I'm currently reading two fascinating books.  One is Lloyd Berry and
Robert Crummey's book "Rude and Barbarous Kingdom: Russia in Accounts
of Sixteenth-Century English Voyagers", which is about the Muscovy
Company founded in London in 1554, and contains first-hand accounts of
the extensive trade and travel with Russia between 1553 and 1604
(including all of the townspeople on the docks watching the arrival of
Russian ambassadors in London).  The second is "Life along the Silk
Road" by Susan Whitfield, an account of individuals who traveled the
Silk Road between 750-1000 AD, based on documents in the British
Library.  I'm also working on Chinese costume history in order to make
new garb for Hua Fu, and reorganizing and expanding my Russian
costuming information for an upcoming garb workshop in Carolingia.
