16 Great Britain


LONDON from a different perspective


73272 AN ALPHABET OF LONDON


by Christopher Brown Christopher Brown was born in 1953 in Putney and begins his charming, quirky look at the capital with a fondly-recalled and wonderfully evocative memoir of London childhood in the 50s and


60s. He recalls a post-war city that was almost monochromatic - doors were black, maroon or green, walls were white - long before the Habitat generation started with their pastels and fabrics. And on the subject of Habitat, Jasper Conran’s foreword transports us back to the same time in Camden Town, with its cast of “colourful” characters - the drunks, tramps, nuns and middle-class intellectuals - all worth avoiding, but for different reasons! Brown is particularly renowned for his linocuts, and what he has done here is take over 200 of them and arrange them in an A-Z of London, and very clever and appealing it is too. For T we have barristers wandering the Temple, Tipu’s Tiger (the pride of the V&A) and also a skull with three drilled holes. Why? We think it is because of the fashion in the ?60s for trepanation was centred on London, but do you know differently? Hours of enjoyment working out the riddles, or just enjoy Brown’s bold, bright linocuts of people, events, buildings, monuments and other icons, all with a London theme. A sturdily linen-bound 96pp. Selling at full price up The Shard! £12.95 NOW £5


73115 A MORE BEAUTIFUL CITY: Robert Hooke and the Rebuilding of London by Michael Cooper


Robert Hooke was London’s City Surveyor when fire ravaged the city in 1666. He lived at Gresham College, home to the Royal Society, and his work as a lecturer and scientist brought him


into contact with the great names of the era: Wren, Pepys, Newton and Boyle. His lifelong feud with Newton, the President of the Royal Society, culminated in Newton’s failure to acknowledge Hooke’s contributions to his theories in the book Principia, the extent of which is still disputed. This beautifully produced book, however, deals with Hooke’s life and his work as an architect, a profession in which he enjoyed a close relationship with Sir Christopher Wren, the leading architect of the day. As Professor of Geometry at Gresham Hooke he became a key scientific figure. Plans for the rebuilding of London were drawn up by Wren and Hooke and presented to the City Lands Committee, who immediately started work on the task of drainage in the Fleet Channel. Among the buildings that were finally erected, Hooke’s design for Bedlam Hospital was highly acclaimed, changing the way mentally ill patients were cared for. Other successes were the Physicians’ College and the Newgate Gateway. Hooke’s private life centres on his love for his young niece Grace, whom he was unable to marry, and her death contributed to the poor health which sometimes made him a figure of fun. 271pp, notes, bibliography, numerous black and white reproductions. £20 NOW £8.50


include plants that are not found anywhere else in London but which flourish in the special conditions on the Heath, veteran trees which encourage biodiversity, the ‘ghosts’ of ancient woodland and hedgerows, some of which date back to the Middle Ages, boundaries dug in Anglo-Saxon times to demarcate different estates, and traces of the great landscape estates of the 18th century, of which Kenwood is the only survivor and where, nowadays, great open-air concerts take place. 112 pages 27cm x 26cm in subtle colour and clear b/w with detailed map.


£14.99 NOW £7.50 72464 PIERS OF HAMPSHIRE AND THE ISLE


OF WIGHT by Martin Easdown and Linda Sage Surprisingly, this area’s association with piers dates back almost 200 years, to the opening of the Ryde Pier, often regarded as the earliest in the UK. Southampton opened a landing pier for steamers in 1833 and Portsmouth and Gosport followed suit in the 1840s. By the 1860s, seaside piers were becoming fashionable promenades over the sea, and were a must-have for any self- respecting watering place. The Isle of Wight, increasingly popular as a holiday destination, saw numerous piers sprout from its coast whilst, in Hampshire, pleasure piers were erected at Southsea, Lee-on-the-Solent, Southbourne, Boscombe and Bournemouth. They were also, as this comprehensive volume demonstrates, erected for railway, military, industrial and pleasure boat purposes. 254 paperback pages illus in colour and b/w. £17.99 NOW £7.50


72588 A POSTCARD FROM SHAKESPEARE’S


AVON by Jan Dobrzynski and Keith Turner Take the Shakespeare Express to follow the path of the Avon into the heart of Stratford. The images included in the book are 250 postcards drawn from the authors’ collection. With quotes from Shakespeare, extended captions, the subjects can range from a finely detailed statue of Shakespeare atop the Gower Monument, Shakespeare’s birthplace and the Shakespeare Hotel, the bridges and an aerial view, the town centre, the Warwick Pageant, fishponds and the Italian Gardens and postcards from the exterior and interiors of Warwick Castle. 160pp in large paperback. £12.99 NOW £4.50


72700 AMAZING AND EXTRAORDINARY


FACTS: Great Britain by Stephen Halliday We look at the pre-eminence of the English language, the beautiful game of football, Belfast’s Titanic shipbuilding feats, the Venice of the West (Midlands) and the birthplace of British industry, kings and queens, Welsh princes, fish and chips. Money and law and extraordinary Britons like Robin Hood, Francis Bacon felled by frozen chicken, Brunel’s less famous father and Florence Nightingale’s gift for maths are among this book packed full of trivia. 144pp with pen and ink drawings. £9.99 NOW £4


72929 COOL CANALS WEEKEND WALKS (BRITAIN): Escape to the Great Waterways Outdoors by Phillippa Greenwood and Martine O’Callaghan


Towpaths ramble Britain’s hidden green landscapes, yet you cannot get lost and there are no cows in the way! The authors have a passion for canals which takes them to extremes, from a narrow boat ‘good life’ with their four cats, to backpacking by canal from Cornwall to Scotland and, with this useful book, they hope to inspire you to pull on a pair of comfy boots and explore a new world. Includes 20 handpicked walks stretching from two to thirteen miles, pubs and cafés, and waterside places to stay. 254 paperback pages, colour photos with maps. £12.99 NOW £4.50


72980 ENGLAND by Gerald and Marc


73002 LONDON UNFURLED by Matteo Pericoli


London’s skyscape is one of the most recognisable in the world, and this


unfolding 25-foot long boxed drawing is double sided, showing London’s skyscape north of the river on one side and south of the river on the other. On the north bank, we start at Hammersmith Bridge, moving downriver past Fulham Football Ground, Wandsworth and Battersea bridges, until we reach the Millbank Tower, the Houses of Parliament and Charing Cross Station. Continuing east, there is St. Paul’s, Tower Bridge, Canary Wharf and finally the Isle of Dogs. Turning round to look south we can see the Millennium Dome, then moving upstream the Greenwich Observatory, Cutty Sark, HMS Belfast, the Shard, Shakespeare’s Globe, Tate Modern, the London Eye, Lambeth Palace, Battersea Power Station, and finally Putney Bridge. The concertina-folded drawing fits neatly into a box, accompanied by a booklet identifying the landmarks and including articles by Iain Sinclair and Will Self praising the merits of north and south banks respectively. An intriguing publication, still on sale at full price up The Shard. £25 NOW £12.50


Hoberman and John Andrew Subtitled ‘Photographs in Celebration of the Quintessential Uniqueness of the Realm’. Chronicled here are the ravishing beauty of the Lake District, set against the bleakness of the Northern Pennines and the vast skyscapes of the Fenlands, the castles, cathedrals and great houses contrasted with the Lowry Centre in Salford Quays and Mathew Street in Liverpool. Fishermen and shopkeepers, shepherds and beefeaters, royalty and commoners, here are the idiosyncratic local festivals and practices which have come down to us in the form of Morris dances, well dressing, corn dollies and Punch and Judy shows. Here is the splendid patchwork- quilted landscape, divided by hedgerows and dry stone walls, and there the wild, misty, uninhabited reaches of Dartmoor. Here are the picturesque caravans of the Romany Gypsies and there the magnificent bed of King Charles I at Sudeley Castle. Stupendous photos, 176 pages 31cm x 25cm with silk bookmark and map. £40 NOW £14


72992 A HISTORY OF ENGLAND IN 100


PLACES: From Stonehenge to the Gherkin by John Julius Norwich


Written by a highly respected and knowledgeable author, this magnificent tale is told through 100 of England’s most significant places. Ranging from battlefields to sacred buildings, castles to cottages, and Eton College Chapel to the Liverpool terraced house of Paul McCartney’s childhood. Here are Blackpool Pier, Wool Hall, and the Captain Hook Memorial Museum. Here too are the hundreds of people involved - from Ambrosius Aurelianus to Wallace Simpson - and, in passing, the political, cultural, social, religious and economic story of England. 492 paperback pages illus in colour and b/w with maps. £14.99 NOW £5.50


72369 COLLINS QUITE BRILLIANT: A


Coming Soon... 73391 Tower Bridge and 73396 Westminster Abbey models to make. Ask for details!


Celebration of British English What makes Britain great? Its institutions and culture, the Queen and education, Britain at play with beer and skittles, football and cricket, is it fish and chips, whisky galore or how we take the biscuit, the great outdoors and our weather, work and banking, our language from Anglo-Saxon to text speak, Britannia ruling the waves, places with strange sounding names, Mancs and Scousers, or Howay, man!? We British are an eccentric population with a barmy culture. 240 page paperback. £7.99 NOW £2.75


70667 AN ENGLISH COUNTRYSIDE


EXPLORED: The Land of Lettice Sweetapple by Peter Fowler and Ian Blackwell Around 1800, Lettice Sweetapple lived in West Overton, Wiltshire, between Avebury and Marlborough. Peter Fowler and his team of archaeologists, historians and scientists have investigated the landscape of the parishes of West Overton and Fyfield over 39 years, not merely as local history, but as a microcosm of the English countryside. They have made use of fieldwork, aerial photography, excavation, old maps and documents, geophysics and numerous analytical techniques on everything from standing buildings to flecks of charcoal. 160 large page paperback. Maps and photos. £14.99 NOW £2


70789 CHELSEA CHICKS by Maria Perry From Catherine Parr and the aftermath of a royal sex scandal of epic proportions, to a runaway rabbit at the Chelsea Flower Show, Maria Perry guides us skilfully through 500 years of this quintessentially Bohemian quarter of London. Chelsea Chicks never grow old. Despite a growing crowd of celebrities, Chelsea remains a family place devoted to Youth and Art. Here are the sex goddesses, great gardeners, notorious addresses, naughty antics, great decorators, love among the artists and name dropping galore. 120pp with cartoons. £9.99 NOW £1.50


71004 SOUTHERN ENGLAND: Discover


Britain’s Historic Houses by Simon Jenkins A vision of 83 of the most impressive or interesting dwellings to be seen in Dorset, Hampshire, the Isle of Wight and Wiltshire. From majestic Kingston Lacy to Jane Austen’s modest house in Chawton and from the eclectic royal palace of Osborne House to the Palladian Wilton Place, here they are in all their glory. Mottisfont was completely new to us but we now know that Rex Whistler created a Gothick-style drawing room there, and that he used trompe l’oeil effects, rendered in grisaille, to simulate columns, plasterwork and ornament details. 191 pages 22cm by 28cm with photos in glorious colour with maps, accessibility and contact details. ONLY £5


71154 IN THE FOOTPRINTS OF WAINWRIGHT by Derry Brabbs


Derry Brabbs published seven books with Wainwright. He had spent the best part of a decade taking the photographs for the large-format illustrated walking guides which Alfred Wainwright wrote 1984-1992, when his legendary series of Pictorial Guides to the Lakeland Fells was complete. This is a fascinating account of Derry’s training and adventures including his first meeting with Wainwright and the joys, trials and tribulations of working on projects with a great fellwalker. 300 spectacular colour photos. 288pp, large softback.


£16.99 NOW £4


71157 LAKELAND SKETCHBOOK: Volume Four by Alfred Wainwright


Each of the 80 stunning pen and ink drawings is accompanied by a simple map designed to identify the location of the viewpoint in relation to its surroundings. In order of their appearance the drawings include Whiteless Pike and Rannerdale Knotts, Pike o’Stickle, Matson Ground, Windermere, the head of Wastwater, Crinkle Crag, Coppermine Valley Coniston, Loft Crag, Gosforth Cross, Stonethwaite, Bobbin works, Stott Park, the Vale of Grasmere and nearly 80 other rocky, rural Lakeland scenes, all beautifully evoked in these exquisitely detailed ink drawings. £15.99 NOW £5.50


71158 LAKELAND SKETCHBOOK: Volume Five by Alfred Wainwright


The fifth and final volume in this collection of ink drawings, this one also presents 80 fine masterpieces from the ink pen of Alfred Wainwright. Here is Wray Castle, a familiar sight to all those who sail the lengths of Windermere with its battlemented towers rising above the trees near the water’s edge, the classic harmony of Ashness Bridge, Red Screes Mountain, Low Dam and High Dam Reservoirs, Sheffield Pike, Upper Eskdale, the trim little village of Clappersgate, the high farmstead of Swindale Head and the Hollow of Levers Water are each illustrated with a tiny map showing its location, all hand drawn and captioned in Wainwright’s own hand. 80 pen and ink drawings. £15.99 NOW £5.50


72991 HIGH ABOVE LONDON by Barbara Roveda, Jason Hawkes and Nathan McConnel


In this stunning collection of aerial photographs, you will experience a spectacular and illuminating view of one of the most iconic, and beautiful, cities in the world. From the grand Georgian terraces of the West End to the experimental architecture of the Docklands and South Bank and the new Olympic site in Stratford, these awe- inspiring photos tell the story of the changing face of London. Here are the meandering curves of the River Thames as they are never visible if you are being driven or are on foot. Here too are the royal palaces, famous parks and internationally


recognisable landmarks such as the London Eye, the Tower of London and the Gherkin, not to mention the impressive bridges. Cleverly contrasts the up-to-date photos with prints of ancient London, such as Smithfield Market with its hundreds of sheep and cattle, and the Crystal Palace with its 900,000 square feet of glass. 192 softback pages 29cm x 21cm lavishly illustrated in colour.


£14.99 NOW £6


70959 PANORAMAS OF LOST LONDON Work, Wealth, Poverty and Change 1870-1945 by Philip Davies


Published in association with English Heritage and with a foreword by Dan Cruikshank, here are over 300 spectacular photographs of London’s lost buildings from English Heritage’s archive. It is a detailed view of the city’s lost heritage, its social and economic history, work, wealth, poverty and change during the years 1870-1945. Some of the book’s finest photographs have been enlarged to poster size revealing the true quality. There are 100 previously unseen images in this new, larger landscape format tome measuring 14½” across by nearly 12". It reproduces historic photographs commissioned by the London County Council, many of them in the early days of photography, to capture individual buildings and streets that along with entire neighbourhoods were on the threshold of redevelopment. Shop fronts are plastered with advertising reveal their wares and architectural features and textures leap into focus. Take the tram to Aldwych 1932, see Sir


Christopher Wren’s Court Room with its fine vaulted ceiling and fluted


Corinthian screen. The ultimate coffee table book.


£40 NOW £28


71118 BRIGHT PARTICULAR STARS: A Gallery of Glorious British Eccentrics by David McKie


The history of England’s towns has frequently been enlivened by individuals who were wealthy, eccentric, desperate to do good or just plain mad. Among the latter was Philip Heseltine, better known as the composer Peter Warlock, who scandalised the village of Eynsford in Kent by his non-stop house parties, riding naked on his motorbike through the village. In 1864, Nine Elms saw an ecstatic welcome for the glamorous Garibaldi, alarming Queen Victoria so much that her Chancellor Gladstone persuaded the Italian Nationalist to go back to Italy. A fascinating chapter on Spitalfields in London traces the history of the area as a settlement. 353pp. £25 NOW £3


71155 LAKELAND PEAKS by W. A. Poucher


The classic guide for walkers and climbers, now updated and revised. 250 stunning b/w photos, many with the route to the summit clearly marked; detailed directions for 140 routes; practical advice on clothing, equipment, mountain navigation and other safety issues; suggestions on where to find a place to stay; invaluable hints on mountain photography. Pocket sized paperback, a facsimile of the 1960 original so the photographs look rather quaint. Index for easy reference and tracks clearly marked on the photographs sending you towards Ell Crags, High Spy, Great Stoat Fell, Scafell etc at a glance. 448pp.


£12.99 NOW £2.75


71153 HIGH PLACES: Leaves from a Lakeland Notebook by A. Harry Griffin


For 50 years the Guardian’s country diarist, Harry Griffin wrote the weekly feature for the Lancashire Evening Post for almost 30 years called Leaves from a Lakeland Notebook. This book combines a selection from around 1500 of these articles with illustrations from the Lakeland Sketchbooks by Alfred Wainwright. Griffin writes of days spent in the mountains clambering on Pillar Rock, skating on Tarn Hows at Christmas, swimming in tarns after a day of rock climbing, plus the history of the Lake District. And here too are the many characters he knew like Owd Joe, a Wasdale shepherd. 224pp with beautiful line art and covering May 1947 to December 1975. £12.99 NOW £4


71179 PORTRAIT OF THE UNIVERSITY OF


MANCHESTER by Professor Brian Pullan Created by Act of Parliament in 2004, the University of Manchester Mark III traces its ancestry to three establishments - the Mechanics’ Institution of 1924, designed to ‘instruct the working classes in the principles of the arts they practise’, the Medical School of Thomas Turner, and the College of Arts and Sciences founded in 1851 by John Owens, an austere Manchester merchant. From 1903-39 giants such as Rutherford and Bragg laid the foundations of modern science here. The Arts were equally distinguished by the work of the likes of Samuel Alexander and Lewis Namier. It was here that the world’s first stored-programme computer was invented and radio astronomy was developed at Jodrell Bank. 208 large pages with over 200 illus in colour, with archive b/w photos and list of Nobel Laureates. £45 NOW £10.50


71209 PORTRAIT OF BRITAIN: A Stunning


Visual Journey by Michael Leapman Incorporates the very best of Britain’s glorious landscapes, lively cities and rich cultural heritage, providing for intrepid travellers thousands of ideas for places to visit or, for those who prefer to travel from Land’s End to John O’Groats without leaving home, a visual celebration of all that Britain has to offer. Here are the magnificent medieval castles of Wales, the clans and tartans of Scotland, sleepy Cotswold villages and the nightlife of London’s West End, not to mention spectacular gardens, culinary traditions and reminders of our sporting heritage. Here are cathedrals, castles, national parks, palaces, stately homes, museums and galleries as well as bird’s-eye-view street plans showing places of interest in key town and city centres. A thick 576 pages, over 2,000 specially commissioned colour photos, illus, maps and cutaway 3-D illus. £25 NOW £7.50


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