Locations of events.

‘When legend becomes fact, print the legend!’ This film quote is very fitting for Rome’s early period. The Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus turned legend to fact, and people believed it for millennia. This edition from 1563 shows how popular his work remained.

Artists in modern Ethiopia are still producing paintings that draw their inspiration directly from Byzantium. This Ethiopian picture bible depicts scenes from the life of Jesus, thus recalling one of the oldest Christian kingdoms in history.

The court of the Sun King was a shark pool. Those who were popular – and who stepped on as few toes as possible – survived. Abbot de Bellegarde explained how to do this in the style of a modern manual. He wrote a bestseller.

Five Francs, 60 Francs, two Louisdor – what can money buy? A cup of coffee, a visit to the theater, the love of a woman? De Maupassant’s bestselling and highly entertaining novel shows that participation in social life is rarely possible without money.

One of the title pages of Honoré de Balzac’s novel The Wild Ass’s Skin is decorated with a strange squiggle. The sign is supposed to come from the 322nd chapter of a book by Laurence Sterne – however, such a chapter does not exist. We tell you what the enigmatic sign is all about and why it is sometimes worthwhile not skipping over the title pages of a book.