 240x170 mm ISBN 99932-7-076-8 €8.50; US$9.95; GB£5.50

Specifications Limpbound, 48 pages in full colour, 240x170 mm ISBN 99932-7-078-4 €8.50; US$9.95; GB£5.50

5 | Archaeology and Prehistory

Cart-ruts and their impact on Maltese landscape

Ħaġar Qim and Mnajdra Prehistoric Temples, Qrendi

Of the many fascinating problems posed by the prehistory of Malta, three are outstanding, namely, the origins of the temples, their end, and the cart-ruts. At least on the first two we can make sensible guesses. The third has many aspects, several of them still completely baffling, which of course adds greatly to their appeal.

Indeed, they have aroused considerable interest, and controversy, since at least the seventeenth century, from such as Abela (1649), Houel (1787), Boisgelin (1805), with increasing frequency through the course of the twentieth century. Definitive solutions seem as far off as ever.

Ħaġar Qim and Mnajdra Temples are amongst the most popular and most visited archaeological sites on the Maltese islands. But what is it about these sites that makes them so unique? What do they tell us about the people who built them? And who discovered them?

This fully-illustrated guidebook attempts to answer these questions. It highlights some of the reasons why every visitor to the sites should feel privileged and why we should all protect these sites to extend this privilege to our children.

Part of the ‘Malta Insight Heritage Guides’ series

Part of the ‘Malta Insight Heritage Guides’ series

Specifications Limpbound, 48 pages in full colour, 240x170 mm ISBN 978-99932-7-209-0 €8.50; US$9.95; GB£5.50

Specifications Limpbound, 48 pages in full colour, 240x170 mm ISBN 978-99932-7-317-2 €8.50; US$9.95; GB£5.50

David H. Trump

Katya Stroud

6 | Archaeology and Prehistory

L.M. Ugolini: An Italian Archaeologist in Malta

Nicholas C. Vella and Andrea Pessina The Italian archaeologist Luigi Maria Ugolini (1895– 1936) visited Malta on several occasions between 1924 and 1935 to study the megalithic monuments of the archipelago. An able photographer and acute observer, in the course of his work Ugolini gathered together a large number of photographs, illustrations, notes, and reports dedicated to the prehistoric temples and the archaeological objects found within. The Italian scholar wanted to prove in an unequivocal manner the neolithic date of the megalithic temples of Malta and to assert the important role that Malta had in giving birth to Mediterranean civilization (‘ex Medio lux’).

The work of Ugolini was interrupted by his sudden death that occurred just before the publication of the series of volumes (‘Malta Antica’) which he had planned.

The main theories of the Italian archaeologist were put forth in 1934 in the volume Malta. Origine della civiltà mediterranea. The monograph represents a seminal part of Ugolini’s archaeological thought and is a necessary premise to the final publication of his precious archive.

Held in Rome at the Museo Nazionale Preistorico Etnografico ‘Luigi Pigorini’, the archive has been rediscovered thanks to a collaborative Italo-Maltese project and is being published in toto by Midsea Books.

The value of Ugolini’s work is only now being appreciated in Europe. For Malta, the publication of Ugolini’s unfinished work will provide archaeologists, heritage managers and scholars with an indispensable tool to manage the prehistoric remains, of which several are inscribed on UNESCO’s world heritage list. The exhaustive description of the archaeological sites and, above all, the excellent photographic record provide us with a unique and timely documentation of architectural, sculptural, and iconographic details that have disappeared completely or have been altered by past restoration interventions.

Specifications Limpbound, 56 pages in full colour, 295x210 mm ISBN 99932-7-056-3 €10.00; US$13.50; GB£7.00 (text in English and Italian)

Malta: Origini della civiltà mediterranea

Malta: Origins of mediterranean civilization Luigi M. Ugolini New edition by Andrea Pessina and Nicholas C. Vella

The volume containing the conclusions made by Luigi Maria Ugolini during his survey of the archaeological finds in Malta, is the first volume to be published in the Ugolini series.

This volume was intitially published in 1937.

However this new edition of Malta. Origine della civiltà mediterranea is being published together with an English translation and is preceded by an comprehensive introduction that allows the reader to place Ugolini’s work in the context of the tormented political scenario of the time.

Over several years, the papers and photographs, re-discovered in 2000, have been put together following Ugolini’s planned series entitled Malta Antica: Volume 1: The Tarxien Neolithic temples; Volume 2: The major Neolithic temples and the Hypgoeum; Volume 3: The minor Neolithic temples; together with a concluding volumes by the authors.

These volumes will include the Italian text as written by Ugolini and his photographic documentation. A running commentary will be provided as footnotes (in Italian and English) on each page. Furthermore, wherever possible an English abstract to the main text will be included as an appendix for each volume.

Specifications LIMITED EDITION 392 pp with illustrations, 287x220 mm Hardbound 978-99932-7-392-9 €55.00; US$73.00; GB£46.00 per volume

7 | Archaeology and Prehistory

Archaeology and the sea in the Maltese islands Elaine Azzopardi and Timmy Gambin

Malta and Gozo’s geographical location in the centre of the Mediterranean Sea has, since ancient times, led to numerous ships passing through the islands’ waters.

Several records of this maritime activity exist in different archives and other evidence can be deduced from the seabed. Despite this, the maritime archaeology of our islands has remained largely unexplored. This book has been produced to address just a small part of this lacuna. By looking at the history of underwater archaeology in Malta and providing an overview of some of the most important finds from the seabed around the archipelago readers will be able to familiarize themselves with the fascinating world of our submerged cultural heritage.

In order to portray the full story it was necessary to start at the beginning of underwater exploration in Malta. The authors had the opportunity to meet and interview a number of pioneers who took up scuba diving in the late 1950s and early 1960s. We are indebted to them for the invaluable information that they passed on as well as for the archival material they shares.

Other sources used fo this research came from the stores and archives of the Superintendence of Cultural heritage and Heritage Malta. Both these institutions have done a professional job keeping up to date with all material recovered from an underwater context.

This book should be of interest to divers, students, researchers as well as the general public with the hope to increase awareness and passion towards the submerged cultural heritage of the Maltese islands.

Malta Archaeological Review Issue 6; 2002-2003

The Malta Archaeological Society organizes meetings and seminars, which are open to the public, as well as site visits both in the Maltese Islands and abroad. It publishes the Malta Archaeological Review, an annual peer-reviewed journal devoted to articles, reports, notes and reviews relating to current research on the archaeology of the Maltese Islands. The Society endeavours to maintain close relations with Heritage Malta, with the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage, and also the Department of Classics and Archaeology of the University of Malta and to support their activities.

Contents: Maritime Archaeology in the Mediterranean A.J. Parker The Harbours of Ancient Gozo Timothy Gambin A 16th century Iron Breech-Loading Swivel-Gun Michael Stroud Traditional Boats of Malta Joseph Muscat New light on Fr Magri’s exploration of the Hypogeum: notes from correspondence with the British Museum Josef Mario Briffa s.j.

The Lyre Player in Roman Malta Anna Borg Cardona Quintus Lutatius Longinus and his wife Iunia in a funerary inscription from Gozo George Azzopardi

Published in association with Aurora Trust Specifications Limpbound, 64 pages in full colour, 189x246 mm ISBN 978-99932-7-402-5 €18.00; US$23.50; GB£14.50

Specifications 80 pp with colour insert, 297x210mm Limpbound €12.00; US$16.00; GB£10.00

8 | Archaeology and Prehistory

Malta Archaeological Review

Malta Archaeological Review

The Malta Archaeological Society organizes meetings and seminars, which are open to the public, as well as site visits both in the Maltese Islands and abroad. It publishes the Malta Archaeological Review, an annual peer-reviewed journal devoted to articles, reports, notes and reviews relating to current research on the archaeology of the Maltese Islands. The Society endeavours to maintain close relations with Heritage Malta, with the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage, and also the Department of Classics and Archaeology of the University of Malta and to support their activities.

The Malta Archaeological Society organizes meetings and seminars, which are open to the public, as well as site visits both in the Maltese Islands and abroad. It publishes the Malta Archaeological Review, an annual peer-reviewed journal devoted to articles, reports, notes and reviews relating to current research on the archaeology of the Maltese Islands. The Society endeavours to maintain close relations with Heritage Malta, with the Superintendence of Cultural Heritage, and also the Department of Classics and Archaeology of the University of Malta and to support their activities.

Contents: Comino: historical and archaeological observations Keith Buhagiar Tobacco pipes from an underwater excavation at the quarantine harbour, Malta John Wood A fresh look at Ħaġar Qim and Mnajdra temples Katya Stroud A possibly Christian burial of the late Roman period discovered in a quarry at Ta’ Sannat, Gozo George Azzopardi Le modèle architectural du Tarxien reconstitué par Ugolini: la solution?

Roger Le Chevretel Archaeological discoveries at Marsa over the centuries Timothy Gambin Ognina: A puzzling prehistoric site in Sicily David Trump A view from the countryside: pollen from a field at Mistra Valley, Malta Chris Hunt and Nicholas C. Vella

Contents: Cremation burials in early Bronze Age Malta: evidence from Tarxien and Ġgantija George Azzopardi Roman architectural practice and the funding of public buildings Lino Bianco Il fregio egittizzante del santuario di Tas-Silġ Francesca Bonzano Għar Dalam: a shelter for WWII refugees and military fuel supplies John J. Borg The origin of Maltese cart-ruts: cut by wheels or tools?

Derek Mottershead The conservation project and archaeological excavation of the old Parish Church at Siġġiewi – an intermediate report Paul C. Saliba A newly discovered late Punic-Roman rock-cut tomb at Limestone Heritage, Siġġiewi (Malta) Mevrick Spiteri and Nicholas C. Vella Xewkija and elsewhere: new thoughts on old sites David Trump A remarkable feature at Mnajdra Heiko Wagner

Specifications 80 pp with colour insert, 297x210mm Limpbound €12.00; US$16.00; GB£10.00

Specifications 80 pp with colour insert, 297x210mm Limpbound €12.00; US$16.00; GB£10.00

Issue 7; 2004-2005

Issue 8; 2006-2007

9 | Archaeology and Prehistory

Malta Archaeological Review Issue 9; 2008-2009

Contents: ‘Prehistoric painted pottery in Malta’: a century later

Davide Tanasi Observations on the linguistic epigraphic choice in late antique inscriptions from Malta

Maria Domenica Lo Faro Ancient anchors from Malta and Gozo

Elaine Azzopardi, Timmy Gambin

and Renata Zerafa Revisiting the Roman domus in Rabat, Malta, through a consideration of its mosaic flooring

Antonio Caselli The known unknown: identification, provenancing, and relocation of pieces of decorative architecture from Roman public buildings and other private structures in Malta

David Cardona Wind funnelling underneath the Ħaġar Qim protective shelter

Simon Farrugia and John A. Schembri Experimental Archaeology

Christopher Busuttil The original discovery of the Roman shipwreck at Xlendi, Gozo

John Wood Mapping ancient water management systems

Timmy Gambin Ta’ Ħaġrat and Skorba: Ancient Monuments in a Modern World,

edited by MariaElena Zammit and Joanne Mallia Site, Artefacts and Landscape. Prehistoric Borġ in-Nadur, Malta,

Davide Tanasi and Nicholas C. Vella An Archaeology of the Senses: Prehistoric Malta,

Robin Skeates Ceramics of the Phoenician-Punic World: Collected Essays,

edited by Claudia Sagona The Ġgantija Temples. A History of its Visitors and Views

Godwin Vella, Nicoline Sagona and John Cremona

Specifications 96 pp with colour insert, 297x210mm Limpbound €15.00; US$16.00; GB£12.50

An Introduction to Cultural Heritage Law Ugo Mifsud Bonnici

The book, supported jointly with the Maltese Superintendency for Cultural Heritage and Heritage Malta, tempts to bridge the laws concerning Land Use and Planning with those protecting the Cultural Heritage. The aim of this book is to provide the pabulum for further study and possible legislative elaboration.

The book contains a number quotations from the sources together with the author’s comments in the light of his own experience as a lawyer and as a Minister.

The book claims usefulness since now we have a text book to which students, scholars, conservation professionals, lawyers and politicians can refer when confronted with the need to know the law concerning the protection of the Heritage. The author has tried to make this publication an indispensible manual. Some comments might be seen to be too “legal” others too “political”. It is however mainly a legal treatise. The book is not concerned only with ‘Maltese’ Law. Today cultural heritage legislation is becoming more and more international.

Specifications Limpbound, 279 pages, 228x150 mm, ISBN 978-99932-7-184-0 €18.00; US$24.00; GB£12.00

10 | Punic and Roman

Malta: Phoenician, Punic and Roman

The Domvs Romana site catalogue

Uncover Malta’s past! Experience Malta’s varied history as never before! ‘Malta’s Living Heritage’ series produced with the aim to bring together academic text and graphic content, thus appealing to a wider audience. Each volume is packed with the most updated information, colour photography and exclusive illustrations prepared by our team of international illustrators.

Malta’s Classical period and its archaeology have long been neglected in favour of the island’s unique prehistoric heritage. Anthony Bonanno’s Malta.

Phoenician, Punic, and Roman redresses that imbalance.

The book, is also the outstanding literary and pictorial record of these periods which cover over 1,500 years of Malta’s history. Its artwork, maps, illustrations and over 500 colour photographs complement the written text in a superb way.

This is Heritage Malta’s official site catalogue on the exposed ruins of the Domvs Romana (Rabat, Malta), uncovered in successive excavations during the 20th century. This work shows that the Domvs Romana extended further north, possibly occupying an entire quarter, remains of which can still be seen on the western and northern sides of the site.

The book includes over ??? artefacts which are considered to be the most important unearthed from the the site. Each artefact is described in detail.

Anthony Bonanno

Suzannah Depasquale

Part of the ‘Malta Living Heritage’ series Specifications 360 pp in full colour, 210x140 mm, Hardbound 99932-7-034-0 €48.50; US$56.50; GB£30.00

Specifications 32 pp in full colour, 240x130 mm, Limpbound 99932-7-031-8 €5.00: US$6.85; GB£4.00 books from the heart of the Mediterranean

11 | Late Antiquity and Byzantine

Roman and Byzantine Malta: Trade and Economy

Malta Sotterranea: Studies of its Early Christian and Jewish Sepulchral Art

The idea of carrying out research on the Maltese archipelago during the Roman and Byzantine periods stems from the author’s participation in the activities of the Missione Archeologica Italiana, which had resumed in Malta in 1995 in order to complete research conducted on the sites of Tas-Silg and San Pawl Milqi.

These archaeological sites are today considered amongst the most important on the archipelago. Their stratigraphy spans an extensive timeframe – from prehistory to the modern era – making them important points of reference and comparison, not least in the classification and study of ceramic remains. The author was intreged by the huge amount of transportation amphorae discovered during the excavations of these sites.

The study and examination of the ceramic contexts of the Roman and Early Medieval periods achieved extremely interesting results in many respects; amongst other things, it allowed for a better understanding of other Maltese archaeological sites, particularly with regard to the economical perspective related to their ceramic evidence. The amphorae from these periods in Maltese archeology by far outnumber all other classes of ceramic ware used for importation. In some instances they were the only ceramic type found.

Their wide diffusion throughout the centuries also includes the period between the 8th and 9th centuries, a period for which there is a dearth of archeological documentation. This would clearly imply the importance of commercial activity on the archipelago.

To this end not only has the archaeological evidence had to be reexamined, but also the historical-literary sources and epigraphs dating to the Roman and Byzantine periods.

Erich Becker’s studies of Malta’s early Christian and Jewish sepulchral art are very well researched and exceptionally thorough. Most authors who later wrote on the same subject quote or refer to Becker in one way or another. Yet, due to the difficulties poised by the language, many of Becker’s important findings and results remain unknown to this date, except where they have been plagiarised. Most references to Becker’s works today are based on incorrect translations and he is sometimes quoted for things he never said.

In this new translation the author has opted for clarity, accuracy and shorter sentence structures that enable the reader to follow Becker’s detailed descriptions.

However, Becker’s choice of terminology has been scrupulously translated. Every chapter contains endnotes by the translator that provide further explanations, updates or translations. The original version is littered with quotes in Latin, Greek, English, French, Italian and Hebrew, none of which Becker translated. For this English translation, these quotes have been, translated in the endnotes.

When dealing with the inscriptions found in Malta, Becker often refers to inscriptions published in the Corpus Inscriptiones Latinarum (CIL) and in Caruana’s 1882 publication. As neither of these two publications is easily available in Malta, the texts are also provided in the endnotes, together with their translations where possible. Only some plans of the various hypogea described by Becker were available when he was in Malta. The plans published later by Caruana and Buhagiar, to which Becker simply refers, have also been added and corrected where possible.

It is hoped that with this English translation of Malta Sotterranea, Becker’s results and observations will form a more active part of the discussion on the subject.

Specifications 268 pp with illustrations, 228x150 mm Hardbound 978-99932-7-245-8 €30.00; US$40.00; GB£27.00

Specifications 280 pp with illustrations, 228x150 mm Hardbound 978-99932-7-247-2 €30.00; US$40.00; GB£27.00

Brunella Bruno, translated by Goergette Cutajar

Erich Becker, translated and edited by Katrin Fenech

12 | Islamic World

A History of Muslim Sicily Leonard C. Chiarelli

A History of Muslim Sicily is a study of the period of Muslim Arab rule on the island from A.D. 827 to the Norman conquest in A.D. 1070. It is first the detailed study in English covering the various aspects of this 243-year period. It incorporates new Arabic sources and draws upon archaeological studies that hitherto have not been used.

The book covers the political, social, economic, demographic, and cultural impacts that during this period forever changed the island’s character. All aspects of society underwent change, making Sicily part of the Arabo-Muslim world for more than two hundred years. The book also examines Sicily’s relations with Muslim Spain, the Byzantine Empire, southern Italy, and North Africa. A History of Muslim Sicily brings to light a history of the island that rarely has been known outside Italy. It therefore is an important contribution to American and European scholarship, and it fills the gap in the general history of medieval Europe and the Middle East/North Africa.

The Coinage of the Crusaders and the World of Islam Emmanuel Azzopardi

The book covers an extensive selection of coins of the Crusades of Edessa, Antioch, Tripoli and Jerusalem and other numismatic areas including the coins of Islam.

This encyclopedic book includes illustrations of over 840 coins, each with short historical notes. To bridge Crusader-Islamic history and crusader numismatics, coins of the Seljuks, the Zengids of Mosul, the Seljuks of Rum, the Artuqids and the Ayyubids have been included, while the first chapter describes coins of the Islamic world before the First Crusade, such as the Moors of Spain, the Aghlabids and the Fatimids. The book also describes and illustrates West European imported coins, some of which Byzantine gold coins as well as coins of the Norman Kings; and coins of the period following the Fourth Crusade of 1204 of Achaea, Athens and Epirus together with all other baronial issues. This work covers with meticulous detail coins of Cyprus, Armenia, Chios, Rhodes and Malta. A coin of each denomination and ruler is illustrated and described.

Contents: the Islamic world, the Holy Land, the First Crusade, Baronial coinage, Crusader states, Fourth Crusade, 1204

Specifications 441 pp with colour insert, 228x150 mm Limpbound 978-99932-7-353-0 €35.00; US$50.00; GB£30.00

Specifications Limited Edition 304 pp in full colour, 300x220 mm Hardbound 978-99932-7-091-1 €125.00; US$156.00; GB£90.00 books from the heart of the Mediterranean

13 | Medieval History

Malta: The Medieval Millennium Charles Dalli

The story of Malta’s Middle Ages, from the end of the Roman rule to the arrival of the Knights Hospitallers, extendes across centuries of exciting changes and dramatic events. Malta’s medieval history paralleled, to a large extent, that of nearby Sicily, but also had its own original characteristics. The islands formed part of the Ostrogothic kingdom until eastern Roman rule was re-established around 535. Byzantine rule in Malta was only ended by the Arab conquest in 870.

For more than two centuries, Malta and Gozo were part of Dar al-Islam. In 1091 it was the turn of the Norman conquerors of Sicily to annexe the islands.

Christianity was slowly re-established. In the remaining four centuries of the Middle Ages, Malta was subjected to the kings of Sicily.

Written mainly from surviving documents, this book provides an exceptional pictorial record of the living heritage of these one thousand years of Maltese history which continue to shape the islands today.

About the Malta’s Living Heritage Series Uncover Malta’s past! Experience Malta’s varied history as never before! ‘Malta’s Living Heritage’ series produced with the aim to bring together academic text and graphic content, thus appealing to a wider audience. Each volume is packed with the most updated information, colour photography by Daniel Cilia and exclusive illustrations prepared by our team of international illustrators. The books in the series are Malta: Prehistory and Temples by David H. Trump, and Malta: Phoenician, Punic and Roman by Anthony Bonanno and Malta: The Medieval Millennium by Charles Dalli. Malta: The Order of St John by Thomas Freller.

The Mediterranean Artistic Context of Late Medieval Malta, 1091-1530 Charlene Vella

This book studies the Mediterranean context of art and architecture in the Maltese Islands between 1091, when they made their first contact with the newly imposed Norman government of Sicily and South Italy, and 1530, when they passed under the control of the Knights of St John.

A primary concern has been to establish a meaningful politico-economical and socio-religious context to the art and architecture of a period that can be loosely called Late Medieval. This was a time when the islands where very much a melting pot of cultural cross-currents blowing from Islamic North Africa and Latin Christian Europe. The coming together of these different and often antagonistic cultural traditions lie at the root of the Maltese national identity. This study also shows that influences came not only from Sicily, South Italy and North Africa, but also from more distant Mediterranean regions and sometimes from quite unexpected sources.

The presumed sources of influence are discussed in a meaningful art historical context, but allowance is made for geophysical and climatic factors that sometimes produced similar architectural and settlement pattern solutions.

Another important focus is to show that Malta before the Knights was not the artistic desert that it is often thought to have been. There was an important divide in lifestyle and artistic preoccupations of the gentry and professional and artisan classes of the Civitas, the Castrum Maris and the Gozo Castello, and their suburbs on the one hand, and the beduini of the countryside.

It shows that artistic patronage could sometimes be surprisingly well-informed and that the Renaissance had already manifested itself on the islands well before the coming of the Knights in 1530.

Part of the ‘Malta Living Heritage’ series Specifications 360 pp in full colour, 210x140 mm Hardbound 978-99932-7-102-0 €48.50; US$56.50; GB£30.00 Dutchbound 978-99932-7-103-9 €28.50; US$33.00; GB£17.95

Specifications 224 pp, in full colour, 265x220 mm Hardbound 978-99932-7-447-6 €65.00; US$88.50; GB£53.50

14 | Post-Medieval and the Modern World

The Limestone Heritage, Siggiewi Vincent Zammit

A disused quarry at Siggiewi, Malta, has been turned into one of the most interesting and educational heritage trails in malta and a fascinating experience for tourists and locals alike. Experience this unique attraction and discover how our history is written in stone, from the early prehistoric times till today: the terminology, the tools, and building techniques.

The limestone heritage is a family-run attraction. The husband-and-wife team has its family origins in the building industry. The husband is the son of the former President of the Quarry Owners Association of Malta, whose family ran and operated quarries for generations.

The wife is the daughter of a leading building contractor, whose grandfather and ancestors have been involved in the building trade for years.

The Malta Maritime Museum, Vittoriosa Emmanuel Magro Conti

The Malta Maritime Museum aims at illustrating Malta’s maritime history from ancient times to the present day. It portrays the fascination of the sea within the Mediterranean context, without neglecting the overall global nature of seafaring. These aims are achieved by the constant search for identification and acquisition of artefacts related to the museum’s mission. Among the exhibits, the Museum boasts of a model of a galley which was used by the Order of Malta to teach those aspiring to become sailors, a complete set of customs weights and measures, and a figurehead of HMS Hibernia, an 19th century ship-of-the-line of the British Navy.

Part of the ‘Malta Insight Heritage Guides’ series

Part of the ‘Malta Insight Heritage Guides’ series

Specifications Limpbound, 32 pages in full colour, 240x170 mm ISBN 99932-39-96-8 €8.50; US$9.95; GB£5.50

Specifications Limpbound, 48 pages in full colour, 240x170 mm ISBN 99932-7-075-X €8.50; US$9.95; GB£5.50 books from the heart of the Mediterranean

15

Robert Attard and Romina Azzopardi

There is a healthy antique-collecting community in Malta and the contents of Maltese private collections are simply breathtaking. The latter should not come as a surprise because the Maltese seem to possess all the qualities of the great antique collector in their genes. The Maltese are industrious, resourceful, thrifty, frugal, and, arguably, greedy. Our only regret is that not all the astounding items we are aware of could be photographed and published. Unfortunately, most Maltese collectors are extremely possessive of their collections and expressed misgivings on publishing their collections. This notwithstanding, we have managed to compile what, in our modest opinion, is a truly impressive range of items.

This book is not only a book about our patrimony but is a book which discusses a market, warts included.

The popularity of antiques is leaving some bitter after-tastes. The Maltese market warrants some serious regulation. Certain trading customs used by some operators are markedly opaque and more transparency and professionalism are required to protect the interest of consumers. An impartial scientific analysis of several items in private collections (especially several items of furniture) is risking giving up the whole circus away.

The book is divided into 11 chapters which include a description on antinques in general, furniture, artistic works, arms and armour, costume, coins and medals, silver, books, prints and maps, and procelain and maiolica, among other items.

Specifications 192 pp in full colour, 280x220 mm Hardbound 978-99932-7-233-5 €46.50; US$70.00; GB£45.00

Mikiel Anton Vassalli (1764-1829): An Enlightened Maltese Reformer

Frans Ciappara

Adversity assailed him continually but somehow he always succeeded to regain the fire of his youth, the best warmth of his genius and the greatest strength of his enterprising passion. We are in the presence of a giant individual, who displayed remarkable courage and daring, a brilliant mind and a great heart...

Perversity diminished none of his defiant vitality and the fearlessness of his thought. He realised that his adversaries could take everything from him except his mind and heart. But he still had control over those things and he decided not to give them away. Only the lower classes were proud of their language and sang folk songs. But to claim for them any literary merit was to count merciless ridicule. Nevertheless, he continued to defend his mission just as a faithful soldier holds the post which has been committed to his keeping. He was the sole witness of the struggle within him and he could have ignored his conscience to go on. That was impossible because of all witnesses that was the one before whom this deeply human man most feared to blush.

Specifications 192 pp with monochrome illustrations, 238x158mm Hardbound 978-99932-7-476-6 €30.00; US$42.00; GB£25.00

| Post-Medieval and the Modern World

Antique Collecting in Malta

16 | Post-Medieval and the Modern World

The Manoel Theatre: a short history Miniature Maps of Malta Paul Xuereb

Albert Ganado

The Manoel Theatre is the only theatre building still extant and still regularly used in Malta that dates back to the period when Malta was ruled by the Order of St John. It was founded by the Portuguese Grand master Antonio Manoel de Vilhena in 1732 and was used regularly by the Knights for their amateur performances of plays and even operas, and also by visiting professional companies. Although meant for “the honest enetrtainment of the public”, it was the young Knights who dominated it either as performers or as members of the audience.

During the siege of the French occupiers during 17981800, the theatre was managed by the Maltese opera composer Nicolo Isouard and provided the besieged soldiers with their main entertainment.

The passing of Malta to Britain meant that the theatre, now known as Theatre Royal, remained of importance to the substantial British garrison and the many British civil servants and businessmen who spent years in Malta, but the rise of an educated Maltese middle class also meant that productions in Italian and then also in Maltese were produced by talented Maltese amateurs.

During the twentieth century the Manoel was known largely for its productions of plays in English, mostly presented by the MADC, founded in 1910 and still active today, but its private owners used it mostly as a cinema, and after World War II, when the Royal Opera House was destroyed by bombing, it presented a number of opera seasons. In the late 1950s the Labour government decided to bring the theatre back into state ownership and it opened as a state theatre in December 1960.

The book includes over 90 miniature maps of Malta and Gozo, plans of Valletta and the Three Cities ranging between the 16th and early 20th century. The majority of these miniature maps have been carefully selected from the exclusive Albert Ganado Malta Map Collection that the National Museum of Fine Arts, Heritage Malta, has proudly owned since July 2008. A number of others come from the Malta Maritime Museum, Heritage Malta, and private collections. Included also are 19 books from the Albert Ganado Melitensia Collection that show miniature maps and plans of Malta and Valletta in their original function as illustrations to text.

Specifications 196 pages with colour inserts, 205x135mm Limpbound 978-99932-7-377-6 €12.00; US$16.00; GB£10.00

Specifications 128 pages, + 90 illustrations in full colour, 240x170mm Limpbound 978-99932-7-272-4 €18.00; US$26.50; GB£16.00 books from the heart of the Mediterranean

17

Torture and the Roman Inquisition

The inquisitor’s palace, sited in the heart of vittoriosa, is one of the very few surviving examples of such palaces which could be found all over europe and south america in the early modern period. Although much has been changed in its structure by its successive occupants, it remains an architectural gem, representative of the checkered history and european heritage of the maltese islands.

The introduction of the use of torture as part of inquisitorial procedure goes back to the bull ad extirpanda of pope innocent iv in 1252, when he allowed its use against the albigensians, a heretic sect originating in provence. In using torture, however, the inquisition was simply living up to contemporary standards. In the case of the holy office, in fact, more than a case for the human rights of those under arrest, it was a question of the tribunal’s responsibility to save the soul of the accused, at all costs!

Part of the ‘Malta Insight Heritage Guides’ series

Part of the ‘Malta Insight Heritage Guides’ series

Specifications 32 pages in full colour, 240x170 mm Limpbound 99932-39-96-8 €8.50; US$9.95; GB£5.50

Specifications 32 pages in full colour, 240x170 mm Limpbound 99932-39-96-8 €8.50; US$9.95; GB£5.50

Kenneth Gambin

Kenneth Gambin

| The Order of St John and the Knights of Malta

The Inquisitor’s Palace, Vittoriosa

18 | The Order of St John and the Knights of Malta

The Prison Experience at the Inquisitor’s Palace, Vittoriosa Kenneth Gambin

Casa Rocca Piccola, Valletta Nicholas de Piro

Imprisonment is the imposition of involuntary bodily confinement of people convicted of criminal offences; it forms part of a wider category of physical punishments that restrict the individual’s freedom of movement.

Incarceration also provides a means of punishment which offers the authorities control over the offender without necessarily abusing his body. The book tries to take a practical view of human relations in a religious prison. By delving into the original documents and tries to dispel many of the unfounded prejudices that have coloured the real nature of the inquisition.

Casa Rocca Piccola is the lived-in home of the de piro family – an ancient maltese lineage. The history of Casa Rocca Piccola goes back over 400 years to an era in which the Knights of St John decided to build themselves a prestigious city to rival European capitals. Palaces were designed for prestige and aesthetic beauty in most of Valletta’s carefully planned streets, and great bastion walls fortified the new sixteenth-century city.

Casa Rocca Piccola houses a little museum called costumes and collections which is worth a visit. There are also the World War II shelters. They give you an idea of how people lived during the bombing of malta. A visit to Casa Rocca Piccola is an opportunity to see inside one of the last private unconverted Valletta palaces still lived in today.

Part of the ‘Malta Insight Heritage Guides’ series

Part of the ‘Malta Insight Heritage Guides’ series

Specifications 32 pages in full colour, 240x170 mm Limpbound 99932-39-96-8 €8.50; US$9.95; GB£5.50

Specifications 32 pages in full colour, 240x170 mm Limpbound 99932-39-96-8 €8.50; US$9.95; GB£5.50

19

Isabelle Borg

In a few of the older sanctuaries and rural churches scattered throughout the Maltese islands one can find a substantial number of ex‑voto paintings. These paintings, often naively executed, are in fulfilment of vows made by groups or individuals who found themselves in peril on the sea or stricken by misfortune or malady. The fulfilment may be manifested in different ways such as in paintings, on canvas, timber panels, or stamped on sheets of silver in the shape of a leg or an arm, or as a scale model of a ship, or other votive offering. These were generally deposited in those sanctuaries thought to be endowed with special intercessionary favour, to be preserved within their walls, as popular expressions of gratitude for graces received through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin or other patron saints.

Although over the years some have rotted away or disappeared, a not inconsiderable number have survived the ravages of time, dust, damp, and war intact, and are displayed in the six major shrines of Birkirkara, Mellieħa, Qrendi, Senglea, Wied il‑Għajn, and Żabbar. A few of the lesser shrines amongst which Qormi, Żurrieq, Ta’ Pinu, Fontana, and the National Maritime Museum in Birgu, also boast some fine ex‑votos.

For the earliest dated maritime ex‑voto one has to visit the Żabbar sanctuary where a 1631 painting records the successful mutiny and escape of Christian slaves from a Tunisian fregata moored in the harbour of Sfax. The practice of commissioning ex‑votos appears to have ceased around the middle of the twentieth century owing to a liturgical directive ordering the removal of votive offerings.

St John’s Co-Cathedral, Valletta Cynthia de Giorgio

St John’s Co-Cathedral is a gem of Baroque art and architecture. Its rich history and artistic heritage is due to the fact that, for over 200 years, it was the conventual church of the Order of St John of Jerusalem. The history of the church is directly tied to the history of the Order in Malta. Over the years, the grand masters, dignitaries, and knights donated gifts of high artistic value and made enormous contributions to enrich it with the best works of art by the leading artists available to them. The knights themselves referred to the church as ‘la nostra chiesa maggiore della Sacra Religione Gerosolmitana’.

Also available in Italian, Spanish and German.

Part of the ‘Malta Insight Heritage Guides’ series

Part of the ‘Malta Insight Heritage Guides’ series

Specifications 32 pages in full colour, 240x170 mm Limpbound 99932-39-96-8 €8.50; US$9.95; GB£5.50

Specifications 32 pages in full colour, 240x170 mm Limpbound 99932-39-96-8 €8.50; US$9.95; GB£5.50

| The Order of St John and the Knights of Malta

The Maritime Ex-Voto: A culture of thanksgiving in Malta

20 | The Order of St John and the Knights of Malta

The Methropolitan Cathedral, Mdina Aloysius Deguara

Arriving at the grand piazza in the heart of the old city of Mdina, one is struck by the towering mass of a building of sombre gravity and awe-inspiring monumentality: the cathedral. It creates a dominating impact on the setting of Mdina as it is complimented by two adjacent baroque palaces, the episcopal residence and the old seminary, the latter hosting the Cathedral Museum.

The cathedral is the seat of the archbishop of Malta.

Since Norman times, the cathedral has been the see of the bishop of Malta, although the bishops themselves did not always reside in Malta.

Also available in Italian, German, and French

Malta: The Order of St John Thomas Freller

The urban, cultural, and political profile of the Maltese islands is deeply marked by the presence for 268 years of the knights of St John. The Order has left its mark decisively in the collective memory of the Maltese.

Malta – The Order of St John gives a global picture of this multinational institution in those crucial years when Grand Master L’Isle Adam moved the convent from Rhodes to Malta, when legendary Grand Master Valette withstood the Turkish assault in 1565, when Grand Masters Wignacourt, Cotoner, and Carafa turned Malta into a centre of Mediterranean corsairing, and Grand Masters Vilhena and Pinto tried to imitate the Central European absolutist princes. It all came to a sudden – but not unexpectedly – end in 1798 when Grand Master Hompesch handed over Malta to the rising star on the European horizon, Napoleon.

The various diplomatic attempts of the knights to regain their island all failed. The book also provides the reader with an overview of the most important monuments connected with the knights on Malta and Gozo.

About the Malta’s Living Heritage Series Uncover Malta’s past! Experience Malta’s varied history as never before! ‘Malta’s Living Heritage’ series produced with the aim to bring together academic text and graphic content, thus appealing to a wider audience. Each volume is packed with the most updated information, colour photography by Daniel Cilia and exclusive illustrations prepared by our team of international illustrators. The books in the series are Malta: Prehistory and Temples by David H. Trump, and Malta: Phoenician, Punic and Roman by Anthony Bonanno and Malta: The Medieval Millennium by Charles Dalli. Malta: The Order of St John by Thomas Freller.

Part of the ‘Malta Living Heritage’ series Part of the ‘Malta Insight Heritage Guides’ series Specifications 32 pages in full colour, 240x170 mm Limpbound 99932-39-96-8 €8.50; US$9.95; GB£5.50

Specifications 360 pp in full colour, 210x140 mm Hardbound 978-99932-7-297-7 €48.50; US$56.50; GB£30.00 Dutchbound 978-99932-7-298-4 €28.50; US$33.00; GB£17.95

21

Pawlu Mizzi

The Order of the Knight Hospitallers of St John has its origins in the early years of the first millennium ad. This book outlines their history as Sovereign Military and Hospitaller Order of St John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta since the early days till modern times. The order to-day enjoys diplomatic relations with a number of countries and is represented in several international organizations such as the united nations, the council of europe, and unesco.

The book gives short biographies of the twenty-eight grand masters of Malta from 1530 to 1798.

Specifications 40 pp in full colour, 245 x 190 mm Limpbound 99909-93-19-X €8.50; US$9.95; GB£5.50 Hardbound 99909-75-68-X €16.95; US$19.95; GB£7.00

Chronology of the Grand Masters of the Sovereign Military Order of St John known as the Order of Malta 1099-1962 Fra John Critien

This book presents for the first time the whole collection of the ‘CRONOLOGIA DE I GRAN MAESTRI DELLO SPEDALE DELLA SACRA RELIGIONE MILITARE DI SˆGIOˆGEROSOLIMITANO E DELL’ ORDINE DEL SANTO SEPOLCRO OGGI DETTI DI MALTA. The collection consists of two series of engraved portraits of the Grand Masters. The first series starts with the founder of the Order, Frà Gerard – 1st Rector of the Hospital of Jerusalem (c.1099) and ends with Frà Emmanuel de Rohan – 69th Grand Master of the Order (1775). The second series starts with Frà Ferdinand von Hompesch – 71st Grand Master of the Order (1797), and ends with Frà Angelo de Mojana di Cologna – 77th Grand Master of the Order (1962).

The portraits are all in the same format: head and shoulders, placed within a circular frame bearing their title, with armorial in centre below. The original issue, published in 1709 consisted of 66 portraits up to Grand Master Perellos with the addition of six other plates. The text was written by Giovanni Battista Brancadoro Perin with the original plates by Girolamo Rossi (1682–1762).

The other set, from grand masters Hompesch to de Mojana di Cologna, is found at Palazzo Malta, in Rome.

This set of portraits of the grand masters of the Order from 1099 is a unique collection and a must have in collections that include the Knights of the Order of St John.

Specifications 190 pp in six colours, 320x240 mm Hardbound 99932-7-067-9 (text in Italian and English) €95.00; US$118.00; GB£65.50

| The Order of St John and the Knights of Malta

The Grand Masters of Malta from the origins to modern times

22 | The Order of St John and the Knights of Malta

The Observing Eye: The French artist Jean Houel in Malta Thomas Freller

The French artist Jean Pierre Louis Laurent Hoüel is rightly described as master of the ‘vedutismo itinerante’.

Art historians have acknowledged his important contributions to the development of 18th-century landscape painting. Volume four of his magnus opus, the Voyage pittoresque des îles de Sicile, de Malte et de Lipari …, contributes substantially to our knowledge about the state of locations and monuments during his two visits to Malta and Gozo in 1770 and 1777. This new book also includes more sketches and reproductions of the original gouache paintings related to these islands which are now preserved in the Hermitage in St Petersburg. The qualities of these gouaches and plates, especially his neo-classical rigour and verism, make his work to a very important source of documentation for the archaeological and classical heritage of Malta and Gozo. Except the sketches, watercolours, and works on oil on canvas by his direct contemporary Louis Ducros, no other artist except for Hoüel has carried out such a number of first-quality depiction of Malta’s landscape, archaeological sites, architecture, and country folk.

The accompanying text makes clear Hoüel’s profound knowledge – at least by the standards of his times – of the history, geo-physical structure, and folklore of the Maltese archipelago.

Malta and the Grand Tour Thomas Freller

The phenomenon of the European Grand Tour to Italy, Sicily, or France has been extensively treated, but its extension to Malta has never been analyzed at length.

The term ‘Grand Tour’ is mainly used to describe the European giro in the eighteenth century, but this book includes the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries as well as the first decades of the nineteenth century.

It throws light on the role of Malta in the period of the Ancien Régime which in itself implies a certain homogeneity in European society and culture. As this was the period when the island was governed by the cosmopolitan Order of St John, many phenomena and developments of European culture also found their echoes in the microcosm of Malta. The travellers’ tales and descriptions reflect this development.

A closer look at the single cases of the European travellers suggests that the remote Malta of the Knights kept on attracting a tremendous number of visitors. In spite of the upheavals, crises, and often deep uncertainty that mark the early modern period of European history, Malta was the focus of the interest for Catholics as well as the Protestants, and people from France, Spain, Italy, England, the German lands, the Scandinavian countries. This book will try to embrace the whole colourful spectrum of visitors to Malta.

Contents: I – Life of an Artist; II – The Preparations for the Second Tour to Sicily and Malta; III – Hoüel in Malta in 1777 and its Echo in his Voyage pittoresque; IV – Hoüel’s Voyage pittoresque and the Aftermath; V – Hoüel and the Secret Network of Freemasonry; VI – Transcription and translation of Voyage pittoresque des îles de Sicile, de Malte e de Lipari; pittoresque des îles de Sicile, de Malte et de Lipari

Specifications 194 pp with colour illustrations, 228x150 mm, Hardbound 978-99932-7-417-9 €40.00; US$53.50; GB£34.00

Specifications 760 pp including illustrations, 228x150mm Hardbound 978-99932-7-248-9 €55.00; US$75.00; GB£50.00

23

Naval Activities of the Knights of St John 1530-1798

This is an account of the enlightened movement in Malta, with particular focus on the third quarter of the eighteenth century. It provides an insight into a late enlightenment which was, on one hand, connected to enlightened communities in the rest of Europe especially Italy, and, on the other, worked within the specific institutional and political traditions of Malta.

While nothing resembling the anti-Christian wing of the Enlightenment is to be found, many of its other aspects are present, such as assertion of State power, desire to reduce the number and influence of the clergy, emphasis on the criterion of utility, early attempts at budgeting, and a fairly rational economic policy. In addition, pride in the Maltese past and the use and teaching of the Maltese language were encouraged. The result is to justify a most interesting extension of the area in which enlightened absolutism and/or Catholic Enlightenment flourished.

In 1530 the knights of St John found in Malta the necessary amenities for the smooth-running of their ships. Local craftsmen catered for the building and for the maintenance of the ships, while Maltese masters of small merchant ships maintained a steady mercantile activity providing the islands with the necessary provisions. The corsairing activities of both the knights and local padroni brought to Malta a substantial booty.

The high standard of the Order’s administration was reflected in the successes of the warships against their enemies. The knights of St John attained their highest laurels in Malta and their galleys were respected in all the Mediterranean.

In The Naval Activities of the Order, Joseph Muscat and Andrew Cuschieri examine the organization of Order’s fleet in Malta and describe in detail each of the ship types employed by the knights, together with their armaments. To achieve their signal victories the Maltese seamen also played their crucial parts.

Frans Ciappara

Specifications 147 pp, 228x150mm Hardbound 978-99932-7-054-7 €28.00; US$35.00; GB£19.50

Joseph Muscat and Andrew Cuschieri

Specifications 240 pp with illustrations in colour and monochrome, 150x228mm Hardbound 99932-39-14-3 €56.50; US$65.95; GB£35.00

| The Order of St John and the Knights of Malta

Enlightenment and Reform in Malta 1740-1798

24 | The Order of St John and the Knights of Malta

Romegas Carmel Testa

The book describes in detail a period of intense activity heading to a climax between two rival super-powers: the Christian block under the leadership of Catholic Spain, against the Muslim challenge spearheaded

by Suleiman the Magnificent for final dominance in the Mediterranean and the countries bordering it, in particular the Balkans. Malta was not only situated exactly in the middle of that area of conflict but harboured the sorely battered but still vigorous Order of St John whose members, the cream of the Catholic nobility in Europe were bound by their vows to wage a perpetual war against the Infidels wherever found on land or sea.

The French knight Fra Mathurin Lescaut Romegas appeared on the scene during that historic period; he was the contemporary of Emperor Charles V, King Philip II of Spain, Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, Prince Don John of Austria, admiral Andrea Doria, the terrible Muslim corsairs Barbarossa, Dragut and Ulugh Ali, Popes Pius IV and Gregory XIII and other leaders who moulded the future fate of the Mediterranean. A close friend of the legendary Grand Master La Valette, Romegas spent nearly all his life on the Order’s galleys, becoming familiar in the process with all the shores, bays, inlets and islands of the Mediterranean. Within a few years he became the terror of the Muslims. Fate decreed that he played a very prominent part during the Great Siege of Malta (1565) and the no less dramatic battle of Lepanto (1571).

With a lifetime of continuous success, Romegas seemed to be destined to be elected Grand Master of the Order of St John in due time. He would have achieved that highest honour of his Order but for the sinister machinations of some senior knights who used his influence and prestige for their own end. The ensuing amazing debacle, disgrace and sudden death of Romegas, the erstwhile hero of Christendom, is an object lesson for the moralist and an excellent source for the story-teller.

Specifications 262 pp with illustrations in colour and monochrome, 150x228mm Hardbound 99932-39-14-3 €56.50; US$65.95; GB£35.00

Georgio Scala and the Moorish Slaves: The Inquisition Malta, 1598 edited by Dionisius A. Agius

Georgio Scala, a young man of humble origins, from Damiata, was captured on a trading vessel by the Knights of Malta in 1590 not far from his home town. He was enslaved in spite of his protestations that he was a Christian and so began the story of his life in the island of Malta. After gaining his freedom some years later, Scala made a life for himself in Valletta, the new capital and married Bernardina Mendicino. Outwardly a good Christian, his behaviour and his consorting with Moorish slaves, however, caused some to question his religious beliefs, leading to his appearance before the Inquisition in 1598, accused of apostasy. The proceedings of his trial were discovered in the Cathedral Archives, Mdina, Malta and provide a vivid picture of the times, the interaction between the various communities in Valletta and the all-important role of the Inquisition. Among the folios of the proceedings were found three letters, written in the Arabic dialect of Sfax (Tunisia) by a scribe for Moorish galley slaves. The letters are a unique find, giving firsthand accounts of the misery of their lives at sea and on shore.

This book is the result of collaboration among ten researchers from Birmingham, Exeter, Leeds and Malta, each revealing a different aspect of Scala’s world.

The end product is a fascinating study of Malta in the late 1500s, in which we hear, first hand, the voices of the common people, with all their immediacy and spontaneity, something not usually found in the dry dust of formal and legal documents.

Specifications 536 pp, illustrated in monotone, 228x150mm Hardbound 978-99932-7-415-5 €45.00; US$60.00; GB£39.50

25

has made extensive use of primary sources to build up a history of jewellery in Malta, which focuses on the art of jewellery, its social history and trade practices, and is the first study of its kind to be published in Malta. The book is in two parts, the first of which contains essays on historical aspects of Jewellery in Malta while the second part is devoted to analytical case studies of a number of jewellery items.

In his Foreword to the book, Prof. Mario Buhagiar says, “The book’s primary focus is the closely knit and insular society of Early Modern Malta when the presence there of a pan-European Sovereign Order of Hospitaller and Military Knights, drawn from the haughtiest families of Counter Reformation Europe, injected the island with a cultured sophistication that changed it into one of the more significant art centres south of Rome. The Knights invested in fine buildings and works of art and jewellery became an increasingly significant ancillary to dress, social status and religious ornament. One of the merits of the book is to discuss jewellery in a meaningful art historical and social context. This broadens the reader’s response and opens a window on the anthropology of jewellery that future studies should exploit.”

Cynthia de Giorgio

Specifications 262 pp in full colour, 280x240mm Hardbound 978-99932-7-278-6 €83.50; US$125.00; GB£75.00

Specifications 144 pp in full colour, 265x220mm Hardbound 978-99932-7-291-5 €65.00; US$110.00; GB£69.00

St John’s Co-Cathedral is a gem of Baroque art and architecture. Its rich history and artistic heritage is due to the fact that, for over 200 years, it was the conventual church of the Order of St John of Jerusalem. The history of the church is directly tied to the history of the Order in Malta. Over the years, the grand masters, dignitaries, and knights donated gifts of high artistic value and made enormous contributions to enrich it with the best works of art by the leading artists available to them. The knights themselves referred to the church as ‘la nostra chiesa maggiore della Sacra Religione Gerosolmitana’.

The book outlines the history of the church. It also describes the chapels, the art and the treasures found within. Moreover it is the first book to be published after the completion of the restoration project of the main nave. Photography for this publication was done during November 2009.

| The Order of St John and the Knights of Malta

Jewellery in Malta: Treasures from The Conventual Churh of the the Island of the Knights (1530-1798) Knights of Malta: Splendour, Francesca Balzan History and Art of St John’s CoResearched and written by Francesca Balzan, this study Cathedral, Valletta

26 | The Order of St John and the Knights of Malta

Daily life in eighteenth-century Malta

The Palaces of the Grand Masters in Malta: Valletta, Verdala, San Anton

Eighteenth-century Malta was a fascinating place. It was a land of contradictions. The island was ruled by a Religious Order but contemporaries described it as ‘un lieu de debauche and impurite’. Prostitutes lined the streets of Valletta.

While Grandmaster Pinto’s ladies feasted on precious delicacies including Acque gelate imported from Sicily, Cioccolata imported from South America and expensive Macaroni imported from Naples, the poor cried ‘nix mangari’ and begged for food from the stairs leading to the harbour.

The Code de Rohan was very intrusive in matters relating to the use of persons’ organs of procreation.

Eighteenth-century Malta formally prohibited lustful conduct but the very same persons who were entrusted with the duty to guard public morals participated in acts of unprecedented depravity. The Maltese were deeply religious. Prostitutes recited the rosary while they waited for clients. In 1741, a Gozitan prostitute named Domitilla Aquilina, reported clients who had not shown respect to some scared images. She told the Inquisitor that she ensured that a light was always lit in front of her holy images while she entertained her clients.

This book seeks to transport the reader back to eighteenth-century Malta and is meticuously reconstructed from judicial records which contain important data relating to the food, the clothes, the household and the way of life. Traveller’s accounts contain interesting descriptions of the curious island.

Most of the illustrations contained in this book consist of photographs of authentic eighteenth century artefacts from advanced private collections.

The book gives an overview of the history of the three main palaces of the grand masters of the Order of St John in Malta: the Magistral Palace in Valletta, Verdala Palace and Buskett Gardens in the vicinity of Rabat, and San Anton Palace and Gardens at Attard. It serves as an introduction to some of the most prestigious architectural and artistic gems of the island. The history and development of the palaces of the grand masters reflect the history of art and architecture in Malta, from mannerism to baroque to early modern. Their genesis and development was connected with some of the greatest names of architects and artists who worked on the island.

Specifications 176 pp in full colour, 265x220mm Hardbound 978-99932-7-327-1 €48.00; US$64.00; GB£40.00

Specifications 96 pp in full colour, 295x185mm Limpbound 978-99932-7-254-0 €18.00; US$26.50; GB£16.00

Robert Attard and Romina Azzopardi

Thomas Freller

Also available in German

27

Thomas Freller

The presence and history of the Order of St John in various regions of the lands of Germany and East Europe has been researched in several aspects, but a comprehensive work on the langue of Germany as such has never been written. This book presents an overview of the 800 years of the history of the Hospitallers in Germany and in the lands of the former ‘Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation’. Because of the vastness of the subject, the present book does not pretend to be a study in depth of this subject but is a basic outline of the development of the institution and of the most important events connected with it. The book is aimed at the general reader as well as at the specialist, who will find indications for further reading on single aspects and events.

The book has not the pretension of a in-depth study but is an overview of the almost 800-year-long existence of the German langue. For further reading on single aspects and events there is an extensive and detailed bibliography.

This book follows a parallel presentation of the sequence of events; each section begins with a sketch of the general situation of the Order in its respective period followed by a chapter on the contemporary history of the Hospitallers in Germany and Eastern Europe. Without such an approach, a great part of the events and developments connected with the German langue will not be understood. This approach also aims to show how interlinked the events connected with the German langue were with the more global developments of history.

Specifications 288 pp including illustrations, 205x135mm Limpbound 978-99932-7-299-1 €18.00; US$22.00; GB£15.00

The Last Knight of Malta

Thomas Freller and Gabriele Von Trauchburg From the tender age of 14 up to his death at 64, Joseph Maria von Rechberg was prominently involved in many of the most important events at the end of the Ancien Régime and the chequered history of the Order of Malta. Rechberg was a boy when he participated in the fatal campaign of Algiers, as already a most respected military man he participated years later prominently in the defence of Malta against the French. It was Rechberg who fired the last bullet against Napoleon’s French armada, long after Grand Master Hompesch had surrendered the island. The newly discovered fact that Rechberg had warned the government of the Order about an imminent French attack puts the surrender of Malta in June 1798 in a new light. In the turbulent years of the early 19th century he served as spy and envoy for his Order. The Napoleonic wars, namely the French campaign in Russia and the Battle of Waterloo are world history. Joseph Maria von Rechberg was prominently involved in them.

Contents: Chapter 1: A youth in the shadow of the Cross of Malta; Chapter 2: A page in Malta – and a tense atmosphere; Chapter 3: In the limelight of history – The campaign of Algiers; Chapter 4: Bavarian Officer and member of the Order of Malta; Chapter 5: A dangerous mission and the last days of Hospitaller Malta; Chapter 6: Fighting until the end; Chapter 7: Immersed in the Order’s struggle for survival; Chapter 8: Back in the Mediterranean – Bavarian envoy and spy in Catania; Chapter 9: A hero of the Napoleonic Wars and the closing of a circle; Bibliography: Archival manuscript sources, Single manuscript sources, Printed works

Specifications 240 pp with illustrations, 205x135mm, Limpbound 978-99932-7-330-1 €11.00; US$15.75; GB£10.00

| The Order of St John and the Knights of Malta

The German Langue of the Order of Malta

28 | The Order of St John and the Knights of Malta

Padre Ottomano and Malta: A Story of the 1001 Nights, a Sultan’s son in Malta?

Thomas Freller and Dolores Campoy

One of the most enigmatic figures in Malta’s chequered history was certainly ‘Padre Ottomano’, allegedly the first-born son of Sultan Ibrahim. This mysterious character and his mother, allegedly Sultana Zafira, were captured by the knights of Malta when they seized a giant galleon as a prize on 28 September 1644. This would lead to Sultan Ibrahim declaring war on the Venetians whom he accused of collaborating with the knights with the resultant bloody war of Candia. In the meantime the young boy was educated in Malta and took the vows of a Dominican friar becoming known as Padre Ottomano. After much-publicized sojourns in Naples, Rome, and Paris, the famous padre also participated in one of the Christian campaigns of the war of Candia. But the great scheme to instal him as a pretender to the throne of Sultan Mehmet IV and therewith cause a rebellion in the Ottoman empire failed. Subsequently he stepped back from the great scene of European politics and ended his days in Malta as prior of Porto Salvo in Valletta and vicar general of the Dominicans. This book tries to sort out the many facts and fiction around this celebrity and for the first time presents a true and balanced picture of the events connected with this figure.

Specifications 168 pp with illustrations, 228x150mm Limpbound 978-99932-7-079-2 €12.50; US$15.00; GB£9.50

Two death sentences by the Inquisition Tribunal of Malta, 1639 Kenneth Gambin

The setting up of the Roman Inquisition in 1542 was also aimed at introducing a sense of correct behaviour and beliefs expected from all Christians, Besides fighting Protestant doctrines,.

The Inquisition was lenient with first-time offenders or with those who showed genuine signs of repentance.

In those rare cases where the accused insisted in their errors, however, the instructions were clear: the obstinate and stubborn unrepentant who refused to be reconciled to the Church had to be handed to the secular court to be burned alive.

Specifications 108 pp with colour illustrations, 205x135mm Limpbound 978-99932-7-074-1 €9.50; US$11.50; GB£7.50

29

Essays on the Knights and Art and Architecture in Malta, 1500-1798

Albert Jouvin de Rochefort was one of many seventeenth century European travellers who visited several cities in Europe, Asia and Africa soon after the cessation of hostilities associated with the so-called Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648). According to his Voyage d’Italie et de Malthe which was but one of a six volume work entitled Le Voyageur d’Europe published in Paris in 1672, Albert Jouvin, accompanied by some friends, arrived in Siracusa, Sicily in December 1663 from where they soon managed to board a war galley of the Hospitaller Order of St John the Baptist which was then visiting that city to participate in the festivities of S. Lucia. Having safely reached Malta on the S. Luigi via Capo Passero, Jouvin remained on the island for about four weeks and eventually returned to France in 1665 or thereabouts.

The twenty essays in this collection represent a selection of studies on the Knights of St John and the art history of early modern Malta that the author, Head of the Department of the History of Art with the Faculty of Arts at the University of Malta, published between 1964 and 2007 in various Maltese and overseas journals and miscellaneous other publications. They are being reproposed in the belief that, in spite of the fact that the earliest among them may have become outdated by more recent research, they can still be read with profit.

Specifications 48 pp in full colour, 245x190mm Limpbound 99932-39-91-7 €11.50; US$13.50; GB£12.00

Specifications 350 pp, over 100 illustrations in full colour, 228x150mm Hardbound 978-99932-7-246-5 €50.00; US$65.00; GB£45.00

Dennis De Lucca

Mario Buhagiar

Contents: Frivolous and Vainglorious Grand Master de Paul; Hughes de Loubens de Verdalle, Cardinal and Grand Master; The Miraculous Image of the Madonna of Philermos and its Uniqueness to the Knight Hospitallers of Jerusalem, Rhodes and Malta; The Treasure of Relics and Reliquaries of the Knight Hospitallers in Malta; The Treasure of the Knight Hospitallers in 1530: Reflections and Art Historical Considerations · Church Art and Architecture in the Fifteenth and Early Sixteenth Centuries – A Focus on Some of Malta’s Lesser Known Artistic Heritage; The Baroque Art of the Maltese Islands; Two Signed Paintings by Giulio Cassarino; Paintings in Gozo; Images of Death in Early Modern Paintings in Malta; Malta’s Art Historical Contacts with France 1530-1798; The Auberge d’Aragon; The Ceiling of the Church of the Virgin of Victory, Valletta; The Paintings of Francesco Vincenzo Zahra (1710-1773); The Church of St James in Merchants Street, Valletta; Niccolò Nasoni between Malta and Portugal; Antonio Pippi – A Forgotten Quadraturista; The Cathedral City of Mdina; The Portuguese Socio-Artistic Imprint on Eighteenth Century Malta

| The Order of St John and the Knights of Malta

A description of Baroque Malta by Albert Jouvin de Rocheforst

30 | Baroque Art in Malta

Caravaggio and painters of realism in Malta

Caravaggio: Art, Knighthood and Malta

In July 1608, Caravaggio was invested with the habit of Magistral Obedience by Alof de Wignacourt, Grand Master of the Knights of Malta. In honouring Caravaggio, the Grand Master thought that he would thus keep the artist firmly attached to the Order of St John, hoping that the Order would find glory through his art: ‘we wish to gratify the desire of this excellent painter, so that our Island Malta, and our Order may at last glory in this adopted disciple and citizen’ (extract from the document of Caravaggio’s investiture).

The artist, however, soon fell out of grace and was deprived of his knighthood in the very same year.

Malta had thus, strictly speaking, ‘lost’ Caravaggio.

Caravaggio’s presence in Malta was, however, to remain strong, partly because of the pictures that he painted and partly because of the overwhelming influence that his art had on realist paintings that found their way on the island thereafter. Caravaggio, the man dishonoured by the Order, was thus honoured through his art. .

The essays in this book include ‘Caravaggio and Paintings of Realism in Malta’ by Keith Sciberras; ‘Caravaggio: Biography in Paint’ by Helen Langdon; ‘Painting in Exile’ by David M. Stone; ‘Caravaggio’s Late Paintings: Invisible Witnesses’ by John T. Spike; ‘Ars Moriendi – Ad Usum Proprium: Aspects of dealing with death in Caravaggio’ by Peter Serracino-Inglott; ‘Malta: Caravaggesque Crossroads’ by John Gash; Caravaggio and Early Naturalism in Naples: The context for Neapolitan paintings in Malta’ by Nicola Spinosa; ‘The Technique of Caravaggio’s Late Years (1606-10)’

by Roberta Lapucci; ‘The Beheading of St Catherine at Zejtun, Malta: A Maltese-Sicilian Caravaggist painting worthy of attention’ by Mario Buhagiar; Giulio Cassarino (1588-1637): A Biographical Outline’ by Simon Mercieca.

Caravaggio’s sojourn on the island of Malta in 1607-1608 is one the most fascinating episodes in Baroque art.

The painter had committed a murder in Rome in May 1606 and subsequently fled to Naples, where he quickly became famous for his gritty, naturalistic altarpieces.

Suddenly, in the early summer of 1607, he decided to leave his thriving Neapolitan studio for the newly built city of Valletta, the headquarters of the Knights of Malta. The chance to obtain a knighthood and redeem himself for his Roman crime was no doubt foremost in his mind.

Written by two leading authorities in the field, this richly illustrated book tells the story of Caravaggio’s voyage to Malta, his interactions with the Knights and their leader Grand Master Alof de Wignacourt, and the magnificent paintings he made for them. Among the works he produced on the island are the Beheading of St John the Baptist – his largest and only signed picture – and the St Jerome Writing, a canvas of exceptional psychological force.

The book presents new iconographic, technical, and stylistic analyses of all of the Maltese pictures as well as two chapters devoted to discussions of Caravaggio’s importance in the history of art and the chronological problems in his late works. Based on original archival research, this study also includes an account of Caravaggio’s crime in Malta, his imprisonment, and daring escape to Sicily.

Specifications 236 pages with a colour inserts, 300x220mm Hardbound 978-99932-7-162-8 €86.50; US$112.00; GB£62.50

Specifications 138 pp in full colour, 240x170mm Limpbound 99932-7-071-7 €27.50; US$34.50; GB£19.00

edited by Cynthia de Giorgio and Keith Sciberras

Keith Sciberras and David M. Stone

31 | Baroque Art in Malta

Mattia Preti: The Triumpant Manner Mattia Preti: Faith and Humanity Keith Sciberras

Sandro Debono and Giuseppe Valentino, editors

2013 marked the 400th anniversary of the birth of the artist Mattia Preti (1613-1699), who spent forty years of his working life in Malta.

Midsea Books, in collaboration with the Department of History of Art at the University of Malta have produced an outstanding book that discusses critically the artist’s oeuvre in Malta. Research for this superb book is coordinated by Professor Keith Sciberras, who is also the author of the two critical essays which compose the first part of the book. Over 150 catalogue entries are coauthored by Professor Sciberras and Ms Jessica Borg M.A. The book will include over 270 paintings. The images of the paintings in Malta are being taken purposely for this book by master photographer Mr Joe P. Borg.

Born in Taverna, Calabria, in 1613, Mattia Preti emerged as a leading exponent of the forceful Baroque of mid-17th century Italy, working in a tradition which brilliantly captured the characteristics of monumental dynamism and theatrical appeal.

Preti’s works for St John’s Conventual Church inspired a major transformation within the church. The Baroque re-decoration programme which Preti was to direct transformed the interior of the Conventual Church into one of the most important nodes of Baroque art South of Rome. Preti was to assume responsibility of painting the entire ceiling and many altar paintings and lunettes. Moreover, he produced designs for the carved decoration that spread throughout the church walls, the inlaid marble slabs for the flooring and ephemera.

Preti’s residency on the island did not go unnoticed and his circle of admirers grew beyond the circle of the Knights of Malta. The church and private patrons were attracted to his work. Owning a painting by the artist grew to become a desideratum. The artist’s technique and method of painting was fast and he could rapidly execute large scale works. His inventive genius kept up with the pace of his technique and the artist thus produced a large corpus of paintings.

The 400th anniversary of the birth of Mattia Preti was marked by a major exhibition organized by Heritage Malta and the Comune of Taverna, where Mattia Preti was born. The Catalogue includes 9 papers by leading art scholars and historians, some of whom are publishing for the first time their findings after the recent studies of Pretti’s paintings. The Catalogue also includes entries of the 49 art-pieces and artifacts forming part of this unique exhibition.

The event received the positive support of some of the major European museums including the Louvre, Prado, Musei Vaticani, Brera, Uffizi, Capodimonte and Galleria Nazionale di Palazzo Barberini amongst others Preti can now be read as a noble man who strives hard with his art to get back what his family had lost a few years before his birth. His quest transformed him from knight to a monk of war ready to do battle in the name of his spiritual and social affirmations which can be fully recognized in the ideals of Faith and Humanity.

The essays include: ‘Mattia Preti (1613-1699): “Il Cavalier Calabrese”’ by Craig Felton; ‘Mattia Preti in Taverna: References for Knowledge on the Context of Origin’ by Giuseppe Valentino; ‘Mattia Preti in the Roman Context: Reflections on Documents and Works’

by Giorgio Leone; ‘The Space Revisited: A contemporary Mattia Preti’ by Luigi Tassoni; ‘The Effect of Dürer’s Prints on the Art of Mattia Preti’ by Kristina Herrmann Fiore; ‘Sculpture and the Art of Mattia Preti’ by Devin Therien; ‘Edged Weapons in the Art of Mattia Preti’ by Robert Cassar; ‘A Maltese Hagiography for Mattia Preti?’ by Sandro Debono; and ‘Mattia Preti in Taverna: On-going task for case studies’ by Caterina Bagnato.

Specifications 496 pp in full colour, 300x240mm Hardbound 978-99932-7-407-0 €175.00; US$228.00; GB£141.50 De-Luxe Limited Edition 978-99932-7-423-0 €350.00; US$485.00; GB£290.00

Specifications 304 pp illustrated in colour and monotone, 265x220mm Limpbound 978-99932-7-437-7 €40.00; US$52.50; GB£33.50

32 | Baroque Art in Malta

Mattia Preti: Beyond the Self-Portrait Sandro Debono and Giuseppe Valentino with a foreword by Giorgio Leone

This book proposes new methodologies for the study of Mattia Preti. The researched essays look at Preti from different perspectives. Whilst the foreword serves the purpose of an introductory summary; the authors deliberately chose to probe Preti’s multifaceted personality through a very restricted group of paintings, four in all, which are believed to stand for Preti’s views and opinion about knighthood and art. Moreover, his two self-portraits (San Domenico, Taverna; Uffizi, Florence) describe identity through physiognomy. The St John the Baptist Wearing the Red tabard of the Order of St John (National Museum of Fine Arts, Heritage Malta) and the altar painting of St Luke (Franciscan Conventuals, Valletta) go beyond.

Also available in Italian

Specifications 96 pp in full colour, 240x170mm Limpbound 978-99932-7-429-2 €18.00; US$23.50; GB£14.50

Mattia Preti: Saints and Heroes for the Knights of Malta Cynthia de Giorgio

This book studies the iconography of saints and heroes of the Knights of Malta as depicted by the artist Mattia Preti between 1658 and 1698. Mattia Preti’s corpus of paintings was selected because it is one of the most important collections of narrative paintings depicting saints and heroes that received the devotion of the Knights of Malta. The influence of these paintings was instrumental for introducing new devotions as well as the new expressive baroque artistic style to the Maltese Islands. Occasionally paintings of particular saints Preti produced for the Maltese clergy were included to give a complete study. This book attempts to examine why paintings of saints became so popular in the seventeenth century and their importance to the Knights of Malta. This study was made to bring to light the stories of these saints, some well known, but some forgotten in a world of ever-changing cultural diversity.

The book is organised where possible in the chronology of Preti’s production. The first section of the book relates Preti’s life and commissions, while the second part is dedicated to the saints’ stories and legends, each followed by a description of the paintings Preti produced depicting the particular saint and its narrative according to history or legend. All the paintings cited in this book have been personally inspected and examined. This book coincides well with my career as curator of St John’s Co-Cathedral and with my personal interest in symbolism and the significance of narrative in religious paintings.

Specifications 144 pp in full colour, 265x220mm Hardbound 978-99932-7-481-0

33 | Baroque Art in Malta

Baroque Painting in Malta Keith Sciberras

The story of Baroque painting in Malta reflects that of the Italian peninsula and, in many ways, it can be directly integrated within it. In terms of quantity, the island was impressively prolific. In terms of quality, works vary tremendously. There were, however, celebrated instances when the island was significantly at the forefront of stylistic development.

A handful of Maltese artists worked beyond the island’s shores and some, like the painter Francesco Noletti (il Fieravino), made major breakthroughs in Rome. The island’s small size also meant, on the other hand, that it could be easily conditioned by one or two major artists working there. The story of Baroque painting in Malta is thus marked by such artists. The fascinating political context of the island also impinged significantly on the character of its art. In this period, Malta was ruled by the Knights of the Order of St John.

The Knights’ political clout, and their Cross, attracted great artists (such as Caravaggio, Leonello Spada, and Mattia Preti) like a magnet towards them whilst their refined tastes saw them commission important works from the Continent. Several Knights brought with them private pictures and objets d’art to adorn their residences in Valletta. In circumstances were knights died in Convent, paintings could have been subsequently transferred to the Order’s general patrimony. Records speak of paintings attributed to Titian, Tintoretto, Veronese, Rubens, and Van Dyck, even though it has not been possible to correlate such documents with specific paintings. Pictures by Jusepe Ribera, Luca Giordano, and others, on the other hand, survive in National and private collections. The other major influential force on the island was the Catholic Church (the Diocese and the major Religious Orders).

Within this context, this book surveys the context and character of Baroque painting in Malta and discusses the work of its major protagonists.

Specifications 540 pp in full colour, 300x220mm Hardbound 978-99932-7-249-6 €110.00; US$148.00; GB£100.00

Roman Baroque Sculpture for the Knights of Malta Keith Sciberras

This book, now in its second revised edition, studies the mechanics of patronage of Roman Baroque sculpture produced for the Knights of the Order of St John and discusses the extent of such patronage together with the artistic and historical importance of the works commissioned. Leading artists such as Alessandro Algardi, Ciro Ferri and Melchiorre Cafà are thoroughly examined and new attributions to others are made.

Moreover, Sciberras’ research sheds light on the lesser known aspects of the artistic liaisons between Malta and Rome, on who took care of the Order’s artistic affairs in Rome and on how these works traveled to Malta.

The book divides the sculptural works of art into three categories: Those which glorified the Order’s patron St John the Baptist, the funerary monuments of the Grand Masters, and those made for the service and adoration of the Eucharist.

Roman Baroque Sculpture for the Knights of Malta is an outstanding work of intense research which provides exhaustive detailed information. It is also a tribute to Malta’s most magnificent artistic period and to an Order that made it possible.

The book is published in collaboration with the Department of History of the University of Malta.

Specifications 454 pp including illustrations, 240x140mm Limpbound 978-99932-7-396-7 €30.00; US$37.50; GB£24.00

34 | Baroque Art in Malta

Francesco Zahra 1710-1773: His life and art in mid-18th century Malta Keith Sciberras, with the contribution of Jessica Borg

This book celebrates the 300th year anniversary of Francesco Zahra’s birth in 1710 and seeks to show the extraordinary range of the artist’s output. Zahra was Malta’s most important native painter of the mid-18th century and his style wonderfully captured the spirit of the Late Baroque. He was extremely prolific and could handle the brush with a fascinating ease, thus furnishing Maltese churches with hundreds of paintings, large and small. His extraordinary creative spirit also ensured that his pictures breathed the compositional freshness of mature artists. Francesco Zahra produced various designs for church furniture, marble altars, silver artefacts, liturgical vessels and other objets d’art that still survive scattered around the island which made him made him one of the most fashionable of the Baroque painters active in Malta.

Zahra’s output can be divided into a number of phases and this book seeks to trace such evolution and development. It also seeks to re-evaluate some of the most important works of his oeuvre. Zahra’s early style is his weakest and was largely dependent on the works of his first tutor Gio Nicola Buhagiar (1698-1752). The 1730s were largely dominated by the artistic affinities of these two painters and there were instances when it was difficult to tell them apart.

Zahra reached his early maturity by 1740 when his art started to depart from the manner of his tutor. By the mid-1740s, Zahra was the most important native painter on the Island, only to be challenged by the arrival of the Frenchman Antoine Favray. Zahra’s interest in proper disegno and in the work of Mattia Preti and of Favray made him modify his style and - by the mid-1750s -adopt a more solid approach. His figurative forms changed and the general atmosphere of his works became more sophisticated.

Specifications 272 pp in full colour, 300x220mm Hardbound 978-99932-7-319-6 €80.00; US$115.00; GB£72.00

Stones of Faith: tombstones, funerary rites and customs at the Gozo Matrice Charles R. Cassar

The Cathedral of Gozo perched atop the Castello is renowned for its art treasures, drawing many visitors throughout the year. a little known feature is the wonderful array of marble tombstones that cover the whole floor of the church. The tombstones, which were produced at different periods, exhibit various styles and are a testimony of skilful artisticcraftsmanship in marble intarsia. replete with memento mori symbols and intended to appeal to the senses, these ledger stones provide an enduring tribute to the people who sought to be laid to rest in the sacred confines of the church.

In the Foreword Prof Mario Buhagiar states, “Maltese churches have a rich heritage of pietre dure tombcovers. The floor of the Co-Cathedral of St John, the former Conventual Church of the Knight, is one of the world’s, most important achievements of this lapidary art. … The pietre dure ledger stones of Gozo’s Cathedral Church belong, in their majority, to the later phase of the art and contain examples of good quality. They have long merited the scholarly attention that this book provides. The thoroughness of Charles Cassar’s research, and the attention to detail of the publishers, make it an essential tool to the study of the decorative arts in Malta. Mr Cassar, a graduate of the Department of history of art, at the University of Malta, has a remarkable record of dedication and hard work.

The book has the ingredients of reference work.”

Specifications 224 pp with a colour section, 240x170mm Hardbound 978-99932-7-411-7 €45.00; US$59.00; GB£36.50

35 | Baroque Art in Malta

Mattia Preti: St Catherine of Alexandria

Understanding Caravaggio and his art in Malta

Mattia Preti is considered as one of the leading artists of the High Baroque period. He came to Malta attracted by the patronage of The Order of the Knights of St John. His contribution to their conventual church is unequalled.

His influence on the artistic milieu of the island during the seventeenth century was immense and several churches are adorned by his paintings.

The book is a thematic study of works of art by Mattia Preti and brings together various paintings of St Catherine produced by the artist. Within the Christian Church, St Catherine has been the subject of popular devotion for at least six centuries as she ranks as one of the fourteen most invoked saints in Heaven.

The canvases presented in this book are some of Preti’s most outstanding works and they make a very interesting study of his diverse palette and compositional studies. For the first time these works have been brought together where they can be studied, compared and analysed. This monographic study is designed to offer, besides a general recognition of the artist’s stature, an attempt to stimulate the artistic research and interpretation of thematic studies of the artist’s works. The book is a result of the collaboration of The St John’s Co-Cathedral Foundation and Sante Guido Restauri.

Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio’s art single-handedly revolutionized artistic concepts and ideas. His artistic career and turbulent life was over before he reached 40 years of age but he successfully managed to achieve much in so little time. His art was a source of inspiration for numerous followers and Malta still cherishes his legacy long after the few months he spent on the island 400 years ago.

Caravaggio (1571-1610) is today one of the great icons in the history of western art. He epitomises an age of violence and religious intransigence with which the present day world can comfortably find parallels.

The Beheading of St John, that he painted for the Oratory of the Decollation at the Conventual Church of the Knights of St John in Valletta, is his largest and only signed canvas and, arguably, his greatest work.

Shakespearian in its terse concentration on intense human tragedy told with superb visual economy that purges all inessential details and heightens its poignancy and dramatic effect, this is one of the most enduring masterpieces in the history of art.

This book makes no pretence at academic scholarship.

It is meant for the general public, but the author deserves credit for telling the story of the great artist and his Maltese context, in a factual straightforward manner that gives added meaning to the Caravaggio appeal for the non-specialist.

Cynthia De Giorgio and Sante Guido

Sandro Debono

Part of the ‘Malta Insight Heritage Guides’ series Specifications 48 pages in full colour, 297x210 mm Limpbound 99932-7-062-8 €16.25; US$19.95; GB£11.50

Specifications Limpbound, 56 pages in full colour, 240x170 mm ISBN 978-99932-7-164-2 €8.50; US$9.95; GB£5.50

36 | Baroque Art in Malta

An Eighteenth-Century Neapolitan The Busuttil Family: Crib in Malta – The Evolution of the A legacy of three generations edited by Sandro Debono and Bernardine Scicluna Italian Crib: A Threshold To The The artistic gene in the Busuttil family was first noticed in Bourbon Crib Edgar Vella

The history of Naples is dotted with priests enchanted by the mystery of Christmas, such as saints like Cajetan of Thiene, Joseph Calasanzio, and Alphonse Maria De’ Liguori.

This book is about Edgar Vella Neapolitan crib which is now considered to be the third most important Neapolitan crib in the world. This form of craftsmanship of the highest artistic value has always attracted the most varied personalities: from princes to sovereigns, from bankers to merchants, from prelates to humble priests, from devotees to unbelievers, but, above all, it has created a dazzling and fable-like atmosphere that leaves both adults and children enchanted, and makes them live in paradise for the moment.

In the early 1990s, the author acquired his first crib figures at antique markets in London, among which a Madonna by Lorenzo Mosca, a St Joseph by Nicola Somma, and a rustic figure by Genzano, truly lucky acquisitions. By time other acquisitions followed and, through meticulous observation, analysis, and research, other important names of crib sculptures from the Settecento came forth: Francesco Viva, Giuseppe De Luca, other pieces by Lorenzo Mosca, Giuseppe Gori, Francesco and Camillo Celebrano, Salvatore Franco, Nicola and Aniello Ingaldi, Francesco Cappiello. Many crib figures are to be dated to the setting of the various workshops that emerged in eighteenth-century Naples, some of which of extreme importance, such as that of Giuseppe Sanmartino, the caposcuola of Neapolitan sculpture.

Specifications 144 pages in full colour, 280x240 mm Hardbound 978-99932-7-387-5 €48.00; US$64.00; GB£40.00

the young Michele, and as a result he was given painting lessons by Rocco Buhagiar (c.1725-1805) in Valletta where his father had taken up residence in a house overlooking the Grand Harbour between the Slaves’ Prison and the Sacra Infermeria, the Hospital of the Knights of St John.

At the age of eighteen, he was sent to Rome with another Maltese student, Giuseppe Grech (1755-1787), to study design, painting and sculpture at the Accademia di San Luca, one of the most prestigious academies of art in Europe. Here Michele was placed under the tutelage of sculptor Tommaso Rigi. In drawing competitions in both September 1782 and September 1783 he came second in class and Giuseppe Grech came first. On 2 July 1785 Michele, then aged 23, accompanied by his elder brother Giuseppe, four years his senior, left Rome for Naples. Possibly he was on his way back to Malta where he opened his own private art school next to his father’s residence in Strada Irlandese, somewhere opposite the Lower Barracca. Among his students were Massimo Gauci and Giorgio Pullicino, Michele’s future assistant at the University.

Specifications 135 pp in full colour, 290x210mm Limpbound 978-99932-7-305-9 €42.00; US$52.00; GB£35.00

37 | History of Art in Malta

The Archaeological Drawings of Charles Frederick De Brocktorff

The Bellanti Family: Contributions to art and culture in Malta

In the early 1820s, Charles Fredrick de Brocktorff, a German artist, was commissioned to make a series of watercolours on the Maltese islands. Nineteen of these watercolours depict the archaeological remains of the Ġgantija temple and the nearby stone circle which had just been excavated by Col. Otto Bayer. The album containing these watercolours is zealously kept at the National Library of Malta and permission to view them is only given on special rare occassions.

The book, written by Rueben Grima, with photography by Daniel Cilia, includes background information about the plates, the artist, the person who commissioned the work, the orginal sketches (now kept at the National Museum of Archaeology) and other old illustrations and photos of Ġgantija and the Xagħra Circle.

Only 500 copies of this publication have been produced. Proceeds from the sale will be devolved to Heritage Malta for the upkeep and management of the sites. The book may be purchased separately.

This publication is the first to delve in depth into the artistic and cultural achievements of different members of the Bellanti family. Michele Bellanti (1807-1883) was a major Maltese artist, active from the 1840s onwards, and who has contributed most significantly to the post-Baroque Maltese artistic scene. While his paintings, sketches and lithographs have always been appreciated and greatly sought after for their artistic merits, no detailed study on the artist or on the significance of his work had as yet been undertaken.

Michele’s elder brother, Giuseppe (1787-1861), was also a cultured individual who was a keen collector of artistic works and of books. A significant part of Giuseppe’s collection is now to be found in Malta’s National Museum of Fine Arts. Between 1812 and 1838 Giuseppe was the librarian of the Biblioteca Pubblica.

The National Library collection still comprises books previously owned by Giuseppe, notably a number of incunabula. Giuseppe was moreover the author of a manuscript work on Maltese orthography, which is the subject of a study featured in the present publication.

As aptly described in Patricia Camilleri’s contribution, Paul F. Bellanti (1852-1927) was a man of many talents.

As an archaeologist, linguist and author, Paul Bellanti gave a significant contribution in all these fields during a time when the assertion of Maltese identity required individuals to do so.

The studies contained in this publication not only constitute a detailed corpus describing the achievements of the Bellanti family, but should, moreover, serve to stimulate academic interest in other, as yet unstudied individuals and families, who gave a sterling contribution to various aspects of Maltese intellectual, cultural and artistic development during different periods.

Rueben Grima

Specifications Plates: 437 by 342 mm, printed in full colour Book: 96 pp in full colour, 300x220mm Plates and book 99932-7-022-9 €212.50; US$247.95; GB£135.00 Limpbound 99932-7-033-4 (book only) €50.00; US$69.00; GB£40.00

edited by William Zammit

Specifications 208 pp in full colour, 300 x 240 mm Hardbound 978-99932-7-331-8 €70.00; US$98.00; GB£61.00

38 | History of Art in Malta

Ornament and Malta: An Introduction

Henry Mayo Bateman (1887-1970): The Man Who … Loved Gozo

The art of damascening in precious metals on iron is of great antiquity, and was the decoration of choice on arms and armour from prehistory through to modern times. Both Eastern and Western tradition have placed its origin in what are now Islamic lands-a tradition as current in the Mongolia of Kublai Khan as it was in the Castile of El Cid. Damascened arms proclaimed the status of their bearer and this function was no less important than the efficacy of the weapons in combat.

In the West, Spain raised the art to the pinnacle of perfection, and it was therefore only natural that Spanish damascening should have so captured my interest. This was the Western kingdom in which the art and culture of Islam particularly flourished, and it is Spain that has always led the West in the beauty and quality of its damascene production.

The Knights of the Order of St John of Jerusalem became established in Malta in 1530 when Charles V of Spain as King of Sicily gave them Malta and the North African port of Tripoli in perpetual fiefdom in exchange for an annual fee of a single Maltese falcon. It is entirely fitting therefore that this collection of Spanish Damascene Metalwork should now be shown in Malta, following in the footsteps of previous exhibitions at The Victoria and Albert Museum, the Alhambra Palace in Granada, and Real Fundacion in Toledo.

Malta and Gozo of the sixties must have carried some distinct appeal as artistic and creative celebrities were attracted to visit regularly or actually reside here.

Among others these, leading artists such as Victor Pasmore, Julian Trevelyan, Mary Fedden were frequent visitors.

Henry Mayo Bateman was among those who chose to settle here, spending the final years of his life in Gozo until his death in 1970. His years here were largely spent painting scenes of Gozo and Gozo-life. A renowned cartoonist who created “The Man who…” series, H. M. Bateman was a celebrity in his time and contributed to a wide range of publications from The Tatler to Punch to book illustrations to advertising artworks for leading brands.

Apart from detailing the works on display, this catalogue also includes researched pieces on the artist by specialists Nicoline Sagona, Katya Micallef and Lawrence Pavia. The contributions offer an insight into the artist’s career including his years in Gozo. Heritage Malta is proud that a number of H. M. Bateman’s works are now in the National Collection and on display in this exhibition.

In his 1937 autobiography Bateman confessed that …there is still something missing in which I could wish for fulfillment… I would like to have painted a quite serious picture, one that did not depend upon any sort of comic situation to make it appeal..…a landscape perhaps with just the way light falls on a house or a tree. He had yearned to paint …the beauty of earth and sky and water.

Gozo surely fulfilled him in this respect, earning him the informal title of “The Man Who … Loved Gozo”!

This monograph is the first study of the last years of this loved British cartoonist and his works he did in Gozo, Malta.

Specifications 96 pp in full colour, 297x210 mm Limpbound 978-99932-7-386-8 €25.00; US$34.00; GB£22.00

Specifications 96 pp in full colour, 297x210mm Limpbound 978-99932-7-414-8 €18.00; US$23.50; GB£14.50

edited by Alexander Debono

edited by Bernardine Scicluna

39 | Contemporary Art in Malta

Edward Caruana Dingli (18761950): Portraits, views and folkloristic scenes

Gianni Vella: The life and works of an early twentieth century Maltese artist

Edward Caruana Dingli is the twentieth century painter many Maltese are likeliest to know by name and by fame, and some of his works have long attained iconic status.

So highly regarded was he in his own lifetime that in the 1920s he was utilized by the officials responsible for the marketing of the fledgling tourist industry, and in fact the colourful images of Malta and of Maltese people he produced created what contemporary managers would call “branding” for Malta.

Caruana Dingli was essentially middle-class and in his career he always played up to the desires. Natalino Fenech’s essay examines the difference between Caruana Dingli’s images of Malta and especially of rural Maltese men and women, and what many visitors to these islands perceived and recorded in their published accounts of their voyages. As other writers in this volume – Madeleine Gera and Nadine Debattista Briffa – point out, Caruana Dingli mostly painted using a technique his contemporaries in England and in continental Europe had, in the main, given up. His portrait of George V was greeted enthusiastically by a good many in Great Britain because it was so clearly in the tradition established by great painters in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and what was good enough for the monarch was thought to be even better for his subjects in Malta.

When Edward Caruana Dingli died in 1950 the tradition of the classical portrait died with him. The world in which he had for so long made his name was dying and would soon be dead, and modernism in art had penetrated even traditionalist strongholds like Malta. The many society portraits painted by Willie Apap in the late forties and in the fifties still betray some of Edward Caruana Dingli’s influence, but this was the end of the line, at least in the field of portrait painting.

Gianni Vella is somewhat a victim of this perverse way of thinking of his times. In 1917 Marcel Duchamp exhibited a common urinal as a fountain. It was a time when visual artists strove continuously to impress their audience with their audacity and wilful iconoclasm. Certainly it was no place for any artist who opts to walk the straight and narrow. Twentieth-century art sought to embrace and bestow legitimacy upon hundreds of half-baked, at times utterly ugly, works which strut and parade under the name of art. Yet, any historian, critic, and connoisseur knows, sometimes from bitter experience, that he must carefully separate wheat from chaff.

Gianni Vella chose to paint as his profession and that is what he did up to the very last days of his long life, with only a sprinkling of experiments in ceramics and clay modelling – more diversions than serious works. He remained, more or less, steadfast to the training he had received in his younger years and, all considered, his imagery kept drawing ideas from the same iconographic well. This does not necessarily make his work dated or locked in a stasis. On the contrary, this imposed creative boundary has compelled him to contemplate profoundly on the content and form of his productions, bringing his craft, like icon painting, on to the threshold of spirituality.

This study aims at presenting the diverse facets of Gianni Vella’s artistic personality. It will present his Church paintings which, because of their very accessibility, remain his best-known, but it will also present Vella working in different conditions, when, cut loose from the understandable strictures of Church commissions, he let his guard down and manifested a more adventurous and experimental nature. More importantly, this study seeks to redress the virtual obscurity and misunderstanding that loom unjustly over his large corpus of works.

Specifications 400 pp in full colour, 300x240mm Hardbound 978-99932-7-303-5 €120.00; US$148.00; GB£102.00

Specifications 144 pages, in full colour, 240x280mm Hardbound 978-99932-7-444-5 €45.00; US$61.00; GB£37.00

edited by Paul Xuereb

Christian Attard

40 | Contemporary Art in Malta

Willie Apap: The ‘Conspiracy Trial’ Drawings 1947

Willie Apap: Descent from the Cross

Following the Allied victory, a witticism that did the rounds in Malta for some time referred to the misguided decision of the Maltese students in Rome who had foolishly chosen to remain there for the duration, having burnt their boats. Punning on the Maltese version of ‘casting pearls before swine’ (namely ‘biskuttini f’ħalq ilħmir’ literally ‘biscuits in the mouths of asses’) a version considered even funnier at the time was ‘ħmir f’˙ħalq Biscottini’ (asses in Biscottini’s mouth). The allusion was clearly to the gullibility of these youths at the hands of the Italian Head of the Comitato d’Azione Maltese, Umberto Biscottini, and their initial humiliation in post-war Malta. This anecdote may well have been in circulation around the time of the ‘Conspiracy Trials’.

The fact that the drawings depict - or caricature - judges, jurors, lawyers and spectators during a controversial trial by jury, also makes them a significant record, rich in psychological insight, of an occasion that is not often encountered in Maltese legal history.

Notwithstanding the fact that Willie Apap (1918-1970) spent most of his productive and artistic career in Rome, where he passed away at the age of fifty-two, we can consider him as one of the most important prolific twentieth-century Maltese artist.

His distinguished career and his artistic achievements places him as a milestone in the history of modern art in Malta. Apap established a style and technique where his quick, free and vivid brushstrokes evoked an inner force engulfed in the hidden ability of this genius. No wonder that Prof. Carlo Siviero of the Roman Accademia stated that Apap was ‘il più pittori di tutti’.

Like many impressionist artists such as Degas, Apap was fond of painting ballerinas and dancers. His large collection on the genre of paintings and sketches is orchestrated with movement and drama, boldness and fragility.

Speaking of Sacred Art, Willie Apap’s production in this genre of painting gathered momentum especially in the last twenty years of his life. The drama and intense spiritual depth in Apap’s Sacred Art are awe inspiring.

The way he treated the direct beams of light from above shed mystery, drama and spirituality in the iconography of Apap’s Sacred Art. He managed to deshroud the conventional and traditional way of depicting passages from the passion and suffering of Christ by treating them with a new interpretation. The style of Apap will remain imprinted in the history of Maltese modern art.

Dr. Giuseppe Schembri Bonaci’s present contribution is a very important step in the studies of the works by Willie Apap. This publication creates a novel approach in the analyses of Apap’s corpus, and thus opens new horizons for a further development and enrichment in the study of Melitensia art.

Specifications 32 pp in full colour, 297x210mm Limpbound 99932-7-008-3 €11.50; US$13.00; GB£7.00

Specifications 64 pp in full colour, 297x210mm Limpbound 978-99932-7-193-2 €12.00; US$16.50; GB£10.00

Dennis Vella

Giuseppe Schembri Bonaci

41 | Contemporary Art in Malta

Vincent Apap (1909-2003): Antoine Camilleri: Pictures in clay Works from the National Collection Denis Vella edited Sandro Debono

This is the first publication dedicated to the sculpture legacy of Vincent Apap since his death in 2003. A number of pieces are being presented for the first time or brought together within a fresh context. Most of these are new additions to the National Collection having been donated by the family of the artist.

The book is intended to commemorate Apap as Malta’s leading sculptor of his time. His artistry created representations of our Nation’s quest to commemorate its iconic personalities. His works have also been admired and collected by Royalty while Maltese communities commissioned him to embellish their churches and public spaces. Indeed, his legacy builds on Malta’s long-standing tradition in sculpture which has produced such prodigies as Melchiorre Cafà and Antonio Sciortino. Vincent Apap is their worthy successor.

The collection presented in this book serves as an anthology by capturing the environment and spirit of the time that Apap flourished. This catalogue also provides a new insight into his style and helps review some aspects of his contribution to Malta’s artistic culture by also highlighting the manner in which his works featured in the local media.

Specifications 104 pp in full colour, 297x210mm Limpbound 978-99932-7-348-6 €29.00; US$40.00; GB£24.00

Antoine Camilleri’s initial artistic innovations were not fully accepted when they first appeared, but as the years went by, the artistic appreciation of the Maltese began to broaden to embrace new trends.

The National Museum of Fine Arts bought a number of his works during his lifetime, for the national collection. Throughout Camilleri’s career his primacy was noted, not merely by the connoisseurs but also by his peers although, in his modesty, he generally referred to certain other artists as being even greater than himself.

The subjects of many of the works of his maturity transcended the personal (despite containing so many self-portraits), and entered the sphere of universality particularly due to his truly touching interpretation of spiritual themes. On the other hand, his Maltese landscapes and related subjects are authentic and individual, reflecting the various changes that have taken place around us, from prehistoric times to modernity.

Specifications 40 pp in full colour, 297x210mm Limpbound 99932-7-128-4 €9.50; US$13.00; GB£7.50

42 | Contemporary Art in Malta

The Joseph Briffa Bequest (1987) and other works at the National Museum of Fine Arts, Malta Denis Vella

The artist, Joseph Briffa, at his death in 1987, chose to bequeath a number of his works to the National Museum. It is fitting that this artist from Birkirkara, who also applied his artistic talent on paintings on the ceilings of several churches in Malta and Gozo, and who taught more than one generation of artists in the course of his calling, is represented in the National Museum of Fine Arts in Valletta. His bequest has ensured that a nucleus of his works; a representation of his religious compositions, family portraits, drawings and of the Maltese landscape.

Painting in Malta’s churches, at the beginning of the twentieth century, although flourishing, Briffa had to contend with the dominance of Giuseppe Calì (18461930) and Lazzaro Pisani (1854-1932). He was to hint at his eventual primacy in church decoration even from his very earliest commissions. Although two of his major painting cycles were destroyed, enough remains of his work, in Malta and Gozo, for his stature in this field to be unquestioned.

Specifications 32 pp in full colour, 297x210mm Limpbound 99932-7-099-7 €9.50; US$13.00; GB£7.50

The Maria Rosa Pisani Bequest of paintings by Lazzaro Pisani Lino Borg

The recent bequest to the national collection by the late Miss Maria Rosa Pisani, of a good collection of paintings by her father, the renowned artist Lazzaro Pisani made possible this publication. These paintings clearly demonstrate this artist’s many gifts which fully justified the recognition he enjoyed in his lifetime, and which deservedly has carried on to our time.

One should remember however that, for decades even during his lifetime, Lazzaro Pisani tended to be eclipsed by the far better known, Giuseppe Calì. Thus the momentous addition of such masterpieces as The Letter, The Death of Abel and St Dismas to the Museum’s collection will now establish conclusively Pisani’s merits as one of Malta’s most important artists of the Nineteenth century.

Pisani is best remembered as a painter but he was also a highly cultured person with music, literature and astronomy among his favourite interests. He was also interested in photography. Pisani tried his hand in this new art form, taking and developing his own photos and recording his paintings in the new medium. Among the artist’s collection of photographs is a self portrait, well composed and with a strong use of chiaroscuro.

Specifications 32 pp in full colour, 297x210mm Limpbound 978-99932-7-177-2 €14.00; US$19.00; GB£11.50

43 | Contemporary Art in Malta

John Martin Borg: The Watercolours Emmanuel Fiorentino

Here indeed is one of those handful of artists deeply committed to cater for those eternal ramblings of the spirit aimed to exploit the sweetness of life.

Occasionally accompanied by the lining of melancholy, which everybody at some time or other is destined to assimilate. His technique is beyond any trace of reproach to an extent that he can stand on equal terms with the medium’s best exponents anywhere. For an artist, who as far as I know, is self-taught his mastery of the medium can only serve to add greater merits to his innate talents. (Emmanuel Fiorentino, The Sunday Times, May 1995)

Specifications 128 pp in full colour, 220x295mm Hardbound, , 99932-7-064-4 €55.00; US$67.50; GB£37.50

Patrick Dalli: The Human Figure edited by Keith Sciberras

Patrick Dalli insists on describing himself as a painter not an artist. However he has singled himself out as one of the Maltese contemporary artists and a leading master of the Nude. His lack of pretence is not only an endearing personal trait. It is, more importantly, an essential watermark of his art.

His paintings are highly finished and reveal fastidiousness with having as much a perfect product as he is capable of mastering. He is habitually self critical and finding satisfaction with his own work is for him a long and suffered process. His Nudes have a dignified sobriety and an anatomical exactitude that is hard to surpass in Maltese contemporary art.

In addition to his command of the human figure, Patrick Dalli also excels in portraits. This is a side of his art, known only to a close circle of friends, but it merits to be better publicised. His straightforward approach and rejection of the contrived and the artificial give his portraits a wide appeal. They are never portentously inflated, nor do they stoop down to flattery. Their down to earth rendering of the physical appearance creates an immediacy with the sitter that brings out the character in a truer light. The technique is excellent and surprisingly unpretentious.

Specifications 144 pp in full colour, 285x240mm Hardbound 978-99932-7-304-2 €59.00; US$73.00; GB£50.00

44 | Contemporary Art in Malta

Relocation: emerging artists from Malta Raphael Vella

“Periodically, it seems fit to re-evaluate your geopolitical and cultural coordinates. As you scrutinise and plot your artistic terrain and cultural timelines, you ask yourself again (because you always knew that the answer is inexhaustible) where you belong, where you should locate yourself. Here or there? As an artist you have been tempted to abandon the question, to let your work do the talking. This self-defining obsession appears vain and possibly anachronistic – how much longer shall we continue to address the problem of intellectual and political independence in Malta? Yet, the question is both inevitable and slippery, and it has also become more pressing than ever, now that contemporary art is said to be transforming itself into “global art”. The task of understanding who we are and where we stand in relation to others is not simply a qualitative or evaluative problem (are we as good as everyone else?), nor should the act of questioning the ‘Malteseness’ of Maltese art aim to expose some crosscultural, artistic homogeneity that blurs all distinctions in the contemporary art world. It is true that the terrain is changing as we traverse an age of global real time information, and without doubt, these developments problematise the significance of classificatory systems based on nationality. But we are also required to reassess our position in the light of these changes. From time to time, the question of location and relocation surfaces, and today, we are faced with the prospect of seeking provisional answers to provisional questions, again.” from the introduction of the book The emerging artist in this publication are: Emanuel bonnici, Gilbert Calleja, Patrick Mifsud, Teresa Sciberras, Elisa Von Brockdorff, and Michael Xuereb.

Specifications 100 pp in full colour, 260x200 mm Limpbound 978-99932-7-311-0 €15.00; US$20.50; GB£12.50

BOV Exhibtion: Richard England Renzo Piano and Charles Knevitt

Richard England is a native of the Mediterranean Sea. The Mediterranean is not a simple sea; it is a complex amalgamation of different cultures possessing a rich heritage of sounds, lights, colours and vibrations. This is a legacy which can be drawn on today by individuals who have ears to listen and eyes to see. Richard England is such an individual.

It is interesting to note how one spends life attempting to recall and bring back initial influences absorbed in the formative teenage years. Richard, in a sense, is still a 75 year old adolescent as what he does as an architect, sculptor, poet and photographer seems specifically to emerge from the legacy and heritage of this sea. Richard England is a master builder, his walls breathe, yet they are walls which are anchored to the ground and their individual elements interact and merge perfectly.

It is from the articulation and the joints in an edifice that one recognizes the real maker of buildings, and it is thanks to this quality that England’s architectural work avoids appearing romantic. His is an architecture which is local, but also global, for his language is the language of poetry.

Specifications 96 pp in full colour, 240x210mm Limpbound 978-99932-7-438-4 €15.00; US$20.50; GB£12.50

45 | Contemporary Art in Malta

BOV Exhibtion: Paul Haber

BOV Exhibtion: Charles Cassar

Paul Haber’s ceramic creations are timeless. Though firmly embedded in the present, they reflect the future (Paul’s work was revolutionary even when he was still a student)without shunning the great heritage bequeathed to him by his island and its people. Thus his works can be defined as an uninterrupted voyage, spanning millennia and leading into the unknown, the adventurous, the new.

Haber’s material of choice – clay, turns into a medium that is transformed into extraordinarily creative original works of art that honour both the artist as well as Malta and the Maltese Islands. His imagination is fired by his constant interaction with nature, whether it is the peaceful rural environment of his studio at Mtahleb where he creates most of his works, or his idyllic homeland of Gozo.

Charles Cassar is an artist who is continually in search of a form that suggests rather than defines his visions. He often states that his “shapes are deformed and dissolved when hit from various directions by rays of light and colours.” His paintings are devoid of direct statements; instead, they invite the viewer to study the works at close range and to interpret the message that the artist attempts to convey.

The art of some artists has significance and meaning which is not revealed at once but through the passage of time. Undoubtedly, one of the most versatile artists in Malta is Charles Cassar who continuously experiments with new techniques, media, and subjects. The impressions of his childhood and adolescence exerted a decisive influence on all his subsequent life and art.

Perhaps we can say that he is one of the few Maltese artists who profoundly explored aquatic imagery and marine creatures. His love for the sea developed naturally when he was a young boy and his father, who worked in the merchant navy, used to take him on trips to other foreign countries. Cassar’s art is all about painting nature’s textures reflected in powerful representations of changing moods.

Specifications 96 pp in full colour, 240x210mm Limpbound 978-99932-7-347-9 €15.00; US$20.50; GB£12.50

Specifications 96 pp in full colour, 240x210mm Limpbound 978-99932-7-265-6 €15.00; US$20.50; GB£12.50

Giovanni Bonello

Louis Laganà

46 | Contemporary Art in Malta

BOV Exhibtion: Caesar Attard

BOV Exhibtion: Philip Chircop

Caesar Attard is well known for his complex representations of the human form, and his profound inquisitiveness and commitment has left an impact on modern and contemporary art in Malta. He is a man of considerable vision, and his openness to risk and discovery are traits that have, without any doubt, contributed towards the development and evolution of a great Maltese artist.

Attard is very conscious of his commitment as an artist. His inquisitive, complex personality has left its mark on Modern and Contemporary Art in Malta. For him, making art is both a dangerous and a revealing act.

It precipitates self-doubt and steers the deep waters of his unconscious. His vision is always ahead of execution: knowledge of materials is his contact with reality and uncertainty is a virtue. For Caesar, the moment of completion is inevitably a moment of loss – the loss of all other forms the imagined piece might have taken. He is always prepared to afford the unfashionable luxury of failure for he is well aware that today’s artwork does not emerge from a secure common ground. Making art now for Caesar means working in the face of uncertainty, it means living with doubt and contradiction, doing even something that few would care for, since there might be no audience or reward. He refuses the security of working in traditional, old pre-existing moulds that stun artistic development and sublimate personal style. He prefers to remain open to risk as well as for discovery.

Philip Chircop has made a name for himself as an abstract artist. This exhibition, featuring over seventy of his works covering the period from 1961 to the present, provides an excellent opportunity to the public at large to view and appreciate the artist’s work.

Chircop considers art as something belonging to a mysterious dimension. According to him, it is useless to try to explain what it is all about since that would divest it from the sense of mystery that he would like it to retain. The following statement by the artist should serve to put in a nutshell his personal opinion about the role of art in general and in particular his own personal position as a practising artist: “For some people, art is a hobby and fun. For others, it is the food without which we cannot live, while for others it is like a therapy or medicine. For me, it is like music. Every painting is like a silent musical composition where colour is the instrument with which music is played, where rhythm is the predominating element, melody being the very essence of it all. This is the only way I can give sense to my inner feelings, which of course are somewhat influenced by events taking place around me. It might be joy, sorrow, horror, anguish, delight, pleasure, or peace of mind. All this is abstract. Like a musical composition it is all the result of feelings. I think people ask the artist to talk about his art, because it is very difficult for the artist to convey to others the same feelings he had while painting that particular abstract. I believe very strongly that it is so difficult, if not impossible, for an artist to talk about his art. One can say a lot, but at the same time one would end up with having said nothing, really. How on earth would you expect a painting to be translated into words! If this could be done, I would imagine that the painting would no longer need to be there and it would no longer need to exist, either. That is why I firmly believe that the artist does not have to talk about his art. All he has to say is said in the only way he knows, it might be in any form of art like painting, sculpture, music, dance, poetry, and so on.”

Specifications 96 pp in full colour, 240x210mm Limpbound 978-99932-7-194-9 €15.00; US$20.50; GB£12.50

Specifications 96 pp in full colour, 240x210mm Limpbound 99932-7-123-3 €15.00; US$20.50; GB£12.50

John Paul Cassar

Emmanuel Fiorentino

47 | Contemporary Art in Malta

BOV Exhibtion: Victor Diacono

BOV Exhibtion: Luciano Micallef

Victor Diacono is an artist who speaks in Silence. His art comes from within; as soon as his fingers feel the soft touch of the clay, an unexplainable excitement flows through his body. His eyes light like fire. He is now fully concentrated and he has a complete vision of the subject he is about to model. His vision is so clear that his fingers move along with such rhythm and ease that he resembles an expert lady working on her lace. He pours all his feelings in his works.

His subjects are either of a religious theme, as he gets most of his inspirations from episodes of the bible, or from his children or grandchildren as he is so religiously and emotionally attached to his family. ‘Victor’s most touching subject is moulding the head of a baby or child. He treats such a subject with consummate tenderness, with gentle love, with a deep, caring sympathy that transcends lyrical poetry.’1 All in all Victor’s oeuvre is so vast that only a small fraction could be tackled in this short biography and this for two important reasons; no records were kept by the artist or his family and the artist’s present age. I am certain, however, that this exhibition will generate a lot of interest among all the visitors and especially among university students. Diacono has been an important figure in the local art sphere and I sincerely hope that some of his works will find its right place in our National Museum of Fine Arts.

Luciano Micallef is widely considered as one of the foremost products of his generation in Malta’s artistic scene, and we are delighted to host an exhibition of his works. This exhibition will provide an opportunity to both our customers and the public at large to appreciate the artist’s prodigious and versatile talent.

In a recent interview, Luciano spoke of his concern about abstraction and how his attitude to art has been evolving – “The approach to abstract art is intellectual.

When you look at figurative art, you have a reference, like a person or the sea or a tree. In abstract art that completely abandons reference, the viewer must not rely on what the eye sees, but on what the mind deciphers… My aim is to create a landscape of the soul, nothing to do with this world… I am a very complex person and my paintings reflect myself. I am revising everything that I have done so far. My paintings are becoming simpler, just as I wish that life in Malta would become simpler, like 20 years ago, when there was more value for time, more time to stop and look around you, more time to stop and look at art.”

Specifications 96 pp in full colour, 240x210mm Limpbound 99932-7-147-0 €15.00; US$20.50; GB£12.50

Specifications 96 pp in full colour, 240x210mm Limpbound 99932-7-096-2 €15.00; US$20.50; GB£12.50

Gabriel Pellegrini

Emmanuel Fiorentino

48 | British Colonial History

Europe and Empire: Culture, Politics and Identity in Malta and the Mediterranean (1912-1946) Henry Frendo

In this major undertaking, Henry Frendo follows up on Party Politics in a Fortress Colony (1979) tackling essentially the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s. The focus is chiefly on culture and politics, with some penetrating, even disturbing, analysis as to the past, present, and future of a Maltese body politic, affinity, and identity, as this emerges from the tensely formative, determining onetime empire in its principal Mediterranean ‘fortress’ which, however, was inhabited by a European population. Malta having become independent in 1964 and an EU member in 2004, the book takes a critical ‘post-colonial’ approach to events, lifestyles, and mentalities characterized and indeed moulded by a different era, which saw a largely unequal tussle not only between ‘cultural’ allegiances and interests but a veritable quest for freedom and equality on one hand, and functionality and survival, on the other. Although surface phenomena have changed, certain rivalries, attitudes, and trends may have seeped into the bone, irrespective of language-culture shift. For the first time, here is a Maltese in-depth study examining national and international ‘cultural’ politics which relies on Italian as well as British archival sources. In addition the author has also had access to complementary American, Australian, Tunisian and Maltese documentation. As is readily discernible from the 22 chapter this book treats mainly about Malta and the Maltese during the inter-war period in their Imperial, European, and Mediterranean contexts, with ample references to Britain, Italy, Gibraltar, Cyprus, Australia, Egypt and the Maghreb, wherever there was a Maltese presence or Malta exerted a resonance for political, strategic, linguistic, cultural, economic, or ethnic reasons.

Specifications 884 pp including illustrations, 228x150mm Hardbound 978-99932-7-344-8 €70.00; US$95.00; GB£58.00

Party Politics in an Island Colony: The Maltese Experience Henry Frendo

‘It was no coincidence that the author of the first significant “home-grown” history of the new nationstate’, wrote Dr Geoffrey Hull in 1992, ‘should have been a member of the first generation of politically free Maltese, those born after World War II and educated in the 1950s and 1960s.’

This is because in Party Politics in a Fortress Colony, first published in 1979 with a second edition in 1991, Professor Henry Frendo pieced together, from original sources, an analytical narrative of how Maltese political parties had originated, formed, evolved and developed in contexts of time and place from the 1870s onwards.

Although there were various social and economic undercurrents which sometimes came to the fore, until World War II the party political battleground remained tensely contested and largely dominated, at least as a surface phenomenon, by resistance to assimilation and subjection, cooperation or collaboration, under colonial rule. At the same time, an internally ambivalent socio-political dynamic came into play which kicked the earlier goal posts in an uneven playing field. Who ultimately were ‘the Maltese’ and how would they cope with such a changing situation unless they managed somehow to be in a position to control it, if they could?

The period dating from Fortunato Mizzi and Sigismondo Savona in the second half of the 19th century to Lord Strickland and Sir Ugo Mifsud in the first half of the 20th century was an agitated and seminal one, about which few know much today, although its repercussions and continuities, if under different guises, approach and still resonate in contemporary history.

Specifications 304 pp with illustrations, 228x150mm Hardbound 978-99932-7-427-8 €45.00; US$60.00; GB£39.50

49 | British Colonial History

The Court Martial of Enrico Mizzi Austin Sammut

The Language Question is probably the greatest and longest controversy in Malta’s political history. It reached a climax at the turn of the twentieth century, resulted in a number of significant developments. In 1917 Mizzi was court-martialled for his beliefs and his activities in aspiring to fulfil his desire for Malta’s political union with Italy. Mizzi inherited such beliefs from his father, Fortunato Mizzi, and went a step further.

He developed the Language Question into a question of nationality, interpreted in official quarters . The court martial exposes these activities and gives a picture of Mizzi’s early life, helping one to understand him even in his later life.

To understand Enrico Mizzi’s court martial one must look at it in the then prevailing circumstances.

Democracy was not quite in place in Malta, with responsible Government being introduced for the first time in 1921. Freedom of speech was not quite accorded to critics of the British colonial government.

The Island was in the throes of another bitter struggle – the language question, where the Italian and English languages were pitted against each other. And, to cap it all, the world was in its first war – the Great War. Definitely, the language question formed the basis of Enrico Mizzi’s court martial and this book attempts to provide the necessary background to put things in context.

Fort Rinella and its Armstrong 100ton gun Mario Farrugia

Rinella Battery was built in the late nineteenth century at a time when the growing naval power of nearby italy posed a potential threat to british commerce and navigation in the mediterranean.

Today, after more than a century in disuse, both gun and battery are back into the limelight. With the help of the volunteer members of fondazzjoni wirt artna, both battery and gun were secured for posterity. They are today open to visitors as well-deserved monuments to a time in history when dependence of man on machine became increasingly a daily fact of life.

Part of the ‘Malta Insight Heritage Guides’ series Specifications 140 pp including illustrations, 228x150mm Hardbound 99932-7-047-4 €35.50; US$41.50; GB£22.00

Specifications Limpbound, 40 pages in full colour, 240x170 mm ISBN 99932-39-90-9 €8.50; US$9.95; GB£5.50

50 | War Stories

Operation Pedestal: The Story of the Santa Marija Convoy John A. Mizzi

In 1942 an epic naval operation was mounted so as to relieve Malta from the onslaught of attacks by the forces of the Axis. This operation was codenamed “Pedestal”- or “il-Convoy ta’ Santa Marija” as it is better known in Malta and Gozo.

The men taking part in Pedestal must have gone through hell. For example, the gallant tanker SS Ohio withstood persistent Stuka dive bomber attacks, had a Ju87 crash on her deck and when a Ju88 was brought down it bounced off the water and crashed into the vessel’s side! Yet Ohio, after much effort by the Royal Navy, her captain and crew, and survivors from other ships, still made it to Grand Harbour in Malta!

Il-Convoy ta’ Santa Marija is undoubtedly an iconic landmark event in the history of our country and it is therefore only fitting that those who paid the ultimate price in this operation be commemorated in a Roll of Honour which is reproduced in this book.

This book is a lasting memory of this extraordinary mission which was a turning point in the defence of Malta and the Mediterranean during World War II and to all those who lost their lives defending the values of freedom and democracy.

John A Mizzi has brought together in one publication a number of related anecdotes and background accounts which may not have been widely known until now, thereby making this an important addition to the records of the fascinating history of Malta and Gozo.

Specifications 96 pp illustrated, parts in full colour, 297x210mm Limpbound 978-99932-7-406-3 €18.00; US$23.50; GB£14.50

Raiders Passed

Charles B. Grech, translated by Joseph Galea Debono Charles B. Grech was just emerging from boyhood when the first enemy bombs fell on Malta in June, 1940. Like most boys of his age, his imagination was fired by the adventure of war. Unlike most youngsters, however, the author somehow managed to be in the thick of any action taking place all over the Maltese Islands.

This book is a simple but gripping eye-witness account of the war years (1940-1945) in battle-torn Malta, by a happy-go-lucky child who quickly matured to adulthood, joining the Royal Air Force as an airman.

“Raiders Passed” is a fitting tribute to the children of Malta who, like Charles B. Grech, saw their childhood snatched away by the ravages of war, hunger, disease and, at times, the premature loss of their dearest ones.

Specifications 344 pp with illustrations, 205x135 mm Limpbound 99932-39-08-9 €12.00; US$16.50; GB£10.00

51 | Architecture

Malta: The Baroque Island Quentin Hughes and Conrad Thake

The monograph Malta – the Baroque Island is a representative survey of the rich mosaic of the island’s architectural legacy during the rule of the Order of St. John (1530-1798). The survey presents a broad overview of local examples in the realm of both civil architecture and military fortifications. It traces the evolution of local Baroque architecture from the austerity of the early days of the Order in Malta during the mid-sixteenth century to the rhetorical and sovereign posturing that permeated the eighteenth century. The monograph highlights the works of both local and foreign architects and military engineers who contributed to shaping the Maltese urban landscape.

It is a tribute to the works of diverse architects such as Francesco Buonamici, Lorenzo Gafà, Romano Carapecchia, Francois de Mondion, Andrea Belli and others who produced some of the most endearing works of architecture of this period.

The authors, architects Dr. Quentin Hughes and Dr. Conrad Thake have collaborated together to produce what should prove to be a standard reference work on Maltese Baroque architecture for many years to come. The high quality photographs of Daniel Cilia complement the text and serve to visually capture the essence and spirit of these buildings beyond the realm of words.

Specifications 266 pp in full colour, 300x250 mm Hardbound 99932-39-39-9 €95.00; US$120.00; GB£59.00

Malta: War and Peace: An Architectural Chronicle 1800-2000 Conrad Thake and Quentin Hughes

A comprehensive survey of the Malta’s architecture in the last 200 years. This new book follows logically from the definitive initial publication by Dr Hughes and Dr Conrad Thake, Malta: The Baroque Island which surveyed the buildings from the Mannerist and Baroque periods (1530-1798) which adorn the Islands. Malta: War and Peace is different and takes up the story of the more recent architectural heritage, bringing its history up to the millennium in the form of a colourful gazetteer.

The new book is organized into building types which conveniently coincide with historical periods. They range from the early military Naval Hospital at Bighi, now serving in part as the headquarters for the Malta Centre for Restoration and upon the initiative of Edward de Bono as a ‘World Centre for New Thinking’. The hospital complex was rebuilt and restored but it still dominates the Grand Harbour environs and alerts every visitor to its strong gaunt colonial Neo-Classical style.

There are very few examples of what one might call Modern Movement (MoMo) architecture of the interwar period.

The post-war period is different and productively rich with examples of work that clearly have a shared relationship with modernism and the various international movements and ideas current in other parts of the world.

The collective work of local architects has made the islands look as they do. Their buildings indicate the depth of local talent and a good selection is to be found in the closing section of this welcome and comprehensive gazetteer.

Specifications 260 pp in full colour, 300x250mm Hardbound 99932-7-055-5 €100.00; US$120.00; GB£59.00

52 | Architecture

Giovanni Battista Vertova: Diplomacy, warfare and military engineering in early 17th century Malta

Mondion: The achievement of a French military engineer working in Malta in the early 17th century

The book offers some fresh ideas concerning the study of the remarkable fortifications that protected Baroque Malta from Turkish occupation. Its text and illustrations focus on the career of Count Vertova (1592-1647), a prominent yet forgotten mathamatician and military engineer from Bergamo who was active within the ranks of the Knights Hospitallier of St John during the first half of the 17th century. As director of Valletta’s fortifications, Vertova was responsible for important decisions which were intended to improve the defences of Valletta at a crucial time of change when military theory in Europe was shifting its attention from the bastioned wall of the Renaissance to elaborate outworks introducing the concept of the new Baroque city. Count Vertova’s awareness of these changing international concerns was in no small way due to a series of traumatic siege experiences in neighbouring Italy and no intensive consultations held with leading Catholic princes and military engineers of Italian, French and Spanish extraction, whom the trusted envoy of Grand Master Lascaris had the privilege of meeting during an official visit to Italy in 1638.

Another important aspect of the book is the author’s analysis of two old plans of the Grand Harbour and Valletta which were annotated by Vertova around 1633.

These documents not only provide precious information about hitherto unpublished proposals of the Knights to build large naval arsenals in Birgu and Valletta but also reveal a fascinating building typology that formed the backbone of a very different Valletta. All this happened just before all those Baroque subtractions and additions that, after 1650, radically transformed the austere and military aspect of this fine city fortress into a commodious and ceremonial one, reflecting the princely desires of the later grand masters.

Charles Francois de Mondion (1681-1733) was a French military engineer who first arrived in Malta in 1715 during the principate of Grand Master Ramon Perellos y Roccafull. His arrival on the island was somewhat overshadowed by the dominating presence of his superior, Réné Jacob de Tigné, who was eventually credited with the impressive fortification results achieved during the 1715-1722 period. Apart from examining the mysterious origins, training and career of Mondion in France, this book produces fresh evidence that does justice to the achievement of Mondion.

Grand Master Antonio Manoel de Vilhena’s accession in June 1722 was largely beneficial for Mondion. His great opportunity came when the new Prince of Malta decided to unleash an ambitious building programme which soon transformed the island into a typical eighteenth century Baroque state. The rehabilitation of the Mediaeval city of Mdina, the building of Fort Manoel, the foundation of the Baroque suburb of Floriana and the establishment of several medical and charitable institutions were but a few of the grand projects for which Mondion, now a Cavaliere di Grazia, was directly responsible. It was only his unexpected death in 1733 that prevented this engineer from contributing further to fulfil Vilhena’s dreams.

Denis De Lucca

Specifications 118 pp with illustrations, 297x210mm Hardbound 99909-93-76-9 €42.50; US$49.50; GB£26.95

Denis De Lucca

Specifications 96 pp in full colour, 297x210mm Hardbound 99932-39-24-0 €42.50; US$49.50; Gb£26.95

53 | Architecture

Carapecchia: Master of Baroque Architecture in the early eighteenth century Malta Denis De Lucca

Born in 1666 to poor parents residing in Rome, Romano Fortunato Carapecchia was a self made man. Having received his architectural education in the studio of the great Carlo Fontana, he started practising his profession where he was responsible for the creation of a number of buildings and theatrical scenes which collectively reflected the academic discipline of the famous Accademia di San Luca, once described by King Louis XIV of France as ‘the fount and teacher of the many famous artists who have appeared during this century’.

Disappointed with the limited opportunities available in Rome at the turn of the century, Carapecchia left the city in 1707 to eventually settle in Malta where he managed, as a result of the Pope’s intervention, to find favour with the Grand Master of the ruling Hospitaller Knights of St. John the Baptist. Within the context of an ancient island fortress situated on the southern borderline of European Catholicism, the newly arrived architect soon drew up several projects intended to transform Valletta and its environs into a vibrant hub of Baroque artistic activity. More importantly, Carapecchia’s architecture provided the Knights with yet another reason to remain firmly rooted in the cultural fabric of an ever changing Europe, where new Baroque buildings and spaces became important symbols of a unified European identity.

This book is a fitting tribute to the memory of a brilliant architect of humble origins whose forgotten contribution to the Baroque architectural scenario of eighteenth century Malta was indeed remarkable and long-lived.

Specifications 302 pp with illustrations and maps in colour and monochrome (some of which unedited), 230x300mm Hardbound 99909-93-00-9 €84.95: US$99.00; GB£52.95

William Scamp: An architect of the British Admirality in Malta Conrad Thake

This monograph focuses on the work of William Scamp, an architect in the employment of the British Admiralty. Although Scamp’s architectural career in Malta was limited to a four-year period 1841–1844, his achievements were considerable. He pioneered the establishment of the British naval yard in Dockyard Creek by the construction of the first dry-dock on the island and an imposing Naval Bakery that serviced the entire British fleet in the Mediterranean. In addition, he salvaged the high-profile project of St Paul’s Anglican cathedral, Valletta that had been mired in crisis under his predecessor Richard Lankesheer. Scamp assumed responsibility for the project after construction was suspended. It is a remarkable achievement that Scamp managed to design, supervise, and oversee the successful completion of three high-profile projects in Malta within such a limited period of time.

Scamp was instrumental in introducing industrial steel structures to Malta. The Naval Bakery in Birgu (today the Maritime Museum) is testimony to Scamp’s knowledge, pragmatism, and ingenuity in adopting a variety of building systems. He was versatile and wellversed in various disciplines related to construction – an accomplished civil and structural engineer, a superb draftsman, a meticulous quantity surveyor, and a disciplined project manager. Even after he had permanently departed the island, his professional services were still sought after (albeit in a consultative capacity) on other projects such as the Valletta Market Hall and Lunatic Asylum where there were building components in steel.

Specifications 128 pp in full colour , 250x240mm Limpbound 978-99932-7-345-5 €25.00; US$34.00; GB£22.00

54 | Landscape and environment

Għar Dalam, the Cave, the Museum The National Museum of Natural and the Garden, Birzebbuġa History, Birżebbuġa Nadia Fabri

John J. Borg

Għar Dalam is one of Malta’s most important national monuments since it contributed a great deal to our knowledge on life on the Maltese islands in the remote and in the more recent past. Għar Dalam is the only cave in Malta where one can study the Pleistocene or the Ice Age fauna in an uninterrupted sequence dating back to 180,000 years ago having the latter all in one place.

The National Museum of Natural History was officially inaugurated on 22 June 1973. The display areas consisted of a Geology and Palaeontology halls, an Osteology hall, and a hall each for Insects, Molluscs, Fish, and Birds. Subsequently exotic mammal and mineralogy displays, a cactus garden, and marine aquariums were added, the latter two being closed down some years later. Heritage Malta has embarked on a project to update the present displays. An effort is being made to change the concept from a Victorian-style museum to a present-day showcase of Maltese ecology and biodiversity, shifting emphasis from quantity to quality.

Part of the ‘Malta Insight Heritage Guides’ series

Part of the ‘Malta Insight Heritage Guides’ series

Specifications 40 pages in full colour, 240x170 mm Limpbound 99932-7-144-4 €8.50; US$9.95; GB£5.50

Specifications 40 pages in full colour, 240x170 mm Limpbound 99932-7-145-1 €8.50; US$9.95; GB£5.50

55 | Landscape and environment

Shooting Society: Document Contemporary Life in Malta

A Complete Guide to Birds of Malta

The photographs and texts in this book were not brought together in order to try to define a country’s identity. Rather, they attest to the existence of a complex, changing society in Malta and a visual culture that is often fraught with contradictions. With so many incisive yet accessible essays by over fifty writers and academics and around one hundred and fifty photographs that record a range of thought-provoking, poignant and even humorous moments in Malta’s social, political and cultural life, Shooting Society: Documenting Contemporary Life in Malta presents a unique picture of a small island and its people, rituals, desires, and much more.

Blending texts written by Maltese and international sociologists, anthropologists, philosophers and other scholars and social scientists with short stories by literary authors bears witness to the belief that photographic images can be read and appreciated in different ways. On the other hand, many of the photographs chosen would generally fall under the general category of documentary photography. This genre of photography clearly plays a central role in much of modern and contemporary life, in journalism and even in contemporary art.

Lying in the centre of the Mediterranean, Malta is a natural staging post for migrant birds crossing from Africa to Europe in spring as well as for migrants returning from their breeding grounds in Europe to the African continent in autumn. Birds have attracted man’s attention for a long time, and this book shows images of birds in pre-history, in art, stamps, coins, antique embroidery and so forth. It also speaks about birds in all aspects of Maltese culture, from folklore to language. Indeed, The Birds of Malta is an almanac and speaks about everything related to birds in Malta. It is also a photographic record of many of the birds that regularly visit the islands and features ones that are rare or have been recorded a handful of times. The book also contains several unpublished records dating back from 1958.

Specifications 328pp in full colour, 265x220mm Limpbound 978-99932-7-419-3 €55.00; US$75.50; GB£45.50

Specifications 448 pp in full colour, 280 x 240 mm Hardbound 978-99932-7-310-3 €60.00; US$74.00; GB£50.90

Carmel Borg and Raphael Vella

Natalino Fenech

This mighty book on the birds of Malta is a labour of love, the deep love and appreciation of birds. Like Natalino Fenech, I come from a culture where a widespread love for birds is rooted in exploitative relationships, in my Fryslân especially the capture of Golden Plovers and the taking of Lapwing eggs. However difficult, as times and economies change, exploitative relationships can reinvent themselves into appreciative ones, with bird catchers contributing to new and constantly updated knowledge on our threatened biosphere. I dearly hope that before too long, Malta will no longer be famous as the slaughterhouse of migrants in Europe but as the magnificent island country where people can “talk with birds” (as I know so many hunters and catchers can). What I am sure about, is that this book will make a big contribution to such a wonderful change in attitude.

Theunis Piersma, Professor of Animal Ecology, University of Groningen, The Netherlands

56 | Landscape and environment

Ħal Kirkop: A village in Malta Jeremy Boissevain

This admirable book shows a real grasp of what it is like to be a villager in Malta, but it also presents an excellent picture of village social structure, of the relations between the village and the town, and it discusses the typicality of the findings in Óal Kirkop. The book is written in a clear and pleasant style.

General points are nicely documented with examples. Among the most rewarding chapters in the book are those dealing with religion and politics. The fit between religion and society in Malta would have delighted Durkheim, but he would have had difficulty in distinguishing the sacred from the profane.

Political contest within the village is largely a struggle between the adherents of two local saints expressed annually by colossal displays of fireworks on the respective saints’ days.

This pyrotechnic potlatch is now being crosscut to some extent by national politics. The book shows how the forces of secularization are played out through the structural forms of the Roman Catholic church. (American Anthropologist, 1972, Vol. 72) Prof. Burton Benedict University of California at Berkeley

Specifications: 216 pages, 228x150mm, Paperback 978-99932-7-085-7 €14.00; US$17.50; GB£10.50

Time for Radical Change: The Introduction of Eco Taxation in Malta Carmel Cacopardo

The Maltese Government was courageous in taking steps to introduce eco taxation in Malta in 2004. Even if the process through which it was introduced leaves much to be desired, in the long term this step will serve a positive purpose. The resulting deficiencies can still be corrected.

A debate which was long overdue has been initiated.

Much has been said, though not all as been listened to. What was initiated as a selective dialogue with bottlers should be expanded to include all stakeholders, including future generations. It is to this debate that I wish to contribute such that we widen our perspectives and try to identify the way forward in the interests of all as a result.

Eco-taxation introduces a radical agenda into Maltese Environmental Policy as its proper application aims at fundamental change: a change in attitudes. It is an instrument which seeks to align our behaviour in line with the unwritten rules of nature through the use of market-based instruments. It is radical because if tackled properly it will overhaul completely our way of doing things.

Specifications 212pp, 205x135mm Limpbound 99932-7-124-1 €9.50; US$13.00; GB£7.50

57 | Religion, philosophy and ethics

Conscience in the Parochial and Plain Sermons of John Henry Newman Fabio Attard

A theme, which is rightly associated with the personality of John Henry Newman, is surely that of conscience. To the general reader, Newman’s whole life story comes across as a witness of someone who followed the light of his conscience wherever it lead him. Yet, for him or her who decides to enter into a more familiar knowledge of the man, it will soon become clear that the meaning of conscience in his life goes much deeper than was originally thought.

Specifications 266pp, 135x205mm Limpbound 99932-39-23-2 €15.50; US$19.95; GB£10.50

John Henry Newman: Words od Conscience in Parochial and Plain Sermons Fabio Attard

The purpose of this study is to serve as an introduction to those who are already familiar with John Henry Newman and would like to go beyond the parameters of general historical information that they may already know. the contents of the followirng pages have a particular aim in mind; they hope to pave the way to a reading of the theme of conscience as revealed by written sources and to an understanding of the journey of faith which was undertaken by Newman. Thus the background to this study, that is the Anglican period, from his birth until his acceptance into the Roman Catholic communion, 1801 to 1845, is vested with a significance which is more than just a pursuit for pure historical knowledge.

Specifications 228pp, 135x205mm Limpbound 99932-39-04-6 €13.00; US$17.75; GB£10.75

58 | Religion, philosophy and ethics

An Abridged Version of the ‘Project for Perpetual Peace’ – M. L’Abbé de Saint-Pierre translated by Carmen Depasquale edited by Roderick Pace

Seventeenth and eighteenth century Europe was a cauldron of wars and upheavals. However, in the midst of this turmoil, some of the more imaginative and gifted Europeans were able to think “outside the box”, on how to establish a lasting peace in Europe. One of these enlightened Europeans was Charles Irenée Castel de Saint-Pierre, better known as the Abbé de Saint-Pierre.

Throughout his life, Saint-Pierre wrote several projects on a wide range of subjects. However, the one closest to his heart and which he promoted with the greatest vigour, was no doubt the 1713 Project for Perpetual Peace, known as the Projet, and its abridged version, the Abrégé which was published for the first time in 1729. In these works, Saint-Pierre proposes the signing of a treaty binding all the nations of Europe in a “Grand Alliance” and the establishment of a European Assembly in a “City of Peace”. He also proposed the setting up of a European army to guard the Continent’s frontiers.

The Abbé de Saint-Pierre also wrote a project on how to eradicate Berber piracy in the Mediterranean once and for all. A translation of this unpublished project in which Malta plays the principal role is also included in this publication. The Abbé admitted that he owed the ideas expressed in it to his brother François-Antoine de Castel de Saint-Pierre, who commanded the galleys of the Order of St. John from 1705 to 1708. The style in which this Project is written reflects that which the Abbé de Saint-Pierre used in writing the other projects, not least amongst them the Abrégé itself.

This first-ever translation of the 1729 edition of the Abrégé into English makes this work accessible to a wider audience.

Specifications 256 pp, 135x205mm Limpbound 978-99932-7-237-3 €12.00; US$20.00; GB£11.95

Maltese and other languages: A linguistic history of Malta Joseph Brincat

Throughout the ages, the Maltese language has undergone a series of internal changes as well as modifications and accretions caused by various external forces. Internal changes are not easy to date and explain because they require a painstaking comparative exercise that can be carried out only by experts in Semitic languages. As a result, their systematic description in a historical grammar of Maltese has not been published yet. By contrast, the external history of Maltese is essentially an account of its contact with various languages. All languages are marked by contact, albeit to varying degrees. Gumperz holds that “most words in most modern languages would count as borrowed” (1982: 67), but what makes Maltese unique is that it blends together elements from three distinct language families, the Semitic, the Romance, and the Germanic. The language spoken in Malta today is the result of a process that has been going on for a thousand years and, consequently, the account presented in this book will show how social, political, and cultural events are reflected in the changing face of the language.

Specifications 536 pp including illustrations, 228x150mm Hardbound 978-99932-7-343-1 €44.00; US$63.00; GB£38.50

59 | Literature and linguistics

Maltese-English-Maltese Dictionary in six volumes

Joseph Aquilina

The Maltese government awarded this 6 volume dictionary the title ‘Malta’s Publication for the Millenium’.

The dictionary which is considered Malta’s top linguistic reference, is the work of a lifetime research. It consists of not less than 80,000 entries in the Maltese-English version (2 volumes), and 120,000 entries in the EnglishMaltese version (4 volumes). It includes all modern scientific terms in banking, commerce, science, the arts, technology, medical and other spheres of the socio-economic sectors. All entries are defined in their Maltese and English equivalent with their respective usage. It contains idioms and phrases illustrating usage (including slang and dialectical variants). The word ‘go’ alone is covered in 16 dual-column pages of literal and idiomatic usage in Maltese. Professor David Cohen, in his foreword to the English-Maltese version, describes this work as ‘an excellent example of what modern lexicography can offer’ containing ‘a soundly based history of words which allows one to reach the real sources of the Maltese lexicon’. It is also ‘an invaluable treasure concerning the manners, customs, and techniques of all aspects of Maltese culture, and of Western Mediterranean cultures’.

Specifications Maltese-English Dictionary, Vol. 1: 807 pp, Vol. 2: 908 pp; English-Maltese Dictionary, Vol. 1: 866 pp, Vol. 2: 902, Vol. 3: 974, Vol. 4: 1080, 245x170mm Hardbound 99932-7-130-6 €410.00; US$475.00; GB£255.00 for 6 volumes

Il-Miklem Malti

in ten volumes Erin and Mario Serracino-Inglott Il-Miklem Malti by Erin Serracino-Inglott, published between 1975 and 1989, is considered as one of the masterpieces in the study of the Maltese language. It includes more than 30,000 Maltese words explained in more than 1,700 pages. It is the labour of over 30 years of study and research. Every word commonly used, old or new, is not only explained by its etymology but also in its figurative or idiomatic sense, with the use ofthe most popular proverbs. It also includes the names of topographical locations, livestock, poultry, fish and vegetables, together with their scientific definition. The dictionary also incorporates grammatical and historical meaning of the Maltese language. To this day, the dictionary is still regarded as an excellent referral to all those study Maltese and oriental languages.

Specifications Vol. 1: 302 pp, Vol. 2: 320 pp, Vol. 3: 259 pp; Vol. 4: 444 pp, Vol. 5: 330 pp, Vol. 6: 367 pp, Vol. 7: 412 pp, Vol. 8: 533 pp, Vol. 9: 444 pp, Vol. 10: 230 pp, 245x170mm Hardbound 99932-7-131-4 €595.00; US$695.00; GB£375.00 for 10 volumes

60 | Literature and linguistics

Other specialized dictionaries

Concise Maltese-English-Maltese Dictionary

Dictionary for Specific Purposes

1200 pp, 195x135mm Dutchbound 99932-7-070-9 €25.00; US$34.00; GB£20.00

346 pp, 240x170mm Limpbound 99932-7-070-9 €12.00; US$16.50; GB£10.00

Dictionary for Financial Services

English-Maltese Dictionary of Pharmaceutical and Medical Terms

168 pp, 240x170mm Limpbound 99932-7-122-5 €12.00; US$16.50; GB£10.00

224 pp, 240x170mm Limpbound 978-99932-7-479-7 €20.00; US$27.50; GB£16.50

Joseph Aquilina

Carlo Farrugia

edited by Charles Briffa

Kirsty Camilleri

61 | Literature and linguistics

Essays on De Soldanis: Journal of Maltese Studies, No. 27

Rythmic Patterns in Maltese Literature

In recent years some historians specialising in the eighteenth century have published insightful works on the role played by Maltese literati during this period and they are all in agreement that de Soldanis deserves much more importance than has ever been accorded to him. Although his linguistic input has long been recognised, especially through the effort of the late Joseph Cassar Pullicino, the monumental figure of Mikiel Anton Vassalli has overshadowed that of de Soldanis and we feel that such an unbalanced attitude is neither accurate historically nor does it do justice to the development of the Maltese language. In fact, de Soldanis was responsible for a number of initiatives in support of Maltese. One of his more significant merits was that through his writings a new and fruitful contact was made available to foreign scholars interested in our language. His correspondence with foreign philologists and literati is evidence of the esteem in which he was held. It is our hope that through this edition of the Journal of Maltese Studies as well as through other works scheduled to be published in the near future by students of the Department of Maltese, this esteem will be enhanced in our own times as well.

Born at Rabat, in Gozo, on 31 October 1712, Giovanni Pietro Francesco Agius de Soldanis, studied Latin and other languages in Malta. He studied Philosophy and Theology at the Jesuits’ College in Valletta. De Soldanis also studied Law, graduating from the University of Padua, in Italy. His publications include a grammar of the Maltese language, which he considered as a direct survivor from the original Punic language. In 1763 he was appointed first Librarian of what is now known as the National Library. He died on 30 January 1770.

The aim of this academic book is not primarily a history of the Maltese novel but to identify and describe rhythmic patterns in prose to enhance interpretation.

Prose is expression that is normally not metrically versified but it has its own rhythms. It is characterised by the rhythmic varieties because of its correspondence with speech. Rhythmic variety in prose contributes to the impression of reality in fiction especially in the creation of a character’s mind style. It also helps to create atmosphere and mood. An author’s general organisation of rhythmic structures in a novel assists literary competence.

Specifications 168 pp , 205x135mm Limpbound 978-99932-7-285-4 €20.00; US$25.00 ; GB£17.00 ·

Specifications 372 pp , 210x150mm Limpbound 99909-93-90-4 €18.00; US$24.50; GB£15.00

Edited by Olvin Vella

Charles Briffa

62 | Literature and linguistics

Maltese novels in English

In the name of the father (and of the son) Immanuel Mifsud 65 pp, 205x135mm 978-99932-7-383-7 €10.00; US$14.00; GB£8.50

Sliema Wives

Gerard James Borg 608 pp, 175x110mm 978-99932-7-443-8 €15.00; US$20.50; GB£12.00

Family Photos

Petra Bianchi 165 pp, 205x135mm 99932-7-221-2 €8.00; US$10.95; GB£6.50

Winner of the European Literature Prize 2011

The Maltese Baron … and I Lucian Francis Ebejer 275 pp, 205x135mm 99932-3-902-X €9.50; US$13.00; GB£7.50

The Tragedy of the Elephant

Others, across

Memory Rape

Stay, Fairy Tale, Stay!

Waiting for Green

Water, fire, earth and I

Malte Tricolore?

Angelo’s eyes

Adrian Grima 32 pp, 205x135mm 99932-6-209-9 €4.50; US$6.00; GB£3.75

Stanley Borg 32 pp, 205x135mm 99932-6-206-4 €4.50; US$6.00; GB£3.75

Clare Azzopardi 40 pp, 205x135mm 99932-6-205-6 €4.50; US$6.00; GB£3.75

Simone Inguanez 32 pp, 205x135mm 99932-8-700-8 €4.50; US$6.00; GB£3.75

Maria Grech Ganado 32 pp, 205x135mm 99932-6-208-0 €4.50; US$6.00; GB£3.75

Didier Destremau 220 pp, 205x135mm 99932-7-059-8 €11.50; US$15.75; GB£9.50

Norbert Bugeja 32 pp, 205x135mm 99932-6-207-2 €4.50; US$6.00; GB£3.75

Kilin 203 pp, 205x135mm 99932-39-54-2 €7.00; US$9.50; GB£5.75

63 | Photography

Nostalgias of Malta: Images by Geo Furst from the 1930s

Nostalgias of Gozo: Images by M. Farrugia from the 1880s to the 1930s

Nostalgias of Malta: Images by Geo Furst from the 1930s’ is the name of a most beautiful book by Judge Giovanni Bonello who through the medium of pictures recounts the history of Malta in the 1930s. The author has drawn up a biography of the German photographer Geo Furst and has outlined the seemingly improbable relationship between the photographer and British dominated Malta. Furst’s love for Malta is rendered most tangibly in his photographic legacy, a legacy so extensive that the author confessed that he had to leave unpublished four photos out of five.

After publishing ’Nostalgias of Malta’ it was only fitting to publish ’Nostalgias of Gozo’. The images in this book were taken from the 1880s to the 1930s. The back images of old Gozo although sterile in themselves are indispensable when it comes to nursing a sense of memory, of heritage and of belonging. Gozo still retains much of its rural charm and damage inflicted to its body and soul, when compared to Malta, looks smaller in consequence and magnitude. Most of the illustrations in this book came from the author’s hoard of antique postcards, cigarette cards and photographs.

Specifications 240 pp in full colour, 265x210mm Limpbound 99932-7-113-6 €45.00; US$50.00; GB£75.00

Specifications 224 pp in full colour, 265x210mm Hardbound 978-99932-7-160-4 €66.00; US$99.00; GB£60.00 Limpbound 978-99932-7-161-1 €45.00; US$50.00; GB£75.00

Giovanni Bonello

Giovanni Bonello

64 | Photography

Nostalgias of Malta: Images by S.L. Cassar from the 1890s to the 1930s

Nostalgias of Malta: Images by Horatio Agius from the 1890s to the 1900s

This is the third in a series of Nostalgias by Judge Giovanni Bonello. Through the medium of pictures by the renowned Salvatore Lorenzo Cassar the book recounts the history of Malta from the 1990s to the 1930s. The author has drawn up a biography of the photographer who was dubbed by the ’Revue Universelle’ an honour to the photographic art. That authoritative magazine published in Geneva listed S.L. Cassar as ’among the artists in photography who particularly distinguished themselves’ and his work as ’truly remarkable’. The author Giovanni Bonello attempted to put together bits and pieces of his biography, relying on published and unpublished sources.

This is the fourth in the series of Nostalgias volumes

by Giovanni Bonello in which he lays before the reader handsome sets of photographs taken by artists, mainly Maltese, who recorded the appearance of the landscapes and seascapes of the Maltese Islands and, to a smaller extent, that of the people who inhabited them in the late nineteenth century and in the first half of the last century. Handsomely bound and elegantly designed like its predecessors, Nostalgias of Malta Images by Horatio Agius from the 1860s to the 1900s, should sit proudly on a bookshelf or on a coffee table, whilst being pleasantly useful as a work of reference, or as one of those books through which it is pleasant just to leaf idly.

Specifications 220 pp in full colour, 265x210mm Hardbound 978-99932-7-188-8 €66.00; US$99.00; GB£60.00 Limpbound 978-99932-7-189-5 €45.00; US$50.00; GB£75.00

Specifications 224 pp in full colour, 265x210mm Hardbound 978-99932-7-257-1 €66.00; US$99.00; GB£60.00 Limpbound 978-99932-7-258-8 €45.00; US$50.00; GB£75.00

Giovanni Bonello

Giovanni Bonello

65 | Photography

Nostalgias of Malta: Images by Modiano from the 1900s

Nostalgias of Malta: Images by Alfred Vella Gera from 1920 to 1964

This is the fifth in the series of Nostalgias volumes by Giovanni Bonello in which he lays before the reader handsome sets of photographs taken by artists, mainly Maltese but also some foreigners as is the case of this volume, who recorded the appearance of the landscapes and seascapes of the Maltese Islands and, to a smaller extent, that of the people who inhabited them in the late nineteenth century and in the first half of the last century. Handsomely bound and elegantly designed like its predecessors, Nostalgias of Malta Images by Modiano from the 1900s, should serve as a useful as a work of reference, or as one of those books through which it is pleasant just to leaf idly.

Early in 1902, four years after the introduction of picture postcards in Malta, local booksellers, stationers and souvenir shops started offering the public a new series of cards produced by an Italian publishing house – G. Modiano e Co, Milano. The first known Maltese Modiano card went through the post on April 2, 1902. Business must have been quite encouraging as in no time various Maltese outlets began marketing these postcards with their own imprint along, or instead of, the Modiano one.

The present ‘Nostalgias’ volume includes a complete record of every Maltese Modiano picture recorded so far.

This is the sixth book in the series of ‘Nostalgias’. In the introduction to this book, the author describes his journey while doing research on this photographer: “I find it intriguing that some of Vella Gera’s best creations he left unpublished. I was fortunate enough to be given access to his archives by his sons, and allowed to reproduce photographs he never thought of sharing with the public during his lifetime. One wonders why.

Probably because some images he shot for his personal gratification, without an eye on how marketable the image would be, while others he may have recorded to replenish his stocks for future use. Whatever the reason for such discreet self-censorship, there is another Vella Gera between the covers of his personal albums, which I am, in part, attempting to publicise in this book. A large number of his glass plate negatives have survived.

Specifications 265 pp in full colour, 265x210mm Hardbound 978-99932-7-315-8 €66.00; US$99.00; GB£60.00 Limpbound 978-99932-7-316-5 €45.00; US$50.00; GB£75.00

Specifications 256 pp in full colour, 265x210mm Hardbound 978-99932-7-357-8 €66.00; US$99.00; GB£60.00 Limpbound 978-99932-7-358-5 €45.00; US$50.00; GB£75.00

Giovanni Bonello

Giovanni Bonello

66 | Photography

Vanishing Valletta

Gorgeous Gozo

‘Vanishing Valletta’ is a photographic rendering of Valletta by David Pisani who took up photography at a very early age. David Pisani’s photography is closely linked to his passion for architecture and design, a quest for beauty and order that are a trademark of his work.

Specialising in fine art black and white silver printing he has pursued a relentless search for the deepest expression of empathy with his subject, pushing the limits of the dictum that photography should not reproduce what is visible but make visible the invisible.

Pisani’s work on Valletta spans a nineteen year period.

Gozo, the sister island of Malta, is still considered as one of those unpolished pearls of the Mediterrannean. It still retains the characteristic and nostalgia of days gone by. Yet this seeks to bring into perspective the modern vibrant Gozo. A photographic journey of Gozo and the Gozitans through the eyes of a sharp photographer coupled with a narative which makes the reader fall in love with this tiny island. This is indeed a labour of love.

David Pisani

Daniel Cilia and Charles Cini

Specifications 256 pp in full colour, 320x220mm Hardbound with slip case 978-99932-7-173-4 €55.00; US$45.50; GB£75.00

Flickristi: Malta Seascapes edited by Timmy Gambin

The Flickristi is a group for Maltese photographers or photographers living in Malta who would like to meet up for photo shoots – lets make a day out of it: a theme, a location - shoot ideas and lets go for the shoot! Until the time we were going to print the group has 303 members and the administrators are Kris D’Amato, Jakov Cardona. Gege Gatt, Aron Mifsud Bonnici, Therese Debono and Will Camilleri. Flickristi were given a theme and asked to submit photographs for final selection. The theme for this book was ‘Malta Seascapes’ Specifications 105 pp in full colour, 230x285mm Hardbound 978-99932-7-153-6 €44.00; US$60.00; GB£36.00

Specifications 128 pp in full colour, 240x210mm Limpbound 978-99932-7-288-5 €20.00; US$30.00; GB£18.00

67 | Food and cooking / Medicine

The Way We Ate Matty Cremona

In the introduction to the book the author states: “What is Maltese Food? Like the food of all nations it moves with the times and food fashions or fads are quick to come and go. It is the signature dishes – the tried and tested dishes – that endure to become “traditional”.

But even these are subject to change and availability.

Imagine if food purists sneered when potatoes were woven into the tapestry of Maltese food? What then of our famous patata Maltija, patata fgat or patata fil-forn? Or our perfect ħobż biż-żejt that was probably first made with oil and a few olives – if traditionalists had sniffed at the tomato and said, “what’s this strange foreign fruit?”, where would our national dish be today?

So it is far more interesting to trace the evolution of our nation’s favourite dishes; why we eat what we eat and how we eat it. Even, when we eat it. All of these play a part in stitching together a multi flavoured backdrop to our history because eating is something people have to (and want to) do every day and always have. The foods they chose to eat were the result of the environment they were living in. The foods we choose to eat today are conditioned by their choices and influenced by our situation today. Therefore our meals are a tiny, if slightly cloudy, window onto the past, kindly held open by recipes handed on down through the generations, making us the eaters we are today.

This book traces the history of some of our popular dishes, meals and festivals . The information therein created a wonderful picture of the past that is slotting the food into.”

Specifications 288 pp in full colour with over 200 Maltese recipes , 250x195mm Hardbound 978-99932-7-326-4 €58.00; US$80.00; GB£50.00

Outlines of Maltese Medical History Charles Savona-Ventura

This book deals with a facet of Maltese life that has been generally neglected by professional historians, the contributions to the field being generally made by members of the medical fraternity. The study records how our present knowledge of medicine has been gained and how the medical profession applied that knowledge to the prevention, control and treatment of disease.

The first section of the book includes a general review of the principal milestones of Maltese medical history incorporating the whole period of human activity on the Islands, from prehistoric to present times. It puts into perspective and relates local medical practice with the political situation of the Islands and the contemporary medical developments on the European continent. The second part of the book investigates the history and development of the various medical specialities, including medicine, pharmacy, surgery, gynaecology and midwifery. It also reviews the history of medical and paramedical teaching on the Islands, and the development of state hospitals from the medieval framework of the Church to secularized management.

A subject index provide easy and ready reference in the text to events, disease and personalities that have left their mark on the progress of Maltese medical practice.

Specifications 145 pp with a colour section, 150x230mm Hardbound 99909-75-24-8 €35.50; US$41.50; GB£22.00

68 | Politics and economics

Malta’s Parliament: An Official History

Who’s who in the house 1921-2006

This book chronicles the political history and evolution of Malta’s Parliament from 1800 to 2003 and is divided into three sections. Section One (1800-1921), the shortest of the three sections, with its study of the workings of the colonial style Council of Government, explores the emergence of a partially elected Chamber and the continuing Maltese struggle for responsible government. Section Two, which covers the period 1921 to 1964, examines Malta’s first responsible government Parliament at work until its dissolution in 1933 when the 1921 Constitution which had created it, was first suspended and later withdrawn. It also gives a brief look at the events which followed until responsible government was re-instated in 1947.

This section then takes the reader through the issues debated in Parliament and the Parliamentary process which culminated in Malta’s Independence in 1964.

Section Three covers the period 1964-2003, and allows the reader to explore Malta’s transition to Republican Government, the closure of the military base and its implications for a Malta free from the last vestiges of colonialism, and the long road to EU membership.

The idea of this book stems out from a unique collection of cigarette-card photographs of members elected to the Legislative Assembly and the Senate in 1921 (the year the Maltese Islands savoured their first taste of selfgovernment) which, when the cigarette-cards ceased to be produced, was then extended to include all members of parliament till 2006. These cards together with the photos included in this publication provide historical material which is of great interest to Maltese political history.

Prof. John C. Lane, Professor Emeritus of Political Science at State University of New York at Buffalo in his foreword comments that ‘Malta’s electoral system, and the particular way in which it has been practiced since 1921, provides ample opportunities for study and reflection. The serious literature on STV in Malta is still rather slim, and the last comprehensive survey appeared more than a decade ago. It is therefore a pleasure to see that literature enhanced by Joseph and Richard Felice Pace’s fine effort, and its appearance in English should gain it a wider audience. This volume deserves to be on the bookshelf of anyone interested in electoral systems and in the vicissitudes of electoral politics in Malta.’

Godfrey Pirotta

Specifications 312 pp in full colour, 290x225mm Hardbound 978-99932-0-443-9 €54.50; US$66.00; GB£42.50

Joe and Richard Felice Pace

Specifications 268 pp with illustrations, 245x190mm Hardbound 99932-7-115-2 €28.00; US$38.00; GB£23.00 Limpbound 99932-7-116-0 €18.50; US$25.00; GB£15.00

69 | Politics and economics

Polluted Politics: Backgorund to the Deportation of Maltese nationals in 1942 Carmel Farrugia

Polluted Politics covers what may be described as the most agitated decade in the history of Maltese Politics, 1932-1942, giving a background of the events which led to the arrest and deportation of Maltese nationals from Malta. Sometimes, the narrative goes even further back than 1932 giving the origin of the quarrels and dissentions in Maltese politics. The book opens in the immediate pre-World War II years when the religious political question was at its peak and people were swayed from one side of the political chess-board to the other according to the prevailing beliefs and emotions.

Politics were then centred on the Nationalist Party’s claim for quasi-Dominion Status and Constitutional Party’s support for the perpetuation British Protectorate.

It was a game in which sympathies rather than ideologies played a most significant role in forging Malta’s destiny.

The protagonists were than the Generals and the train of civil servants in their service at home and abroad.

The Maltese politicians, like the Maltese people, were mere spectators, at times on the side of the Generals, at others against them. None of them were really given more than a chance to acclaim the winning side. Those, who would not, were ignored; unless of course, they were too dangerous to be left among the crowds. In which case they were interned or deported. The book, in fact, ends with the deportation of some of their leaders to Uganda in 1942.

Specifications 128 pp with illustrations, 210x145mm Limpbound 99909-7-500-0 €7.00; US$8.50; GB£4.50

Micsrostate Security in the global system EU-Malta relations Roderick Pace

In 1990 Malta applied to join the European Union and is currently negotiating its accession. Due to its geographic proximity to the European Union and its strong economic, cultural and historic links to Europe, relations with the EU have always played an important role in Malta’s search for security viewed in its broader meaning. The Mediterranean region to which Malta belongs has also exercised an enormous influence on Malta’s policy choices. The analysis in this book is carried out from a Maltese perspective, using a small state approach, which does not however neglect developments in the EU itself, in the Mediterranean region and in the wider international context. Attention is also focused on Malta’s relations with its neighbouring countries and how these impinge upon its policies towards the EU. The historical account of developments begins in the late 1950s and early 1960s when the issue of EUMalta relations first entered the Maltese political debate mainly as a result of the UK’s membership application.

EU-Malta relations also present sufficient material for the discussion of other issues relevant to small states seeking EU membership. One of these concerns the identity of the EU itself. This discussion is also relevant in the context of “The Future of Europe Debate” currently going on in the EU and the applicant countries.

This book is the first analysis of EU-Malta relations spanning four decades and which throws more light both on the current state of play in these relations as well as in the domestic politics associated with them.

It makes essential reading for students of European Studies but also for the more discerning general reader, the political class, leaders within public administration and the social partners, businessmen and the professions.

Specifications 584 pp, 135x205mm Hardbound 99909-93-87-4 €36.70; US$50.00; GB£30.00

70 | General history and tourism

The Making of Malta Rueben Grima and Daniel Cilia

The Historical Collection: Celebrating Malta’s Heritage Through Stamps edited by Kenneth Gambin

To celebrate the new Definitive Set, MaltaPost, in collaboration with Midsea Books Ltd., published a book titled “The Historical Collection – Celebrating Malta’s Heritage Through Stamps”. The book narrates Malta’s history through a number of essays by specialist historians, including A Bonanno, M. Buhagiar, R. Cachia Caruana, J.M. Pirotta, C. Dalli, R. Grima and K. Gambin.

A uniquely numbered Souvenir Sheet bearing the 17 stamps, with a face value of €11.42, is also be included in the first 2,500 numbered copies of this publication.

Both the Souvenir Sheet as well as the book will bear a matching number.

Joe Said, chairman of MaltaPost remarked that, “This remarkable set of stamps offers a philatelic and historical timeline while also confirming that a small postage stamp can succinctly tell a major story.”

Specifications 128 pp in full colour, numbered + numbered stamp souvenir sheet, 280x220mm Hardbound with slipcase 978-99932-7-289-2 €85.00; US$120.00; GB£76.00

A journey into Malta’s chequered history through the seven basic elements that mostly influenced its roots and made Malta what it is: sea, rock, water, food, faith, war and celebration. The author and photographer have sought to narrate, through words and pictures, each of these elements transforming every chapter into and explosion of verve and colour depicting the Maltese way of life, culture, traditions, and gastronomy.

Sea: The sea sets their boundaries and separates them from other parts of the world, yet provides endless possibilities for transport and travel.

Rock: For the past 7,000 years, the inhabitants of the archipelago have taken advantage of the opportunities offered by its rock, crafting it in a thousand ingenious ways.

Water: The layers of porous limestone that make up the geological structure of the islands have sometimes been compared to a giant sponge that can hold a large volume of water within its pores.

Food: Mediterranean cooking excels in unique and simple recipes that transform modest and affordable ingredients into wholesome and mouth-watering dishes. Malta is no exception.

Faith: Throughout the ages, people have sought meaning and order in their world, and to this end many different systems of belief have been assembled.

War: The Mediterranean is embraced by three continents, and forms a maritime corridor between two oceans.

Celebration: Like many communities that traditionally relied on agriculture and fishing, the Maltese have been accustomed to periods of intense work during the sowing, harvesting, or fishing months, interrupted by periods when attention could focus elsewhere.

The book is a fresh approach to the islands history from the dawn of civilisation through to the threshold of the new millennium and Malta’s membership in European Union.

Specifications 352 pp in full colour, 236x282 mm Hardbound 978-99932-7-204-5 €60.00; US$90.00; GB£58.50

71 | General history and tourism

Malta: Grand Harbour Guide Dane Munro

Malta is said to be a palimpsest of history. The human occupancy of the Maltese archipelago compares to its geology, layer after layer in succession, from Neolithic times to modern Maltese independence, with the Bronze Age, Phoenicians, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Normans, Angevins, Aragonese, the Knights of the Order of St John, the French and the British in between.

Writing about the harbour means a story about a number of linked promontories and inlets where eventually and inevitably all these civilizations landed.

Heritage

Specifications 48pp in full colour, 215x135mm Limpbound 978-99932-7-340-0 €5.00; US$6.85; GB£4.00

Specifications 364 pp per volume in colour and monochrome, 245x190mm Hardbound, 6 volumes €45.00; US$61.50; GB£37.00

edited by Pawlu Mizzi The remarkable story of Man in Malta: his magnificent feats – since the early prehistoric days when the unique neolithic temples were built to the latter Middle Ages when the island rescued the Order of St John and to the recent modem times, when the savagery of Hitler’s air attacks failed to shake his faith and courage ‑ is reproduced in Heritage.

Heritage originated as a part-work magazine that built up into an encyclopeadia of Maltese culture and civilization. Today the monumental work, to which some of the best scholars and researchers contributed, is available in six hardbound volumes. Each volume is packed with information and illustrations about all the facets and events which made Malta during the centuries what it is today. Each volume is indexed.

72 | Books in Maltese

Midsea Books are also mainstream publishers in the Maltese language with books ranging from young children to adults. Klabb Kotba Maltin, for adults, and Edizzjoni KlaKlaMin, for children, publish reference books, dictionaries, novels, short stories, translations, poetry, drama, Maltese reading schemes and children’s literature. Some of our publications include: N ovels and short stories

T ranslations

young adult literature

maltese reading scheme

YO U N G R E A D E R S

poetry

biographies

maltese legends and tales

Set up in 1969 by Pawlu Mizzi, a graduate in History and Librarianship. The publishing house pioneered and revolutionized the Maltese book trade Today the group is made up of Klabb Kotba Maltin, Edizzjoni Klaklamin and Heritage Books apart from Midsea Books itself. Each year, some 50 new titles are produced. Most of these publications fall under the history, art, and language category.

Klabb Kotba Maltin (Maltese book club), was the first to be established in 1969 with the aim of offering a range of books on Malta. KKM publishes a vast range of books in Maltese, spanning from children’s literature and text books, to novels, short stories, poetry, drama, history, language and reference work.

Edizzjoni Klaklamin produces children’s guided readers in Maltese, as well as other children’s titles.

Midsea Books was set up in 1974 and publishes academic and scholarly works in English.

Malta

is an island rooted in history. Many have considered it as the cradle of Mediterranean culture.

Since the dawn of civilization it has been at the crossroads of history. Its first inhabitants built huge temple complexes both above and below ground at least a thousand years before the Egyptians built their great pyramids; the Phoenicians colonized it and its ports flourished; the Romans declared it a municipality, defended by Cicero and described by Paul of Tarsus in the Acts of the Apostles; Frederick II conquered it; King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella declared its first aristocrats; the Knights Hospitaller made it their home and soon became the bulwark for Christendom and a magnet to the best architects and artists from Europe; General Napoleon made it his; and the British exploited its geographical position making it the a base for the troops in the First World War and the most bombarded during the Second World War; from here southern Europe was liberated until it gained its independence in 1964. Each epoch left its mark on Malta and intertwined the events happening on mainland Europe with that of this tiny island.

Located in the Mediterranean Sea, just south of Sicily, the Maltese archipelago consists of three islands: Malta, Gozo and Comino with a total population of just under 400,000. The distance between Malta and the nearest point in Sicily is 93 km. The distance from the nearest point on the North African mainland (Tunisia) is 288 km.

Gibraltar is 1,826 km to the west and Alexandria is 1,510 km to the east.

68, Carmelites Street Sta Venera Svr1724 · Malta Tel: +356 2149 7046 Fax: +356 2149 6904 www.midseabooks.com

Heritage Books, set up in 1999, aims to produce reference books in English with a popular appeal. Moreover, Heritage Books works closely with most agencies, foundations, museums and trusts involve in conserving Malta’s heritage.

Over the past 40 years, Midsea Books with its imprints Klabb Kotba Maltin and Heritage Books, have become a household name in Maltese publications and a hallmark for quality books about anything that Malta represents.

A number of books published are award winners or have been short-listed for awards both in Malta and overseas.

Contents in alphabetical order Archaeology and Prehistory 2–9 Architecture 51–53 Baroque Art in Malta 30–36 Books in Maltese 72 British Colonial History 48–49 Contemporary Art in Malta 39–47 Food and cooking / Medicine 67 General history and tourism 70–71 History of Art in Malta 37–38 Islamic World 12 Landscape and environment 54–56 Late Antiquity and Byzantine 11 Literature and linguistics 59–62 Medieval History 13 Photography 63–66 Punic and Roman 10 Politics and economics 68–69 Post-Medieval and the Modern World 14–16 Religion, philosophy and ethics 57–58 The Order of St John and the Knights of Malta 17–29 War Stories 50

1 | Archaeology and Prehistory

Midsea Books Ltd is Malta’s leading publisher.

68, Carmelites Street, Sta Venera Svr1724 路 Malta Tel: +356 2149 7046 Fax: +356 2149 6904 www.midseabooks.com UPDATED SPRING 2014