from the back cover: "Walker Illustrated Classics" are some of the best-loved stories ever told, illustrated by some of today's finest artists. These exquisitely designed books, with their magnificent words and glorious pictures, are a pleasure to read - and re-read.
While Galileo suffered under house arrest at the hands of Pope Urban VIII, the Thirty Years War ruined Europe, and the Pilgrims struggled to survive in the New World, work began on what would become one of the Seven Wonders of the World: the Taj Mahal. Built by the Moghul emperor Shah Jahan as a memorial to his beloved wife, Mumtaz Mahal, its flawless symmetry and gleaming presence have for cen…