War and Militaria 33 71538 VENETIAN NAVIGATORS: The Voyages


72651 THE HEART OF THE GREAT ALONE: Scott, Shackleton


and Antarctic Photography by David Hempleman- Adams, Sophie Gordon and Emma Stuart


Comprises a treasure trove of photos, some never before reproduced in book form, from the


two greatest Antarctic expeditions ever. The pictures captured by the early polar explorers stand out, both for the beauty of their images and for the almost impossible conditions they encountered. None of these are more remarkable than the records of the official chroniclers of two epic Antarctic expeditions, that of Scott and, four years later, Shackleton. That the photos survived to be presented on their return to King George V is miraculous, and they have remained ever since in the Royal Collection. This stupendous volume reproduces the best of these marvellous images - ships encased in ice floes, ice cliffs, ravines, campsites, dog sleds, penguins, and the incomparable beauty of Antarctic flora and fauna. Together, not only do they form an invaluable record of an environment that global warming has forever changed, but they provide for modern readers a reminder of the courage and endurance of the men who, without the benefit of modern technology, risked their lives in feats that have become the stuff of legend. 256 pages 24cm by 28 cm with maps, photos in b/w, sepia/ white and colour on every page. Brief biographies.


$47.50 NOW £14


72679 THE WAY WE WERE - NEW YORK: Nostalgic Images of the Empire State by M. J. Howard


This book recaptures what life was like in the Empire State in years gone by. Rare period images document the state’s main attractions and its changing infrastructure, home life, sports scene, and those harder- to-categorise qualities that make New York State so special. New York was the first taste of America for many waves of immigrants, and the resulting rich tapestry of culture extends well beyond its five boroughs. From Brooklyn Bridge to Yankee Stadium and from Ricky Babbit to the Beatles, this book takes the reader on a magic carpet ride to the ‘Good Old Days’. 128 pages packed with colour and b/w photos. £19.95 NOW £4


70949 MAPPING THE CITY: From Antiquity to the 20th Century by C. J. Schüler


These 200 or so maps, the most significant and beautiful in the Royal Geographical Society’s superb collection, show us how Man conceived and designed the town, chronicling both a crescendo of expansion and improvement and an increasingly sophisticated understanding of the urban environment. We are whisked on a journey to capital cities, princely residences, manufacturing centres and market towns across the globe from Jerusalem, Istanbul, Jakarta, Edinburgh and New York in great detail, each map a window on the world. Covers Ancient and Medieval Cities 1500BC-1550AD, The Renaissance City 1550- 1662 including Byzantium, The World Detailed 1660- 1750, The Age of Revolution and The Enlightenment 1750-1830 and The Industrial City 1830-45 including urban transport. Truly a spectacular in the quality of reproduction and detail, the text is in three languages. 320 massive pages, 13" x 16". ONLY £38


72677 THE WAY OF HERODOTUS Travels with the Man Who Invented History by Justin Marozzi


During the Classical age of Greece, Herodotus wrote the first prose epic and became known as “the father of history”. He was the world’s first travel writer, a pioneering geographer, anthropologist, explorer, moralist, reporter, foreign correspondent and enlightened multiculturalist. In his Histories, written some 2,500 years ago, we find unlikely tales of dog-headed men, gold-digging ants, flying snakes and bizarre sexual customs mixed in with his narrative of the Persian Wars, the tumultuous encounter from which the Greeks emerged victorious. This campaign, described in breathtaking detail by Herodotus, was one of the most important in world history, as it gave birth to Western civilisation. Intrepid travelling historian Justin Marozzi here retraces the footsteps of the great Herodotus through Greece, Turkey, Egypt and Iraq. A blend of travel and history. 348pp in paperback with b/w plates. £9.99 NOW £3.50


71504 POLAR EXPLORATION: The Heroic Exploits of the World’s Greatest Polar Explorers


by Beau Riffenburgh


Published in conjunction with the Royal Geographical Society about remarkable men like Scott, Amundsen and Shackleton, the book takes us chronologically through man’s attempts on each pole, beginning with the first sightings of Antarctica and attempts to find the Northwest Passage to Asia over the uncharted wastes of the high Canadian Arctic, to Shackleton’s Endurance expedition. The book offers 14 removable facsimile documents of immense historical importance. These include journals kept and sketches made by explorers, ship’s logs, letters, ship’s plans, Amundsen’s diary (with translation at the back) and Scott’s diary. Colour, sepia and b/w illus. 64pp, 11½”×10". $29.95 NOW £6


of the Zen Brothers to the Far North by Andrea Di Robilant


Nicoló and Antonio Zen were alleged to have journeyed from Venice up the North Atlantic, encountering warrior princes, fighting savage natives and reaching the New World a full century before Columbus. For centuries, the brothers were international celebrities until, in 1835, their story was denounced as a ’tissue of lies’. But was it a hoax? Following in their footsteps, the author’s quest takes him on a fascinating journey from the crumbling Palazzo Zen in Venice to the Orkney Islands, Shetland, the Faroes, Iceland and to an isolated monastery in Greenland. 244 pages, illus. £14.99 NOW £4.50


72144 NEW GRANTA BOOK OF TRAVEL edited by Liz Jobey


Redmond O’Hanlon goes into the heart of the undernourished Republic of Congo in search of an apocryphal dinosaur. Kathleen Jamie takes a walk on a stretch of boggy moorland in her native East Ayrshire where she has a chat with a farmer. Bruce Chatwin, Colin Thubron, W. G. Sebald, Paul Theroux, Thomas Keneally and Robert MacFarlane are among the writers of these 23 short stories. 429pp, paperback. £15 NOW £4


72595 BEHIND THE SCENES IN VERSAILLES by Pascal Bonafoux


Ever since Louis XIV turned his father’s small château into an incomparable work of art in its own right, the palace of Versailles has been centre stage. This incomparable volume invites readers to penetrate into a world that is usually unseen. It was here that Prussia’s Wilhelm I became emperor of Germany, where the presidents of the Third and Fourth Republics were elected and where France’s senators and parliamentary representatives continue to meet to amend the constitution. This book, apart from its wealth of gorgeous photos, is crammed with historical detail, from the story of the Œil-de-Boeuf installed by Louis XIII to the hidden tables and mirrors of Louis XV, and many, many tales in between. We found it irresistible as well as beautiful. 255 softback pages packed with awe-inspiring colour photos, with index of names and index of art works. £17.50 NOW £7.50


72662 OXFORD BOOK OF EXPLORATION Second Edition


edited by Robin Hanbury-Tenison Real explorers are driven by a desire to discover, and thus to advance knowledge, which transcends the urge to conquer, or the pursuit of trade. Their accounts reveal moments of despair or euphoria but, like Richard Burton when desperately ill, or Mary Kingsley when she fell into an elephant trap, they have a firm resolve to live on, and to reveal what they have discovered to the rest of the world. Many great moments and exceptional people are recorded in this awesome volume. Some, like Neil Armstrong’s first step on to the moon or Stanley’s encounter with Dr Livingstone, are well known. Others, such as Adolf Erik Nordenskjold, the first man to take a ship through the North East passage, and Ibn Battúat, who was the first explorer to cross the whole of Asia and bring back a description, are perhaps less familiar. 576 paperback pages. £9.99 NOW £5


72678 THE WAY WE WERE - CALIFORNIA: Nostalgic Images of the Golden State by M. J. Howard and Laurie Mayer California is a place of extreme contrasts in scenery, culture and even climate. Here you will find the mountain peaks of the Sierra Nevada and two distinct types of desert, as well as forests, vineyards, hissing volcanic fumaroles, and plant and animal species not found anywhere else on the planet. Over the years, the state has attracted human beings of every kind from starry-eyed fortune seekers - especially during the years of the Gold Rush - to Nobel Prize winners, and from pioneer farmers to industrial magnates. This nostalgic book visits the state’s major attractions in San Francisco, Los Angeles and beyond, including the San Andreas fault. 128 pages to savour. Photos in colour and b/w. $19.95 NOW £4


72809 MEN WHO MAPPED THE WORLD THE TREASURES OF CARTOGRAPHY by Beau Riffenburgh


Using 15 facsimiles from one of the world’s largest cartographic collections, the archives of the Royal Geographical Society, this awe-inspiring book offers an insight into the art of cartography and marks the progress of human beings’ fascination with the lands in which they live. Lavishly illustrated with charts and plans compiled from the information brought back from expeditions led by such notable figures as Sebastian Cabot, James Cook, Lewis and Clark and David Livingstone, it gives an intriguing account of some of the unsung heroes of exploration history, and also examines how we have moved from prehistoric hidden maps in cave paintings to NASA Landsat maps in the 21st century. With stunning examples of early Roman stone maps, the stylised formations of medieval charts, hand- coloured scientific projections of the 18th century and the fine detail of Ordnance Survey maps in the 19th, it is possible to see how maps have played a part in everything from claiming new territories to winning wars and establishing transport and communication links. It encompasses


cosmographies and the development of projections, mapping new continents and ocean currents, an explanation of how maps reached a wider


audience, the intricacy of thematic maps - that is, those which focus on cultural, political, economic or other demographics - and much more. 98 pages 29cm x 25cm. £30 NOW £10


WAR AND MILITARIA


I have never understood this liking for war. It panders to instincts already well catered for within the scope of any respectable domestic establishment.


- Alan Bennett


73076 THE GUN by C. J. Chivers


In August 1949, just as the diplomatic cables were crackling with the news of the first atomic bomb test, the factories that built it were despatching the first deliveries to the Soviet Army. It was the Avtomat Kalashnikova - the automatic designed by Sergeant Mikhail Kalashnikov - in 1947, famously given the acronym AK-47. Within 25


years it would become the most abundant firearm the world had known, and even today, over 60 years later, it remains the most important firearm in history. The weapon’s reliability, simplicity, ease of maintenance and low recoil meant it could be used effectively with the minimum of training. It is the AK-47’s spread across the face of the globe and the impact it has had in those 60 years which is the subject of Christopher Chiver’s exhaustive study. A searing examination of modern conflict and official folly, he mixes meticulous historical research with investigative reporting, battlefield reportage and painstaking combing of declassified military documents, his evocative narrative putting the AK-47 and its derivatives, knock-offs and companion weapons in their social, historical and technological context. A colossal work, a richly human account of an amazing evolution in the experience of war. 481pp paperback. $16 NOW £6


73138 OPERATION SUICIDE: The Remarkable


Story of the Cockleshell Raid by Robert Lyman


This enthralling account of one of the Second World War’s most iconic missions features a cast of characters ranging from Blondie Hasler, the ingenious and courageous leader of the raid, to the Comtesse de Milleville, who risked outrageous danger during the time that she ran


a secret French Resistance network. At nightfall on December 7th 1942, twelve British canoeists arrived by submarine off the coast of France. They had been entrusted with the formidable task of infiltrating the dockyards of Bordeaux and wreaking havoc on the German shipping they found there. Manning their fragile ‘cockles’ through the turbulent waters of the Bay of Biscay, and making an assault on a port bristling with German soldiers, who had been ordered to execute any Allied Commando they captured, their prospects looked bleak. It was fully expected that all would die in the attempt. A nail-biting story that, as the Daily Express wrote: ‘…will make you feel proud to be British’. 346 paperback pages with b/w archive photos, German Military Ranks, Dramatis Personae, glossary, and four appendices: Hitler’s Kommandobefehl, The Yanagi Trade, Combined Operations Raids 1940-2 and Maps and Illus. £8.99 NOW £4.50


72466 PLAYING THE GAME: The British Junior Infantry Officer on the Western Front 1914-18 by Christopher Moore-Bick


The Edwardian ideal of war as a gentlemanly game was shattered in 1914. Poets such as Sassoon and Owen recorded unspeakable brutality and suffering among the rank and file, while historians have pointed to a tragic level of


incompetence at strategic level. This fascinating study breaks new ground by looking in detail at the letters and diaries of a group in between these extremes, the junior infantry officers. Initially volunteers from the upper classes, they later became a group of men with much more mixed education and backgrounds in the wake of massive casualties and conscription. Many junior officers, while expressing horror at the sight of casualties with horrific injuries, still held patriotic ideals and even claimed in letters home that they were enjoying the war, though this may have been a shield for their loved ones. Mail and parcels were treasured luxuries, not only for their contents but because their speedy arrival reassured men in the trenches that the war machine was working. Leadership qualities were still regarded as a public school preserve, and the author examines the effects of their education on the way young men coped with the situation at the front. He also looks at the problems of inexperienced young men who might find themselves commanding older conscripts, some with distinguished careers in civilian life. Numerous case-histories and eye- witness quotations make this an important historical study. 327pp, notes, bibliography. £25 NOW £8.50


72483 TRENCH WARFARE 1850-1950


by Anthony Saunders Trench warfare is associated with “going over the top” into a hail of fire in World War I, but in fact it was a well-established form of combat well before the 20th century. Usually considered to have started in the siege of Sebastopol in the Crimean War, trench warfare is defined as occurring when there is


stalemate, with both attackers and defenders unable to make any headway but with the resources to dig


72474 ROYAL AIR FORCE AT HOME: The History of RAF Air Displays from 1920 by Ian Smith Watson


The military has always endeavoured to foster good relations with those whom they defend, and since early times the armed forces have put on entertaining spectacles for the public, typified by parades, bands, mock battles, drill displays and other feats designed to capture the imagination of the public and potential new recruits. The 20th century brought a new and, in display terms, spectacular dimension to the field of warfare, that of aviation, and the Royal Air Force was quick to see the potential. In 1920 the first of the now legendary Hendon Air Pageants was staged, and today these are considered to be the world’s first military air shows. Organised and staged by the fledgling RAF, the prestige and spectacle of the Hendon shows and others like them ensured that the RAF was saved from the very real threat of abolition during the 1920s and early 1930s - and we all know what that would have meant! The author saw his first display sat on his father’s shoulders at RAF Finningley in 1962 and has been an avid fan, as well as an RAF radar operator, ever since. This account of the RAF’s major public displays since 1920 is generously illustrated with colour and b/w photos and features all the aircraft, pilots and display teams that have flown for the public’s entertainment since then. The first nine chapters, roughly a third of the book, look at the displays themselves, then chapter ten Aircraft ‘At Home’, showcases in a further 80 pages every aircraft to have taken part in displays, then a meticulous 150 pages of appendices provides a detailed historical reference of pretty well every possible aircraft and statistic. 345pp.


£30 NOW £12


themselves in. While these conditions have happened throughout history, military historians point to the rise of sophisticated technology and firepower as enabling each side to attack indefinitely without advancing, thus creating deadlock. Pioneered in the American Civil War, trench warfare was developed fully in the war between the Russians and Japanese in the early 20th century. In World War I it led to a new strategic development known as “deep battle” where an army would operate not just at the front but aim to penetrate and disable the support troops. It was used extensively in the European theatre of World War II, by the Americans in the Pacific, and again in the Korean and the two Gulf Wars. This book examines the relation between mobility and firepower over a fascinating 100-year period, describing in detail developments in artillery, explosives and strategy. 231pp, bibliography, photos. £19.99 NOW £7.50


72519 DILLY: The Man Who


Broke Enigmas by Mavis Batey


The highly eccentric Alfred Dillwyn Knox, simply known as ‘Dilly’, was one of the leading figures in the British code breaking successes of the two World Wars. During the First he was the chief codebreaker in the Admiralty, breaking the German Navy’s main flag code before going on to crack the German Enigma Ciphers during


World War Two at Bletchley Park. He enjoyed the triumphant culmination of his life’s work - a reconstruction of the Enigma machine used by the Abwehr, the German Secret Service. This ensured the British were fully aware of what the German commanders knew about the Allied plans for the invasion of Europe, allowing MI5 and MI6 to use captured German spies to feed false information back to the Nazi spymasters. Dilly’s codebreaking skills paid a vital part in the success of the D-Day landings. Here is a vividly impressive, historically significant worthwhile read. 244pp in paperback with diagrams and 16 pages of photos. £9.99 NOW £5


73188 MISSION


ACCOMPLISHED: SOE and Italy 1943-1945 by David Stafford


Based on recently released official files, documents retrieved from other agencies, diaries, memoirs and personal interviews, this detailed and extensive volume provides the first ever complete and authoritative account of Britain’s secret war in Italy. Here


are the heroic exploits, the larger-than-life participants and the extraordinary, against-the-odds achievements. In May 1945, Italy was liberated from Nazism and Fascism by the British Eighth and American Fifth Armies. By that time the Italian resistance movement had emerged as one of the strongest in Europe - crucially aided and abetted by the UK’s Special Operations Executive or SOE. As ‘the red-hot rake of the battle line’ advanced bloodily up the Italian peninsula, clandestine cells in the cities, and partisan bands in the countryside fought to free their country from enemy occupation and shape the politics of Italy’s post-war future. SOE in Italy, known as No. 1 Special Force, took part in dozens of parachute missions to supply the underground with weapons and ammunition, food and supplies. In a remarkable twist, it also secretly collaborated with its former enemy, the Italian Military Intelligence Service, and with the Italian Navy, which used fast torpedo boats and rubber dinghies to land British agents on heavily defended beaches. An exciting, until now little-known, aspect of WWII. 392 pages with b/w archive photos, maps and glossary. £20 NOW £7


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36