BDL Books, Malta

08/08/2025

🐜 Insects of the Maltese Islands 🦟

Insects of the Maltese Islands by Thomas Cassar and David Mifsud is a comprehensive and visually engaging guide to the diverse insect life found in the Maltese archipelago.

This meticulously researched book provides an in-depth look at the vast array of insect species that inhabit Malta, Gozo, and Comino, highlighting their ecological importance, behaviors, and habitats.

With detailed descriptions, high-quality photographs, and clear taxonomic information, the book serves as an invaluable resource for both amateur naturalists and professional entomologists.

The authors, both well-respected in the field of natural sciences, combine scientific accuracy with accessible language, making the book suitable for a wide audience, including students, educators, and conservationists.

It emphasizes the crucial role insects play in local ecosystems and the need for their conservation amidst growing environmental threats. Additionally, it sheds light on endemic and rare species, some of which are found nowhere else in the world.

🔸 Price: €55

⬛ Available from our shop in San Gwann and from our website with Free and Fast Delivery.

🐞 Since we will be on Shutdown between the 11th and the 17th of August, online orders will be dispatched on the 18th of August.

The book will be in bookshops from Wednesday 20th August.

05/08/2025

TREASURES OF MALTA - The new Summer 2025 edition is now available from our shop in San Gwann.

03/08/2025

✝️☪️ Malta and Holy War
Religion, Society, and the Spanish-Ottoman Conflict for the Mediterranean - Carmel Cassar

Carmel Cassar’s book offers a compelling examination of Malta’s pivotal role in the religious and political struggles that shaped the early modern Mediterranean.

Drawing extensively on sources from Malta, and elsewhere in Europe, Cassar explores how the Spanish- Ottoman conflict influenced both the island’s society and the chivalric Order of St John that ruled it.

The study deftly combines a focused analysis of Malta’s history with a broader interpretation of Mediterranean geopolitics, revealing how the legacies of ‘holy war’ and civilizational rivalry continued to echo through the centuries. The work stands as a significant contribution to both Maltese historiography and the wider narrative of Mediterranean history.

⬛Price: €30

🔸Available from our bookshop in San Gwann and from our website here 👉 https://bdlbooks.com/product/malta-and-holy-war/

30/07/2025

𝗕𝗲𝘁𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝟵𝘁𝗵 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝟭𝟯𝘁𝗵 𝗰𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀, the streets of Palermo echoed with the lyrical flow of 𝘚𝘪𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘰-𝘈𝘳𝘢𝘣𝘪𝘤.

This now-extinct language, born of the Abbasid conquest of Sicily in the 800s, was once the dominant spoken language across the island, used not only by Muslims, but also by Orthodox Christians and Jews.

From the bustling markets of 𝘉𝘢𝘭’𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘮 (modern day Palermo) to the fields of the interior, it served as the common tongue of a culturally vibrant, multi-religious society.

Even after the Normans conquered Sicily in the 11th century, 𝘚𝘪𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘰-𝘈𝘳𝘢𝘣𝘪𝘤 didn’t disappear overnight. It persisted under Christian rule for over a century, used in administration, poetry, science, and daily life.

Royal decrees were issued in Arabic.

Palermo’s churches inscribed their founding charters in Greek and Arabic.

For a time, Sicily was a beacon of 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘷𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘢; where Latin knights, Arab philosophers, and Greek scribes shared a court.

But as Latinization intensified, 𝘚𝘪𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘰-𝘈𝘳𝘢𝘣𝘪𝘤 gradually vanished from the island.

What survives today?

Only around 300 words scattered in modern Sicilian, such as 𝘻𝘪𝘣𝘣𝘪𝘣𝘣𝘶 (from zabīb, dried grape or raisin), 𝘨𝘪𝘶𝘨𝘨𝘪𝘶𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘢 (from juljulan, sesame), or 𝘻𝘢𝘧𝘧𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘢 (from zaʿfarān, saffron).

And yet, the language didn’t die entirely. Its last living descendant still breathes in:

𝘔𝘢𝘭𝘵𝘦𝘴𝘦, the national language of Malta.

A direct evolution of 𝘚𝘪𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘰-𝘈𝘳𝘢𝘣𝘪𝘤, Maltese preserves the grammar and Semitic roots of its Arab past, layered with centuries of Romance and English influence.

So the next time you hear Maltese spoken, or stumble upon a Sicilian word that sounds strangely Arabic, remember:

Sicily once spoke a language born of the East and nurtured among domes and fragrant citrus groves.

29/07/2025

‘I can’t stop thinking about this powerful book! Jo Piazza’s stunning dual-timeline novel explores womanhood, sacrifice, and the untold stories of our ancestors so beautifully … An absolute can’t miss’ - Reader Review

From bestselling author and award-winning journalist Jo Piazza, comes a transporting novel rooted in the author’s own family history about a long-awaited trip to Sicily, a disputed inheritance, and a family secret that some will kill to protect . . .

Sara Marsala barely knows who she is anymore after the failure of her business and marriage. On top of that, her beloved great-aunt Rosie passes away, leaving Sara bereft with grief. But Aunt Rosie’s death also opens an escape from her life and a window into the past by way of a plane ticket to Sicily, a deed to a possibly valuable plot of land, and a bombshell family secret. Rosie believes Sara’s great-grandmother Serafina, the family matriarch who was left behind while her husband worked in America, didn’t die of illness as family lore has it . . . she was murdered.

Thus begins a twist-filled adventure that takes Sara all over the picturesque Italian countryside as she races to solve a mystery and learn the story of Serafina—a feisty and headstrong young woman in the early 1900s thrust into motherhood in her teens, who fought for a better life not just for herself but for all the women of her small village. Unsurprisingly the more she challenges the status quo, the more she finds herself in danger.

As Sara discovers more about Serafina, she also realizes she is coming head-to-head with the same menacing forces that took down her great-grandmother. At once an immersive multigenerational mystery and an ode to the undaunted heroism of everyday women, The Sicilian Inheritance is an atmospheric, page-turning delight.

28/07/2025

Today we celebrate our dear boss’ birthday. A man who leads his company like an extended family and who has his real family with him, plying the book trade he founded over 30 years ago.
Happy birthday Tony Gatt xx

27/07/2025

One Rare Copy of 🔴 Acta Iuratorium et Consilii Civitatis et Insulae Maltae
Godfrey Wettinger

Price: €170

26/07/2025

🟨 BookLife Readers - Leveled Reading

This levelled approach to learning will build confidence in new readers and develop their skills at a far greater pace and with a better level of understanding.

By focusing on one sound instead of bombarding new readers with everything at once, you allow the reader to learn and master the new sound before progressing.

🔸 See the range of leveled reading books here 👉 https://bit.ly/BookLifeReadersBDL

Each book in this series focuses on one of the core sounds which feature at this level.

🔸 Available from our shop in San Gwann and through our website.

Prices vary.

🔸 We offer Free and Fast Delivery when spending €25. We also offer In-Store Collection free of charge.

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25/07/2025

Leveled Readers for only €3.50

At BDL we are always stocked up with various collections of Leveled Readers in both English and Maltese. Use the link in the comments below 👇

24/07/2025

⬛ Traġedji Maltin ta' Eddie Attard

It-traġedji msemmija b’dettalji f’dan il-ktieb jibdew b’dawk li ġraw mill-1800 ’hawn. Naturalment kien hemm ħafna oħrajn li seħħew qabel, u jista’ jkun hemm oħrajn li l-qarrejja stennew li jkunu rrakkuntati f’dan il-ktieb, ukoll.

F’din il-ġabra niltaqgħu wkoll ma’ traġedji li saru hawn Malta imma l-vittmi ma kinux Maltin. Barra minn hekk jissemmew ukoll traġedji oħra li seħħew barra minn xtutna, imma l-vittmi li ħallew kienu Maltin.

🟥 Eddie Attard dalwaqt jerġa' joħroġ il-ktieb Delitti f'Malta 1800-2021 li issa ilu nieqes sentejn u miegħu se toħroġ ukoll edizzjoni ġdida u aġġornata tad-delitti għas-snin 2022-2025.

23/07/2025

From the 🔥sizzling publication Bizarre Malta. Can you guess where this fine manor was located?

See the book Bizarre Malta here 👉 https://bdlbooks.com/product/bizarre-malta/