Book competition

This week’s competition prize is Enlightened Princesses: Caroline, Augusta, Charlotte, and the Shaping of the Modern World by Joanna Marschner with David Bindman and Lisa L. Ford (eds.). Click here for your chance to win.

Caroline of Ansbach (1683–1737), Augusta of Saxe-Gotha (1719–1772), and Charlotte of Mecklenberg-Strelitz (1744–1818) were three German princesses who became Queens Consort – or, in the case of Augusta, Queen in Waiting, Regent, and Princess Dowager – of Great Britain, and were linked by their early years at European princely courts, their curiosity, aspirations, and an investment in Enlightenment thought. This sumptuously illustrated book considers the ways these powerful, intelligent women left enduring marks on British culture through a wide range of activities: the promotion of the court as a dynamic forum of the Hanoverian regime; the enrichment of the royal collection of art; the advancement of science and industry; and the creation of gardens and menageries.  Objects included range from spectacular state portraits to pedagogical toys to plant and animal specimens, and reveal how the new and novel intermingled with the traditional.

For your chance to win simply answer the following question and submit your details here before midday on 9 June:

Q: Which famous botanical garden in London did Princess Augusta found in 1759?

For our last competition we offered Picturing America: the Golden Age of Pictorial Maps by Stephen J. Hornsby (University of Chicago Press/Library of Congress).

Q: Which two explorers led the 1804–06 expedition to map the territory of the Louisiana Purchase?

A: Lewis and Clark

Congratulations to the winner, Jane Willis.