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Thames & Hudson No period has been more analyzed than the Renaissance. Modern emphasis is on its complexity of ideas in politics, religion, art and science and how they depend upon, influence and reflect one another. ‘The Renaissance Complete’ does away with watertight divisions by cross-referencing them and bringing the image of the Renaissance, itself, to centre stage. The result is a fascinating mix of topics including the revival of classical learning, the printing press, the rise of the nation-state, philosophy and the role of women. More than 1,000 illustrations focus on over 100 key topics, subject matter taking precedence over art history. This beautifully illustrated information resource provides a much needed compilation of biographies, museums and galleries and an illustrated glossary, all about the Renaissance.
Price: EUR 25.00
Thames & Hudson The latest book in the popular 'Seventy' series assesses the great battles and conflicts in history from the past twenty-five centuries. Organised chronologically into seven parts, the book encompasses the ancient, medieval and renaissance worlds as well as the battles of the past three hundred years right up to the conflict in Iraq. The contributors analyse not only the greatest land battles of all time, but sieges such as Constantinople (1453); naval battles such as Actium (31BC); Trafalgar (1805) and the crucial conflicts in the air during the Battle of Britain (1940) and the American attack on Japan (1945). Throughout the reader is presented with a masterly overview of the advances in military technology, how battlefield commanders responded to these changes and the impact of each battle. Richly illustrated, this book makes essential reading for anyone interested in military history.
Price: EUR 39.00
Minimalism in interior design, contrary to popular belief, is much more than plain white surfaces. Colour can be used to inspire and accent while still maintaing the principles of simplicity and elegance essential to the minimalist movement. Superbly illustrated, 'Minimalism & Colour' is the ideal guide for looking at colour in this way and the perfect book for anyone wanting to decorate in this exciting, modern style.
Price: EUR 29.00
Phaidon 'Cinema Today' is a survey of world cinema and the films that have dominated our screens over the past thirty years. During the mid twentieth century, film consolidated its position as the most popular of all art forms and Hollywood became the powerhouse of world cinema, but by the end of the sixties, Hollywood's domination was challenged by new forms of cinema and was forced to reinvent itself. Buscombe looks at the new Hollywood and its ability to react to change which has resulted in its continued dominance. He also surveys the cinemas of other significant centres of world production, such as Eastern and Western Europe, North Africa, Latin America and the Bollywood film industry of India. Influential directors such as Steven Spielberg, Chen Kaige and Jean-Luc Godard are featured alongside a new generation of film-makers including Paul Thomas Anderson, Lukas Moodysson and Samira Makhmalbaf. This gorgeous compendium is illustrated with over 700 colour images.
Price: EUR 39.95
Bussard, Ward & Lee - Street Art: Street Life from the 1950’s to Now Aperture Foundation This beautiful photographic art book examines the street as subject matter, venue and source of inspiration for nearly forty international artists and photographers. In a series of essays looking at street photography, documentation of performances, events and artworks presented in the street, as well as works made using materials left on the street as rubbish, this volume provides an illuminating perspective on an issue which has become one of the key concepts in today’s contemporary art. This stimulating review of artists and photographers takes place in a familiar setting, one close to home!
Price: EUR 34.00
This book describes six very different British gardens dating from the 16th Century to the 1960s which are currently being restored, rescued or recreated. "Hidden Gardens" unearths their long buried histories, examines old plans and gardening techniques and follows the restoration process. In each project, clues are pieced together to form a picture of what the gardens originally looked like and tales uncovered of how they became hidden and forgotten. The result is a beautifully photographed detective story which will captivate all garden-lovers.
..Work Victoria & Albert Museum Other books have dwelt on Chanel’s tempestuous private life. Here for the first time, the focus is on Chanel the couturiére, her innovations and the immense influence she has had on the way modern women still like to dress today. In the years around World War I, Gabrielle Chanel challenged the world of fashion head on: her easy to wear garments, showy paste jewellery and the ‘little black dress,’ new then, have now become fashion staples, which are still being revised and reinvented each year. Wonderfully illustrated with black & white and colour photographs, the book gives credit to this inspirational, intuitive, clever designer who once famously said: ‘Fashion is not something that exists in dresses only; fashion is something in the air. It’s the wind that blows in the new fashion, you feel it coming, you smell it…’
Price: EUR 22.00
Little Brown This sumptuously varied album brings together a century of ‘Vogue’ magazine covers, both illustrated and photographic from 1916 until 2006. The striking images of fashion icons as well as popular celebrities are captured here by some of the century’s leading fashion photographers. This surprisingly varied collection presents the face of the world’s most influential fashion magazine and superbly illustrates changing fashions and ideas of beauty over the last hundred years.
Here be Dragons: A Fantastic Bestiary, A & C Delacampagne, Princeton U. Press This lavishly illustrated compendium reveals the marvellous menagerie of imaginary beasts that humans have conjured up through the ages! The authors take us on a visually and intellectually rich journey through five thousand years of art examining the symbolic meaning of such creatures and what they reveal about the unconscious life of the human mind. The Delacampagnes identify five basic structures: the unicorn, human headed animals, animal headed humans, flying quadrupeds and dragons. Each provide fascinating insight into the sociological and psychological realms of human experience. This inspiring book is the first to explore fantastic bestiary with such a wide cross cultural and chronological range.
Price: EUR 49.00
Scotland's six thousand miles of contorted coastline create a wonderland of islands, mountains, stacks and secret inlets. It is a serene yet chaotic landscape in which every isle has a distinct personality. This is the first complete gazetteer to cover all of Scotland's many hundreds of islands providing indispensable information for touring, browsing, reference and for all of those travellers who wish to experience some of the most beautiful and remote places in the world. Haswell-Smith's exquisite sketches and watercolours, which illustrate the book, have been exhibited in many top British and European galleries. This work is a monumental labour of love which communicates the author's passion for island hopping and combines it delightfully with his talents as an artist.
Hockney's Portraits and People, David Hockney, Thames & Hudson This beautiful collection of portraits from the last fifty years reads like a storybook of Hockney's friends and family. Hockney reveals in his playful drawings, collages and watercolours a record of lives and loves changing over the years. A book which can be read from cover to cover or dipped into again and again, it exhibits Hockney's warm and witty interaction with those around him and gives us an unique insight into the artist's life. This is a great book not only for the art lover, but also for those fascinated by the "the human clay" and watching a story unfold in everyday gesture and expression.
Hockney's art is a celebration of what it is to be alive. Each of his pictures, sometimes tender as when he draws close friends and family, sometimes playful as when he is painting lazy summer days at the pool, sometimes awe inspiring as in his images of the Grand Canyon, all convey what it means to be in the world, to see it, to move in it, and to love it. 'Hockney's Pictures' is the first definitive 'retrospective' showing the evolution and diversity of Hockney's prolific paintings, drawings, watercolours, prints and photography. The works, including many new and previously unpublished, have been selected by the artist himself with his own quotes attached to them, illuminating the passionate thinking behind each work.
This extraordinary book is not just a 'needlework manual', it is also a form of yoga for the hands. Just looking at the exquisite photos, taken with great artistic expertise, is pure joy. Erika Knight introduces modern varations on a traditional theme, twenty innovative and fashionable crochet designs to fit contemporary as well as more classical homes. Most of her creations are based on the natural colour palette infused with dashes of vivid colours such as pink or green shades which give them a fresh look. The selection of different yarns is also most unusual, including materials such as leather, parcel string and Raffia. The range of these home textiles stretches from a luxurious leather floor cushion to storage boxes in parcel string and includes objects such as Turkish slippers, different kinds of throws and blankets and even the 'good old' tea cosy makes an appearance for the modern table. And the best thing is that all these fantastic designs are very easy and quick to make.
Cassell This visual testament to the world’s greatest architectural achievements encompasses a comprehensive, yet concise entry of each individual structure listed: who designed it; who commissioned it; key dates in its construction and much more. For example, we are told about the historical and geographical considerations that influenced the shape and size of each building while stunning photography illustrates the technical ingenuity and aesthetic genius of the individual architects involved. Organised chronologically, this wonderful, informative compendium begins with the ancient world to the present time, displaying a treasure trove of architecture from Byzantine and Gothic wonders, the incredible wealth of the Renaissance and Baroque periods and modern day buildings, such as Norman Foster’s Reichstag redesign in Berlin. A delight for the casual browser as well as the architecture buff, this book makes for essential reading.
Oxford University Press This definitive reference work makes an ideal present for amateur and professional photographers, students of art history or anyone interested in social history over the last 150 years. It contains features and articles by many of the world's leading experts and practitioners and explores more than 300 illustrations, many of them classic iconic photographs, as well as some published here for the first time. In addition to a wide range of technical information, the book encapsulates recent scholarship on photography as a social and artistic practice. No serious photographer should be without this unique volume.
Price: EUR 69.00
Phaidon 'Rewind' charts the history and design of advertising over the last forty years. Covering a wide range of creative disciplines including graphic design, television, press and poster advertising, packaging, product and environmental design, music videos and interactive medium, Myerson and Vickers set out their historical framework and discuss the main developments since the sixties. The material for the book is drawn from extensive archives, for example, D & AD (British Design and Art Direction) and other vital sources. For anyone with a professional or private interest in the development of visual communication or popular culture, this book is not to be missed.
Price: EUR 49.95
Anne-Marie Millard's message is crystal clear - get lean while you clean! Abandon expensive and time-consuming gym visits and save the money for the important things in life, like shoes. By solely using household chores as a form of exercise, she shows us how to turn our kitchen or living-room into our own personal gym. This entertaining and highly motivating book is packed with ideas on how to sweep, iron and polish your body into shape while doing the hoovering, making the dinner or sorting out the laundry. The beauty of the workouts lie in their simplicity - simple stretches and easy-to-follow press-ups will have you looking toned and trim in no time - provided you stick to a rigid cleaning routine, of course. Millard also throws in some basic but very serviceable recipes and a few greatly effective tricks of the trade. Designed to make exercise fun and not the boring regime it often turns into, 'The Kitchen Gym' is ideal for anyone who loves to multitask and desires the body of a true domestic goddess without any extra effort!
Price: EUR 19.00
Veteran comedian and traveller, Michael Palin, now takes on the greatest mountain range on earth in a journey rarely, if ever, attempted before. His six month odyssey took him from the Pakistan-Afghan frontier through India, Nepal, Tibet and Yunnan in China, before he recrossed the mountains to Assam, Bhutan and Bangladesh. This book, written in his entertaining style, records an amazing voyage of discovery as he faced altitudes as high as 17,500 feet, milked a yak, bathed an elephant and met the Dalai Lama. Superbly illustrated with photographs of the finest mountain scenery in the world, 'Himalaya' is adventure at the very highest level.
Thames & Hudson Complementing his bestselling 'The Most Beautiful Villages of England', Hugh Palmer has now brought out a stunning sequence of images representing twenty-five of the most charming small towns of rural and seaside England. With over 250 colour illustrations, and very observant commentaries, he introduces us to market towns, towns which grew up by river crossings, small ports harbouring both fishing and trading fleets, centres of religious activities and spas. A must-have for the armchair or actual traveller, listing special places to visit, stay and dine in England's glorious countryside.
BBC Books The Natural History Museum in London and the ‘BBC Wildlife Magazine’ collaborate for the famous ‘Wildlife Photographer of the Year’ competition, open to both amateur and professional photographers throughout the world. This outstanding collection of nature photographs showcases all the winning and commended entries. The range of subjects and styles is diverse, depicting bird behaviour, plants, creatures underwater and animals in their environment. You need not be a photographer or wildlife enthusiast yourself to appreciate the beauty, wonder and importance of the natural world displayed so creatively in this eye-catching book.
Orion With Detective Inspector John Rebus, Ian Rankin has created one of the most famous characters in crime fiction. 'Rebus's Scotland' leads us into Rebus's world but this unique book has more to offer - it is also partly Ian Rankin's autobiography and partly a book about modern-day Scotland. Rankin shares quite a few features with his fictional character Rebus and their lives are inextricably linked. The novels are mainly set in Edinburgh and get their authentic feel from Rankin's use of real locations as much as possible so we learn, for example, that Rebus's favourite haunt, Oxford Bar, really exists. We also find the origins of different characters in the series, like Rebus's colleague, Siobhan Clarke, and certain in-jokes are explained. Ian Rankin portrays an image of Scotland and, in particular, Edinburgh which is very different from the traditional one. He shows this other, darker and more realistic Edinburgh behind the glossy tourist façade which is also documented by the wonderfully impressive black and white photos in this book. If you haven't met John Rebus, yet this book is the reason to get started now!
Price: EUR 29.90
Inspirational Interiors from Northern Europe Thames & Hudson From Denmark to Sweden and Poland, from Russia to Finland and Estonia, from Germany to Latvia and Lithuania, lavishly illustrated ‘Baltic Homes’ presents over twenty homes from this fascinating, wind-swept part of northern Europe. The pictures reveal a sometimes nostalgic, sometimes modern look at this region, with 262 photographs all seductively presented to capture a distinctive, deceptively simple and inspirational lifestyle. This beautiful, evocative book makes an ideal Christmas gift.
With disarming force, ‘Power & Art’ jolts us far away from our comfort zone, as Simon Schama closes in on intense make-or-break turning points in the lives of eight great artists who, under extreme stress, created something unprecedented, changing the course of art forever. The embattled artist/heroes – Caravaggio, Bernini, Rembrandt, David, Turner, van Gogh, Picasso and Rothko – faced crisis with steadfast defiance, challenging convention, shifting awareness and changing the way we look at the world. Schama explores the dynamic personalities of these artists, and the spirit of the times they lived in. He traces, at the same time, the extraordinary evolution of eight world-class works of art, pointing out how important creativity or that ‘bolt of illumination’ really is to the human soul in the search for meaning.
BBC Books In this lavish companion to the BBC series of the same name, renowned science writers, Stewart and Lynch, use powerful imagery and latest scientific discoveries to elucidate how our remarkable planet both functions and survives. Earth has survived four and a half billion years of being buffeted by internal as well as external forces. Each chapter in this well researched book focuses on one of the earth’s powerful forces, such as plate tectonics, the ocean, its molten core, its atmosphere and ice and explores how each has played its role in keeping the earth alive. The authors also point out that the earth has been able to sustain complex life thanks to an extraordinary number of lucky breaks and coincidences. They predict its eventual demise as the sun heats up and expands, but ask also whether we are not hastening its end through our own irresponsible actions. A thought-provoking analysis.
New Holland This fantastic book takes us on a journey throughout England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland to discover the different places associated with literature and its creators. The most prominent British and Irish writers are included, among them Virginia Woolf, Dylan Thomas, Sir Walter Scott and W.B. Yeats, but there are also many lesser-known names included. With the help of excellent photographs we become witness the places where writers have found inspiration, lived and loved. We see their birthplaces, homes, schools, workplaces and even get a chance to visit their graveyards or museums to celebrate their achievements in Britain's long and distinguished literary history. The selection of authors is enormous since the book covers a wide range of genres, such as travel writing, crime fiction, poetry, children's books and biographies. This literary guide is a successful combination of a practical handbook with its clear and detailed maps and an aesthetic pleasure one can indulge in. This is the kind of present you will want to keep for yourself!
The Cities Book: A Journey through the Best Cities in the World, Lonely Planet, € 49,00 Lonely Planet is one of the biggest names in travel guides. In this stunning coffee table book, they present the 200 most vibrant, diverse, hypnotic and chaotic cities in the world. The cities were chosen via a survey which ran on the lonely planet website asking travellers and staff to nominate their favourites. The top five hold no major surprises – Paris, New York, Sydney, Barcelona and London but also on display is the great diversity of city life as it is experienced all over the globe from ancient cities such as La Paz and Quito to high tech, futuristic cities such as Hong Kong and Tokyo. Vivid imagery and insightful text capture the flavour of each city making this collection a great gift for the seasoned or armchair traveller.
Jenny Uglow - Words and Pictures: Writers, Artists and the Peculiarly British Tradition Faber As children learning to read, we first look at the illustrations which tell us as much about the subject matter as the text. Ms. Uglow asks whether illustrations tell a different story to the text and how artists have responded and, indeed, influenced how great written texts have been interpreted. She takes Milton’s ‘Paradise Lost’ and Hogarth’s ‘Pilgrims Progress’ to examine how their protagonists are illustrated, particularly the depiction of Satan rousing his legions in ‘Paradise lost.’ Uglow also examines the collaborative relationship between writers and artist, such as Dickens and Plinz, Lewis Carroll and Tenniel. Her study touches on a peculiarly British tradition of community and defiance of authority, unmasking pretension and celebrating energy and warmth. She links daily life to the universal themes of salvation and damnation along with a passionate appreciation of the ‘sublime’. A wonderful read!
In the winter of 1888, Edith Wharton, twenty-six years old and three years married decided there was nothing she wanted more in the world than to take a cruise in the Mediterranean. This book is her elegant record of that journey. As sophisticated and erudite as any of her novels, the diary lay undiscovered for many years. This beautiful book, illustrated by distinguished photographer Jonas Dovydenas, is the first British edition of her travel memoir. In ' Vanadis' we have a kind of dress rehearsal for the fiction of one of America's greatest novelists.
Thames & Hudson From Manet's earliest depictions of the Tuileries Gardens in Paris to Monet's waterlilies painted at Giverny, the Impressionists' love affair with gardens has left an exhilarating legacy. This wonderfully illustrated and inspiring book explores the Impressionists' fascination with gardens, parks and flowers in the context of the changing political and cultural landscape in France. Drawing on extensive sources, such as gardening journals and Baudelaire's poetry, it describes how gardens were central to the Impressionists' discovery of space and light and brings to life the enchanting tradition of floral symbolism in nineteenth century France. This book will appeal equally to the scholar, art lover or gardening enthusiast.
World Atlas of Golf: The Greatest Courses and How They are Played Hamlyn The World Atlas of Golf has established itself as a must for anyone with even the slightest interest in the sport. This updated and revised edition, abounding with illustrations and information, transports the reader to the world's best locations from the Old Course at St. Andrews, Scotland to the sub-tropical Bali Handara Country Club. An inspiring book, combining history and architecture and giving details of the special challenges of certain holes in such fascinating way, that gives the reader a real sense of being there.
This beautifully illustrated value for money hardback is the perfect Christmas gift for book lovers. The reviews are illustrated in colour and compiled by lecturers, writers and book lovers who simply share their pleasure, surprise, even indignation with the rest of us in their personal choices. This comprehensive guide will inspire you to read more extensively and explore new areas of knowledge. The reviews incorporate memoirs, modern and classic fiction, sci-fi and thrillers, children’s books and history in this unique blend of essays, packed with information and anecdotes.
Price: EUR 19.90
