Unicorn Publishing Group is a leading independent publisher with four imprints: Unicorn, visual arts and cultural history imprint; Uniform, specialising in military history; Universe, its historical fiction imprint; and Unify, which publishes philosophy titles.
Highlights across the imprints include Adrift - The Curious Tale of The Lego Lost at Sea, Cromwell, a history of sound Back To Bach, From Mozart to Moog and The Song of Seven Cloaks
Book SynopsisNiko Pirosmanashvili comprehensively tells the story of the life and work of elusive Georgian painter Niko Pirosmanashvili (c.1866-1918), popularly known as Pirosmani, during one of the most interesting epochs in the history of Georgia. Key essays, both recollections by those who knew him and contemporary scholarship, explore his life as an impoverished artist living in Tbilisi. Charting his influence on the Georgian and Russian avant-gardists to the Modernists, including Picasso, and the parallels he holds with Henri Rousseau and Vincent Van Gogh, the artist''s wider cultural impact is also examined from Georgian and international perspectives, past and present. Illustrations of his artwork, alongside a wealth of photographs from Georgia from the beginning of the twentieth century, make this a richly visual resource. With a foreword by Orhan Pamuk, this evocative book is the result of a meticulous process of assemblage by two artists dedicated to broadening Pirosmanashvili's legacy an
£71.25
Book SynopsisStarting in 1966, Thea Porter designed clothes for the rich and famous for nearly two decades. Her creations were made from sumptuous fabrics that drew inspiration from the Middle East, combining richly patterned silks with antique fabrics. Her clothes were a must for music and film stars such as Pink Floyd, Crystal Gayle, Elizabeth Taylor, and Barbra Streisand. Porter soon became a key member of an innovative group of British designers that included Ossie Clark, Zandra Rhodes, and Jean Muir, and her place in the history of British fashion was ensured when she was named Designer of the Year in 1972. Thea Porter’s scrapbook is her story in her own words, an unpublished autobiography she put together before her death in 2000. Edited by her daughter Venetia, and with an essay by fashion historian Amy de la Haye, it reveals Porter’s further talents as a keenly observant and descriptive writer. This book which includes working drawings, sketches, snapshots, and manuscript notes, serves as a memoir of her early life and career, charting many memorable episodes, including the dramatic surge of American interest in her clothes, and the opening of her shop in Paris as she pursued her ambition to create dresses “beyond trend and tat, that thirty years from today will still be beautiful.”Trade Review"The whole book is a great slice of fashion history." --Alexandra Shulman, former editor-in-chief, British Vogue; "A captivating book…Porter’s writing resembles her designs – it is often…a sensual patchwork…Like a wardrobe overflowing with wondrous clothes, the book is stuffed with photographs and paintings" Kate Kellaway, The Observer
£24.00
Book SynopsisOther Ranks is a First World War classic, first published in 1931 but quickly lost in the wave of war memoirs and novels. It is the fictionalised account of William Tilsley's war experiences through the eyes of ordinary soldier Dick Bradshaw in the 55th West Lancashire Division. This authentic memoir of life and death on the front line begins with Bradshaw’s “C” Company leaving the depot at Etaples and heading for their first engagement at the front on the Somme in the Autumn of 1916. Over the next fourteen months it follows the chores behind the line and unwelcome stints on the front line through to his wounding during the Third battle of Ypres in 1917 and subsequent return to Blighty. As well as criticism of the conduct of the war, there is description of the desolation of the landscape and continual conditions of the trenches as experienced by the Poor Bloody Infantry (PBI); wet, cold, frost bite, trench foot, shelling and general life in trenches with continual risk of collapse. War is not a chivalrous experience and his narrative does not hold back in his thoughts and feelings concerning soldiers behind the lines out of the reach of the guns and those at the top. This new edition follows research by Gaye Magnall and is accompanied by introductions from relatives of the three main characters, O'Neill, Magnall and WVT's great nephew, David Tilsley.Trade Review‘Mr. Blunden remarks that Mr. Tilsley “misses nothing.” He has, indeed, a very keen eye. Mr. Tisley’s description of an attack on the Somme is as vivid as anything of the sort that has been written’ Times Literary Supplement, 16 April 1931 ‘An unvarnished account…he gives us modestly the prose of the matter; of mud, stench, lice, fatigue, cold, fear, danger and death’ The Guardian, 18 March 1931 ‘This re-publication of W V Tilsley’s Other Ranks, a book at the pinnacle of the mountain of other ranks writing about the Great War after 88 years came as both surprise and pleasure. Although frequently, and unfairly, described as a forgotten book, it is one with a great reputation’ Stand To!
£13.49
Book SynopsisBernard Leach (1887-1979) was as renowned in Japan and the East as in Europe and America, both as an artist-craftsman and as a thinker. His interpretation of the traditions of the Orient in the making of pots - and in evolving a philosophy of life - was a lodestar for many potters in the West. Beyond East and West, first published in 1978, is more than an autobiography. Full of sharply- etched and amusing recollections, it contains much of Leach’s deeper thought and a great deal too about the practical application of his ideas. Its recurrent theme is the meeting of East and West at all levels - artistic, cultural, social, political.
£28.00
Book SynopsisLook Where We’re Going is a book of revelation and revolution. Written by someone who has been at the centre of British government and international affairs for half a century, it looks afresh at the ideas, hopes, lessons and largely unintended consequences of successive generations of political leaders; it shows us how to Look Where We’re Going. Based on deep personal experience – the author is one of the few left who served in Margaret Thatcher’s first Cabinet of just over forty years ago – Howell gives us a new picture of the dramas deep inside government and how yesterday’s clashes of ideology and personality have led to today’s unanticipated turmoil. Old assumptions are torn apart and accepted versions of what occurred are unravelled. Howell shows how technology has made much of our conventional political vocabulary obsolete, how we now need quite different types of leadership serving new priorities and how, while we wrestle with the issues just before our eyes, much bigger forces are at work which are re-shaping our lives and our future.
£15.00
Book SynopsisAS FEATURED ON BBC LONDON NEWS. Take four seasons, one photographer, eighty species, hundreds of miles on foot in a city of ten million people and through intimate and captivating portraits meet London's wild neighbours. London is not just a city of ten million people, it is also home to an extraordinary diversity of beautiful wildlife. With world population exploding and more and more countryside being lost to urban sprawl or commercial agriculture, the sharing of urban space with nature is more important than ever. To achieve this, we have to preserve and increase the green and blue spaces in our cities and see and love the wildlife that we already have. Since London is my city, I set out to observe and create photographic portraits of all the creatures I could find. Whilst this has taken many hundreds of hours, it has been the happiest time imaginable as I immersed myself in the sweetness and delight of my wild neighbours.Trade Review"This magnificent book offers a surprising new angle on London." * Daily Mail (UK) *"Stunning images of animals. . . . An incredible array of natural beauty in our country." * The Lady (UK) *"These pictures are glorious. I cannot recommend this book more highly." * The Carrie and David Grant Show, BBC Radio London *"I read this book with envy at the author's ability to share peace and tranquility with the wilderness around her, allowing the wild creatures to feel safe enough to come as close to her as you can see in her amazing images." * Outdoor Photography Magazine *"There is ever increasing evidence that proximity to nature is highly effective in combating a wide range of mental and physical health issues. Wild Neighbours should be a compulsory prescription for all Londoners in these challenging times—not just a visual tonic, but a constant reminder of the extraordinary wealth of flora and fauna at our doorstep." -- Mark Adlington, author of Painting the Ice Bear"From the mighty stags of Richmond Park to the smallest beetle in a back garden, Cheesbrough’s evocative photographs will make your heart soar with the magic and wonder of nature and hope for the future." -- Sophy Fearnley-Whittingstall, founder, SFW Communications"Cheesbrough’s stunning portraits of London wildlife are a joy to behold. They’re also a timely reminder of how much we have to gain from being more generous with our urban spaces, how allowing nature into our own backyards not only addresses the desperate questions of biodiversity loss but is balm for the soul." -- Isabella Tree, author of Wilding
£21.25
Book SynopsisIn seven linked essays, the author discusses paintings of industrial scenes by seven artists working in the period 1780–1830. Their unique and distinct responses to the subject matter reveal a surprisingly coherent message.Trade Review"Art and industry may sound like an unlikely combination, usually we see them almost at the extremes of the spectrum of life. That is to say, Art embodies creativity while industry channels efficiency and standardization. David Stacey, in his book Art and Industry: Seven Artists in Search of an Industrial Revolution in Britain, explores how those extremes can come together." * Daily Art Magazine *"The chapters contain much information about the artists themselves as well as many other people, and this is one of the strengths of the work in that some of this information may be appearing for the first time in the form of a published book. Although each of the essays purports to deal with a single painter more are included and there are a large number of biographical references. For the research worker in this field the book can be highly recommended. . . . This is a detailed scholarly book. . . . It is very-well referenced; there are copious notes, an extensive bibliography and a good index. David Stacey is to be complimented on a fine work." * International Journal for the History of Engineering & Technology *
£21.25
Book SynopsisThis intriguing book investigates the very rare discovery of a huge, lost, Last Supper painting produced in the workshop of Tiziano Vecellio, known as Titian. The discoloured canvas hung neglected in a parish church for 110 years until the conservator and art historian Ronald Moore removed centuries of discoloured varnish and began to appreciate that something exceptional was being revealed. Following extensive scientific examination, signatures and dates appeared whilst it also became apparent that some faces were actually portraits. The early history of the painting in a Venetian convent was discovered with the enthusiastic help of the modern Venetian, Count Francesco da Mosto, whose family knew Titian. The many painters of Titian's workshop are considered with careful circumspection to determine possible contributors to the Last Supper and the remarkable reason for the many changes, or pentimenti, are explained. After 10,500 hours of research and the translation of countless Italian documents and books, the full history of the painting has been revealed. We now know that the painting is far more than a Last Supper from Titian's workshop, painted by at least five artists over twenty years, but is actually a painting within a painting involving other prominent painters and a denouement unparalleled in Renaissance art.
£17.00
Book SynopsisBorn in 1852 in a small coastal town in Scotland, Helen D’Oyly Carte, through academic brilliance and an incredible talent for ‘managing chaos’, developed and ran the world’s foremost top entertainment and hospitality organisation with her husband, Richard D’Oyly Carte (known as D’Oyly). By the age of 30, she was running five Gilbert & Sullivan companies for the Savoy Group in the United States, crossing the Atlantic thirty times, and for the next three decades she ran the Savoy Theatre, the Savoy Hotel, Claridges and Simpson's-in-the-Strand. She was the only one trusted by the prickly, brilliant William Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan, to keep them from breaking apart, as they so regularly wanted to do. From a conventional upbringing, she chose to remain in London after the emigration of her family to Australia, first as an actress, then working alongside D’Oyly – she took over the reins as he became ill in the late 1880s. Until her death in 1913, she flourished and was famous, interviewed and admired, in a competitive, vibrant London that was the centre of world power and commerce. Queen of The Savoy charts Helen’s course from Wigtown to the West End, where running a company with hundreds of employees, led to her fame and fortune. The artists Whistler and Sickert were friends and immortalised her in portraits. She was known in her time as the true founder of the Gilbert and Sullivan franchise and this biography will bring to light, some 110 years after her death, the extraordinary role that she played in one of Britain’s greatest success stories.Trade Review‘This lively account of the life of Helen D’Oyly Carte is an extraordinary journey through the arts and business in Victorian and Edwardian Britain, as seen through the eyes of the ‘Queen of the Savoy’. Surfacing the stories of women who have often been rendered invisible is dependent on painstaking research. Elisabeth Kehoe has left no stone unturned in her excavation of the life story of this exceptional woman - an act of tenacity by the author that matches the essence of the subject of this fascinating book.’ - Professor Jo Fox, Pro Vice Chancellor (Research and Engagement) and Dean of the School of Advanced Study, University of London
£999.99
Book SynopsisWinner of the Architectural Book Awards 2020 Architectural History Book of the Year. Cameron Mackintosh is the world’s leading theatrical producer of musicals such as Cats, Les Misérables and The Phantom of the Opera. He is also a significant theatre owner and has completed a two-decade campaign of refurbishment and rebuilding of eight London theatres that has set the tempo for maintaining one of Britain’s greatest cultural heritages for the next century. Master of the House charts the stories of these eight historic London buildings – their origins, their iconic shows and productions, the stars and the glamour. Lavishly illustrated with images from the Delfont Mackintosh archive, the book also contains original architect drawings, specially-commissioned photographs of the refurbishment, show posters and other theatre ephemera, and many sweeping panoramas of the exquisitely finished spaces.
£32.00
Book SynopsisWe all consume architecture – it’s the one artform we can’t avoid. So it’s hardly surprising that the finest writers have applied their minds to it. Most of them aren’t architects, but their powers of perception are such that what they say gets under the skin of a building – and gives us a lesson in how to look at architecture. You’ll be entertained and enlightened as you find out why Goethe went from being dismissive of Strasbourg Cathedral to being an awed admirer; why Ruskin was offended by decorated shopfronts; why D.H. Lawrence loved Etruscan temples; why Tom Wolfe ridiculed the Seagram Building; why Vita Sackville-West saw Chatsworth as an alien interloper; why Rose Macaulay was passionate about ruins; And what Evelyn Waugh thought of Gaudí. The answers, and plenty more, are all here. Knowing them will transform the way you see buildings and deepen your understanding of architecture.
£21.25
Book SynopsisThe beauty and magic of nature seen through the eye of a needle. Colours of flowers and shapes of plants; bleached grass and golden cornfields at harvest time; spiders webs on the structures of decayed seedheads; a metallic green chafer beetle landing on a deep crimson rose; a shooting star. Beguiling discoveries that are part of the world full of secrets, minute details and the sumptuous colours and textures of nature that lend themselves to their translation into rich embroidery. This embroidered path of the seasons uses hand embroidery in its traditional role of storytelling to share nature's gifts. Each stitch holds the emotion of the moment and keeps a record. The book tells the story of the companionship and healing offered by the seasons during the enforced isolation of the pandemic, and how it enabled the artist to find beauty in solitude.
£21.25
Book SynopsisSuccess leaves clues. In The Perceptive Investor, global hedge fund manager Ardal Gronager shows that by learning from the world's most successful value investors and notable business figures it is possible to better understand the depth and breadth of the full investment landscape and confidently participate in it. Part One explores the financial concepts needed to become a successful value investor while Part Two outlines the individual securities selection process he uses at Gronager Partners. Honed from Standing on the Shoulders of Giants' and years of experience in both business and in markets some painful!'Your goal as an investor should be simply to purchase, at a rational price, a part interest in an easily understood business whose earnings are virtually certain to be materially higher, five, ten, and twenty years from now. Over time, you will find only a few companies that meet those standards so when you see one that qualifies, you should buy a meaningful amount.' - Warren E. Buffett, Chairman of Berkshire HathawayWith humility, a fascination for business and endless intellectual curiosity, it is possible to find your own formula for value investing success. This book will give you the educational grounding you need for success on your own value investing journey and perhaps more importantly, help you to avoid, many of the potential mistakes. ?'The more hard lessons you can learn vicariously rather than through your own hard experience, the better.' - Charles T. Munger, vice-chairman of Berkshire HathawayAll Authors proceeds from the sale of this book will be donated for the benefit of the Financial Times: Financial Literacy & Inclusion Campaign (FT FLIC). You can learn more about this charity by visiting their website: www.ftflic.com
£24.00
Book SynopsisAllen Jones has created some of the most powerful and provocative images of the past half century. His Pop Art paintings are icons of Swinging London, while his controversial Furniture sculptures helped set the dystopian mood of the 1970s, the era of A Clockwork Orange and Punk, on which he exerted a crucial influence. Yet Jones's art hasn't stood still. From early shaped canvases to current experiments with virtual reality and AI, Jones's career has developed through a succession of formal innovations moves as he calls them which are the subject of this ground breaking publication. Lavishly illustrated with many little-seen images, the book examines Jones's personal iconography, and not least his contested approach to the female form in greater depth than any previous study. Far from uncritically reflecting the male gaze, as some have claimed, Jones's art has been preoccupied with themes of gender convergence and interchangeability from the outset. Allen Jones Moves takes us inside the artist's thinking at the key junctures of his career, highlighting the intellectual curiosity that has powered a life of constant, intense creative activity.
£31.50
Book Synopsis
£21.25
Book SynopsisThe third and final volume of Kevin J. Last's books about Cotchford Farm, Hartfield, East Sussex in three different eras. Semi-Detached Suburban Mr Jones is set in the 1960s and tells the story of Brian Jones, the only middle class member of the Rolling Stones and how he came to purchase Cotchford Farm as a country retreat away from the Stones London life. Despite the fact that he was founder of the group, Jones''s increasingly wild behaviour ensured that Mick Jagger eventually became the group''s leader. Harking back to his roots, Jones saw himself as a Sussex country gentleman but it all went impossibly wrong due to a vicious East End builder, Frank Thorogood, who made life hell for him with Jones eventually drowning in his own swimming pool in suspicious circumstances. How and why this happened is examined in close detail.
£21.25
Book Synopsis
£21.25
Book SynopsisThe author weaves together history and memory in a wide-ranging exploration of women's attitudes to personal appearance in modern Britain.
£21.25
Book SynopsisThe Ghurids have their origins in the mountainous region of modern central Afghanistan, from where they established the first Islamic state in India. Some of their ghulams, primarily nomadic Turks from Central Asia, were to become independent rulers, leading to the foundation of the Delhi Sultanate. At its height, in the late-twelfth and early-thirteenth centuries, their domain extended from the shores of the Caspian Sea to the Bay of Bengal and from the Straits of Hormuz to the River Oxus. Mamluks, Conquest and Culture covers both the military and political history of the dynasty and the Persianate cultural world they inhabited and propagated on the subcontinent. The collapse of the Great Seljuk Empire allowed them to expand westwards into Iran. Extensive use of ghulams played a crucial role in their success, and this cavalry was to prove decisive in the campaigns against the Indian dynasties. Their conquests reunited territories to create a transregional empire for the first time in a millennium.
£24.00
a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.
£21.25
Book SynopsisThe Entrepreneur Within is an innovator's playbook to help ideas gain traction, scale quickly and keep an entrepreneurial mindset alive within any organisation. Large companies often lose the creative spark that brought them success and get weighed down by the complex systems built up within them. Start-up companies often get bloated with too many disparate ideas and get blocked by a lack of basic systems and infrastructure. The proprietary FORGE Methodology shows how businesses of all stages and sizes can develop creative and viable innovation that makes a difference.
£17.00
Book SynopsisFrom Market to Stock Market is the astonishing story of Bill Adderley who, from the humblest of beginnings, created one of the most successful retail chains in Britain today. Dunelm, Britain's leading homeware group, has over 180 superstores and a market value on the London Stock Exchange of 2.2 billion. The son of poor Irish immigrants, Bill grew up in a council house in Leeds, sharing a bed with his three brothers. He got his first job at fifteen, working as a Saturday Boy' at the local Woolworth, and went on to become a Woolworth manager when he was twenty-one. In the 1970s however Woolworth's went into steep decline and Bill left to start up his own business, selling seconds and reject goods on a stall in Leicester market. His first coup was a truckload of reject slippers, followed by reject Marks & Spencer curtains from which he made enough money to start a company that grew into the Dunelm homeware furnishings group. In 2006, Dunelm Group Plc listed on the stock market, since when the shares have increased six-fold. At the age of fifty-eight, Bill passed over the executive reins to his son Will and now lives a quiet life near Leicester with his wife Jean.
£21.25
Book SynopsisIn Delightful, Enchanting' Annabel Fairfax shows us the vivid humour of her work, with oil and watercolour paintings from her many travels around the world to the peaceful haven of her studio on the Isle of Wight. Fairfax's art captures scenes as they are in the moment, with a painterly dexterity that deploys wit and imagination. Her paintings are an interpretation of the subject matter, the world seen through this artist's eyes and the results are works of art that are collected and hung by art lovers all over the world.
£28.00
Book SynopsisBliss and Dance explores the four major ballets of composer Sir Arthur Bliss (18911975) who was at the centre of British musical life for over 50 years. Drawn to finding expression for drama and human emotion, Bliss composed an impressive range of instrumental, choral, opera, film and highly acclaimed ballet scores. He collaborated with pioneering choreographers De Valois and Helpmann on works for Sadler's Wells Ballet between 1937 and 1946, and with Lew Christensen for San Francisco Ballet in 1958. In twelve richly illustrated chapters, music and dance specialists delve into the artistic, cultural and socio-political context, creation and performance across several generations of these works, asking what they reveal about his story and the art dance then and now.
£24.00
£24.00
Book SynopsisIn 1997 sixty-two containers fell off the cargo ship Tokio Express after it was hit by a rogue wave off the coast of Cornwall, including one container filled with nearly five million pieces of Lego, much of it sea themed. In the months that followed, beachcombers started to find Lego washed up on beaches across the south west coast. Among the pieces they discovered were octopuses, sea grass, spear guns, life rafts, scuba tanks, cutlasses, flippers and dragons. The pieces are still washing up today.
£17.00
Book SynopsisJanet Leach’s childhood in Texas through the Roaring Twenties and the Depression imbued her with resilience and numerous practical skills, initially acquired on her grandparents’ self-sufficient farmstead. At nineteen she took a Greyhound bus to cosmopolitan New York and soon found work as a sculptor’s assistant. During the war she worked on Staten Island, welding the hulls of US-Navy destroyers. After discovering pottery, she met Bernard Leach and Shoji Hamada at Black Mountain College in North Carolina, before spending two years potting in Japan, where her love of pottery was sealed. Bernard and Janet planned to marry and build a pottery near Kyoto, but two years absence from St Ives obliged Bernard to return to Cornwall. A year later in 1956, Janet reluctantly left Japan, persuaded to join Bernard in a country completely unknown to her, England. There she stayed, becoming manager of the world-famous Leach Pottery for the next 40 years. This biography uses previously unpublished letters, notebooks and diaries and is a richly-informed portrayal of a pioneering potter.
£21.25
Book SynopsisA Thousand Fates explores the afterlife of medieval monasticism in England and Wales. A thousand years of monasticism came to an abrupt end in the mid-sixteenth century with the Dissolution of the Monasteries. At its peak two hundred years earlier, many people chose the contemplative life, while the rich sought salvation through the foundation or embellishment of religious houses. Much of the nation’s wealth was locked into these complexes through elaborate rebuilding, gifts of precious objects and flourishing libraries of rare books. Then in just four years all of the eight hundred plus houses were closed and ten thousand people dispersed, with the monastic fortune liquidated and passed to the crown. Today we are left with echoes of a time dominated by an enclosed elite, their homes repurposed or derelict or obliterated. Some of these foundations still thrive as churches, schools, homes or tourist attractions. Others have left little physical trace, the casual viewer ignorant of their existence. A Thousand Fates is not an account of why the monasteries closed or what happened to the people displaced. Instead it focuses on the monastic buildings and their numerous fates and brings life to their stories.
£24.00
Book SynopsisOnce the steel storm of the industrial war had passed, the idyllic Flanders Fields region in Belgium was left as a desolate moon landscape. The First World War had wiped dozens of villages and cities completely off the map. The fields had been destroyed by grenades, mine craters, scrap, trenches, bunkers, railways and infrastructure of the war machine. But Flanders Fields rose again, like a Phoenix from the ashes. Even before the end of the war, the first people returned to their previous homes. A traditional architecture was supposed to remove all traces from the war and restore the former beauty of the area. With the first fairs and processions from 1919 onwards, the social fabric started to heal. Pilgrims started to come from all the corners of the earth to visit the many memorials and cemeteries. By the end of the twenties the reconstruction was largely finished. It is this post-war reconstruction that continues to define the characteristics of the region to this very day. This book has been published to commemorate the centenary of the recovery as guide for iconic sites of reconstruction, thematic exhibitions, public events, and walking and cycle routes that will take you to many striking sites of the reconstruction in the Westhoek. It also contains an historical overview of the revival of a region so heavily scourged by the Great War and new insights a century on.
£8.55
Book SynopsisMichael Coveney has been writing theatrical obituaries alongside reviews for several decades and makes a telling, sometimes surprising, selection of the best performers of our time, from Laurence Olivier to Alan Rickman, Peggy Ashcroft to Helen McCrory, Richard Briers to Ken Dodd. Most of these obits appeared in the Guardian, several in the Observer, the Financial Times and the Evening Standard. The fifty articles are arranged in chronological order of each actor’s demise and constitute a vivid history of postwar theatre through the lives of the actors, ‘the abstract and brief chronicles of the time’ as Hamlet called them. There are happy/sad juxtapositions of shooting stars Robert Stephens and Alan Bates; tragic niece and aunt, Natasha Richardson and Lynn Redgrave; classical queens Diana Rigg and Barbara Jefford; and versatile showtime hoofers Una Stubbs and Lionel Blair.Trade Review'Great idea, great cover, great writing. The Final Curtain is a book we need.' Simon Callow
£24.00
Book SynopsisThis story began a hundred years ago when a child became the inspiration for his famous father, A. A. Milne, who created one of the best known children's characters in recent history. His parents wanted a girl and to begin with treated him as one. They were initially quite distant from him and his upbringing was left to a loyal and loving nanny. Unfortunately, this left Christopher Robin Milne terminally shy and lacking in self-confidence. Unable to escape from the shadow of his fictional self, he became an object of continued interest from a non-understanding public. His salvation started with being sent away to Stowe School, going to Cambridge and joining the Army in the Second World War as a sapper. After an unhappy and directionless time immediately post-war in London, he eventually married and, very successfully, ran a bookshop in the South West for twenty-one years. His life was dominated by a love of the countryside, learned at his parents' country home, Cotchford Farm in Hartfield, East Sussex, and much later in Devon. How he turned his life round, against the odds, is the subject of this biography.
£24.00
Book Synopsis100 Theatres showcases an eclectic range of paintings of theatres, from ancient to modern and from the smallest travelling theatre in Rome to one of the largest in New York. We are lucky to still have some of them; it is surprising how many of these world-famous theatres were scheduled for demolition in the second half of the twentieth century: Carnegie Hall in the 1950s and several London West End Theatres in the 1960s. Some of course did not survive, demolished to make way for yet another modern office block. In this book Paul Tracey has painted some of our most attractive survivors and even a couple that are no longer with us. There is a broad mix of the familiar and lesser-known but equally important buildings. Many of the paintings are accompanied by notes, old postcards of the buildings and programmes featuring some of the actors who performed there. The introduction is written by the bestselling author Tracy Bains, who worked in the theatre as a young woman.
£28.00
Book SynopsisAn authoritative guide to what is needed for AI governance and regulation from expert authors internationally involved in the practical world of AI. This book tackles the question of why AI is a distinct challenge from other technologies and how we should seek to implement innovation-friendly approaches to regulation. It sets out many of the risks to be considered, why regulation is needed, and the form this should take to promote international convergence on AI governance and the responsible deployment of AI. This is a highly readable prescription for AI governance and regulation designed to encourage the technological goals of humanity whilst ensuring that potential risks are mitigated or prevented and, most importantly, that AI remains our servant and does not become our master.
£13.49
Book SynopsisPrince Albert was the first Chairman of the first Royal Fine Art Commission, appointed by Queen Victoria to commission art for the new Houses of Parliament. At the age of just twenty-two, he deftly navigated the complex project, leaving a remarkable artistic legacy and honing the skills that made him one of the Renaissance Men of the nineteenth century. Albert then set the template for a second Royal Fine Art Commission, created in 1924 as a priority of Britain's first ever Labour Government. From the aftermath of the Great War to the eve of the Third Millennium, this Commission gave elite architects and designers from Edwin Lutyens to Henry Moore a platform to apply their minds to a democratic cause, putting in countless hours analysing the design of buildings, street furniture, roadsand bridges.The story of the two Commissions, told together for the first time, is a compelling one of civic duty performed freely in the public interest, against the background of high politics, difficul
£28.00
Book SynopsisAachen Equestrian Beauty is a celebration in photographs of CHIO Aachen, the world's greatest horse event held annually at Aachen in Germany and founded in 1898. Readers are treated to a front seat as the photographer follows the action, relishing this world festival of the horse and horsemanship.As well as the traditional dressage and show jumping, CHIO Aachen includes eventers, carriage drivers and vaulters in stunning displays of horse riding skill. The book is a portrait of brilliant riders and beautiful horses, whose feats visitors marvel at every year as they compete in the superb Soers setting.As well as winners and stars, the photographer includes the supporting cast, the gala opening and closing ceremonies and the Horse and Symphony programme, an evening of magical equestrian pageantry and music.CHIO Aachen attracts all that is best in the horse world. The book is a lasting record of a glorious event.
£32.00
Book SynopsisThe invasion of Normandy was the most significant victory of the Allies in the Second World War. By 1944, over 2 million troops from over 12 countries were in Britain in preparation for the invasion. These forces consisted primarily of American, British and Canadian troops but also included Australian, Belgian, Czech, Dutch, French, Greek, New Zealand, Norwegian, Rhodesian and Polish naval, air or ground support. The operation was codenamed "Overlord" which saw the largest invasion fleet ever assembled, before or since, landing 156,000 Allied troops on five beach-heads on D-Day 6 June 1944. These forces established a foothold on the shores of Northern France, and broke out into the French interior to begin a headlong advance. D-Day was originally set for June 5 but had to be postponed for 24 hours because of bad weather. The forecast was so bad that the German commander in Normandy, Erwin Rommel, went home to give his wife a pair of shoes on her birthday. He was in Germany when the news came. British factories increased production and in the first half of 1944 approximately 9 million tonnes of supplies and equipment crossed the Atlantic from North America to Britain. Bagpiper, Bill Millin struck up ‘Hieland Laddie’ as soon as he jumped into the shallows and then walked up and down the beach playing the pipes. German prisoners later admitted that they had not attempted to shoot him because they thought he had lost his mind. The British infantryman was paid £3 15s a month, the Americans got £12. A naval bombardment from seven battleships, 18 cruisers, and 43 destroyers began at 5am and went on until 6.25am. On the night of the invasion only around 15% of paratroopers landed in the right place. New gadgets designed for D-Day included a “swimming tank” and a flame throwing tank called “the crocodile”. There were even collapsible motorbikes. The morning after D-day the police raided a brothel, which French women had set up in a wrecked landing craft. 1,900 Allied bombers attacked German lines before the invasion began. Seven million pounds of bombs were dropped that day. A total of 10,521 combat aircraft flew a total of 15,000 sorties on D-Day. All this and much more is uncovered in a range of informative and detailed events spanning this most significant event in military history; biographies, fun facts, myth busters and illustrated throughout with infographics and contemporary photographs.
£14.39
Book SynopsisCeltic chieftains emerging from the mists of ancient Wales, the battle-keen' Cadogans play their part at Blenheim alongside Marlborough, on board Pellew's Indefatigable, with Wellington at Mondego Bay and Vittoria; at Balaklava and Sevastapol; at Ypres, Gallipoli and El Alamein. But opening the family archives private letters, diaries and albums we also find multilingual spies, evangelical clergymen, watercolour artists and society ladies who defy convention for love; illegitimacy, duels and gambling. There are diplomats, courtiers and confidantes. They share their stories with institutions from Chelsea Physic Garden and the British Museum to the British Olympic Association and Chelsea Football Club; from the Gaiety Theatre and the Jockey Club to the United Nations and the BBC. Woven throughout is the parallel history of Chelsea: a riverside farmland estate transformed into a visionary Georgian new town, and again into the recognisable red-brick of Pont Street Dutch, surviving riots
£45.00
Book SynopsisPeter Sellers was one of the biggest stars of the 1960s and 70s. His career began with characters such as Bluebottle on BBC radio’s The Goon Show and he achieved global fame as Inspector Clouseau in the Pink Panther series. What is less well known is that he served in the Royal Air Force Entertainment Units (known as Gang Shows) for over three years. Now, for the first time, this story can be told, a tale of the formation and education of his remarkable talents, as well as a small corner of Second World War history that seems uniquely British (groups of servicemen and women sent around the world with hampers full of theatrical props and costumes, to rally the troops in distant outposts of Empire). This book reveals previously unknown film footage, photos, performances, broadcasts and recordings, from the very beginning of Sellers’ career.Trade Review"This new book reveals previously unknown film footage, recordings and radio broadcasts, as well as records of more than 100 performances across two continents. It charts [Sellers's] progress from raw recruit to gang show veteran, a journey full of colour and inspiration." -- Chortle (UK)
£14.39
Book SynopsisOn the first day of lockdown, Mary Collis decided to post a painting onto her Facebook page, suggesting she would ‘lift the day’ during the forecast two-week lockdown. 245 days later she was still posting daily. This Facebook lockdown exhibition became a daily source of inspiration and sanity for Mary and her followers, as they shared memories through her art and words about life in locked down Kenya and beyond.
£17.00
Book SynopsisThis lavishly illustrated book celebrates the life of Doris and Anna Zinkeisen, charting the rise of the sisters from a childhood in Scotland, to their emergence as amongst the most eminent artists of their day in London, to a quieter yet still highly productive life during their twilight years in rural Suffolk. During the golden age from the 1920s through to the 1950s, the Zinkeisen sisters enjoyed a huge success and won numerous accolades. Their paintings and design work, including posters, murals and luxury ocean liners, and costume designs for stage and film, are today emblematic of that period in British art.
£24.00
Book SynopsisA History of Dangerous Assumptions features over two hundred illuminating and intriguing case-studies of this fascinating subject, including some of the most disastrous assumptions ever foisted upon the human race. This book began as an experiment, to discover if acting on assumptions could be discerned through the ages. In fact, this matter of assuming… of jumping to conclusions… of lacking sufficient evidence… of taking things for granted… seems to have caused far more problems for civilisation than expected. From Hannibal’s crossing of the Alps, to Bonaparte’s march on Moscow; from the hubris of Icarus and Phaeton, to the toppling towers of the Tay Bridge; from the maddening phantoms of a Northwest Passage, to the sinking of the Titanic; from the Schlieffen Plan of the First World War, to the creation of assumptions in the approach to D-Day; from Jean-Jacques Rousseau to Sherlock Holmes, here lies a highly contrasted trove of stories, episodes and anecdotes, their common link the mysterious mischief of assumption.
£17.00
Book SynopsisIn ‘Is That Really True, Sir?’, the artist, barrister, schoolmaster, musician, journalist and explorer Michael Aubrey negotiates a succession of improbable events and narrow escapes. Starting with a vivid account of his wartime childhood, Aubrey shares the joys, hazards, surprises and often hilarious disasters of his colourful experiences in many countries, encountering a range of unusual people along the way. With a comic lightness of touch, he revels in life’s absurdities at the same time as celebrating the beauty and harmony of the various worlds which he has inhabited. The memoir is lavishly illustrated, including over eighty of the author’s vibrant watercolours. His acute eye for the ridiculous, keen observation of character, lyrical accounts of unfamiliar places and illuminating insights make this a joyous book, one to lift the spirits even on the dullest of days.
£24.00
Book SynopsisIn 1976, Argentina is governed by a military junta bankrolled by former Nazis. It is the anniversary of a mysterious village fire in the jungle. The lone survivor, a Guarani boy, is now a Jesuit priest. A Jewish journalist, Ariel Guzman, interviews him at his mission. The man claims Adolf Hitler escaped from Berlin with Eva Braun and made a secret camp near the Iguacu Falls. The Fuhrer ordered the village's destruction, but the priest refuses to say why. He mentions the codename Edelweiss and will only reveal the person's identity if he dies. Argentina's most powerful man is billionaire and Waffen-SS veteran Tiago Hecht. He is searching for Edelweiss so that he can establish a Fourth Reich. Hecht now has confirmation Hitler's son is alive. But so does the Mossad and they have sent an agent to eliminate him. The only sanctuary for 'Edelweiss' is at the Vatican, but time is running out. The hunt is on...Trade Review“The author has created a totally plausible, clever plot, with a well-paced story that flows beautifully between the characters, locations and timeframes.” Tig’s Bookcase “This is one for those who enjoy a proper action and adventure style read with conspiracies, secrets, and mysteries that need to be revealed.” Me and My Books “What a great read. There have always been conspiracy theories about whether Hitler really died in the Führerbunker and this book makes the assumption that he did in fact escape. So well written this was one of those book where it was ‘ just one more chapter’ I was totally engrossed from the start. Well written and fast paced with threads that weave themselves together seamlessly to the unexpected conclusion.” Lynda’s Book Reviews “Justin Kerr-Smiley writes this story so well that I could really believe this happened. There are so many theories around and this story is more realistic than most theories that I have heard….Codename Edelweiss is a book that I found a riveting read. It’s based on historical fact, then, brilliantly woven together with fiction, unexpected twists and an ending that fitted perfectly.” Beyond The Books
£9.49
Book SynopsisOn 27 January 1945 Otto Frank was liberated from Auschwitz by Russian soldiers. At that point not only his journey home started, but also his long quest to find out what had happened to his wife Edith, his daughters Margot and Anne and the four other people with whom he had been in hiding in the Annex at 263 Prinsengracht in Amsterdam: Herman and Auguste van Pels, their son Peter and dentist Fritz Pfeffer. In the months after his liberation Otto Frank would discover that he is the only survivor out of these eight people. After the Annex continues the journey that Otto began. It is the ultimate attempt, based on thorough research in archives and available eye witness accounts, to reconstruct as precisely as possible what happened to the eight people in hiding after their arrest.Trade Review"Author Bas von Benda-Beckmann has pieced together rare accounts from camp survivors who met Anne to build a moving picture of her final days." Daily Mirror "a haunting new book reveals her life in Auschwitz and Belson - and how her indomitable spirit survived to the very end" Daily Mail "Clearly written and superbly researched ... descriptions of the last days of Edith Frank in Auschwitz and of Anne in Bergen-Belsen, desperately ill, naked, wrapped in a blanket, are unbearable." David Herman, The Jewish Chronicle
£21.25
Book Synopsis
£21.25
Book Synopsis
£17.00
Book SynopsisMonemvasia is a unique Byzantine city located on a rock in the southern Peloponnese; the central fortified area is known as the Castro. Poul Rasmussen, a Danish photographer, captured a period of physical and social change between 1968-1992. The local families were deserting the old buildings of the Castro, and moving to the mainland for work and for a more modern way of life. Throughout this period, the Castro maintained the role as the heart of the community.Poul Rasmussen (1929 1993) was a world famous Danish photographer. He became a permanent resident in the area in 1966. As a renowned international photographer, he photographed Monemvasia's community life during a period of significant change. His portraits are a remarkable record.He captured the changing face of the mainland village as the Castro was increasingly abandoned. Importantly, he shows the institutions of community life, the church and national and local festivals, were still taking place on the Rock,
£21.25
Book SynopsisMary Beale (16331699) was one of the earliest professional women artists in Britain. Her successful career was documented by her husband, Charles, whose almanacks provide a unique record of Mary's patrons, painting technique and family affairs. Her portraits of politicians, clergy, aristocracy and intellectuals reflect the vibrant literary, scientific and political scene of the seventeenth century. She has been seen as a feminist icon not only as a professional artist but also as a poet and the author of a Discourse on Friendship (1667) which argued for the equality of husband and wife in marriage a radical concept at that time. This new edition includes newly documented paintings by Mary Beale that have come to light since the first edition was published in 2019.
£21.25
