2026's Most Talked-About Illustrated History Book

In London this month, people are queuing for a picture of a battle from 1066. The British Museum opened its Bayeux Tapestry exhibition on 10 September, and according to Time Out London, tickets for September through December are sold out. It is the first time the work has returned to England since it was made, nearly a thousand years ago.

The object at the center of it all is not a book. It is a strip of linen roughly 70 metres (230 feet) long, stitched in coloured wool around the 1070s, and it is not even a tapestry: technically it is embroidery. But it is the closest thing the 11th century had to an illustrated history book, and the fact that a crowd is still lining up for it says something about what people still want from military history.

Consider what is actually in it: 600-plus figures, 200 horses, 40 ships, and a Norman patron’s version of events that brands Harold Godwinson an oath-breaker. It never explains itself, and that is the whole lesson: people remember a war they have seen far longer than one they were only told about.

That appetite, for history you can see rather than history you are told, is exactly what The Codex of Military History was made for. It is a 300+ page illustrated encyclopedia of weapons, warriors and military strategy, drawn by Ukrainian artists in a Da Vinci-inspired style, and it gives you the helicopter view of how war unfolded, from Early Weapons to War of Tomorrow.

It is also clear about what it is: not a glorification of war, but a study of how war shaped empires, technology, leadership and survival. And it is not a school textbook. It is the kind of book you open at a random page, meaning to look at one thing, and look up an hour later.

The Codex is organised by era rather than A to Z, six of them: Early Weapons, Empires at War, Medieval Warfare, The Gunpowder Age, Modern Weaponry and War of Tomorrow. Weapons, warriors and strategy sit together, so a period reads as one sweep instead of scattered entries. Julius Caesar, Sun Tzu, Genghis Khan, Richard the Lionheart, Joan of Arc, Napoleon and Churchill are all in there, and so are the details a syllabus skips: a Roman testudo formation,war camels with their equipment shown in cross-section, an AK-47 set against an M16.

The pictures are the point. Each illustration is museum-quality and made to be lingered over, so you see how events unfolded rather than just what they were called. It is the same trick the Tapestry pulled in the 1070s, with a far bigger cast.

Nobody keeps a chart for that, and we will not pretend otherwise. What we can do is show you how people talk about it once it is in their hands.

It is big. The book is larger than A4, about 14 × 10 inches (25 × 35 cm), so it belongs on a desk or coffee table, not in a bag. It is built for browsing: you open it anywhere and follow whatever catches your eye. If you want one continuous narrative about a single war, a different kind of book will serve you better.

The current price is shown in the product card. It covers a foil-stamped hardcover with silver-gilded page edges, a protective slipcase, a premium presentation box and the artwork inside. Delivery is tracked. Free standard shipping applies to eligible destinations. Delivery times vary by destination; see our shipping policy for estimates and exclusions. If it is not for you, See our Returns & Refund Policy for current eligibility and time limits.

The Codex is illustrated by Ukrainian artists working across Kyiv, Lviv and smaller cities while the Russian invasion continued around them. The project is led by Vlad Khvyshchuk, and it began with a personal question: his young son Abel kept asking about knights, inventions and how the world worked, and Vlad started answering with drawings.

The studio's first Codex raised $508,241 from 5,327 backers in 44 days on Kickstarter. The Codex of Military History followed, with 4,645 backers pledging $506,870. Every copy sold supports the studio directly. You do not have to buy it for that reason: the pages make the case on their own. But it is worth knowing who drew them, and when.