22 Mythology


fresh analysis of the lyrics. Beginning with Bob Dylan’s early concerts to touring with the Grateful Dead where Dylan revived his career (under the influence of Jerry Garcia) to the recording of Time Out of Mind in 1997 and his 2009 tour, through first hand accounts, reportage and a wealth of interviews this is a subtle and multi-layered appreciation of Dylan’s art. 496pp in paperback, photos. £15 NOW £3.50


73098 LEONARD COHEN: A Remarkable Life by Anthony Reynolds


Drawing on scores of new interviews conducted with Leonard Cohen’s band members past and present, his business associates, editors, friends, fans, producers, colleagues, enemies and peers, this compelling, detailed biography tells the full story of the life, loves and work of the poet songwriter and singer. He once described himself as having been ‘born with the gift of a golden voice’ but, over the past 40 years, he has been strangely evasive about his own private and public life. Now, however, at the hands of the author, a surprisingly frank portrait begins to emerge. From the distant days of his penniless beginnings as an acclaimed poet in Montréal, through the travels, affairs and religious crises, to his latest tours, here is the story of his relationships with women, alcohol, drugs, crime and much more. Despite it all, Leonard Cohen commands unparalleled loyalty from his fans and followers, young and old and he takes the mickey out of his grumpy reputation! He is a superstar performer. 320 paperback pages with b/w photos and selective discography. £14.95 NOW £7.50


Guitars & Legends 74020 FENDER


TELECASTER: The Life and


Times of the Electric Guitar That Changed the World by Dave Hunter


Not as posh as a Les Paul and more simple and robust than the Strat, the Fender Telecaster is the working-class hero of the guitar world, the ultimate blue-collar guitar. It was never meant to be


pretty, elegant or sophisticated - although few would argue with these first two attributes - but was built to do a job, the functional guitar for the working musician, and in doing so, changed the world of music. A solid, single cutaway body of swamp-grown hardwood, six strings, one set of pick-ups, two chrome knurled tone and volume controls and that iconic six-in-a-line headstock that can turn its hand to any style, be it C&W, blues, rock’n’roll, punk, jazz or reggae, the Tele has been making music for the people for over half and century and shows no sign of stopping. Tracing the evolution of the Telecaster from the Broadcaster, Nocaster and Esquire of the late ’40s and early ’50s, here are over 400 mouthwatering colour shots of the Telecaster, as well as its afore-mentioned siblings and its other family members, the Stratocaster and Precision Bass, pictured in the factory, in collections, waiting to be picked up and, most thrillingly, in use with their acolytes, people like Bruce Springsteen, Joe Strummer, Luther Perkins, Wilko Johnson (who provides the foreword), Jimmy Page, Chrissie Hynde, Keith Richards, Waylon Jennings, Jeff Beck, Andy Summers, Merle Haggard and a great many more. All the history, design tweaks and variants is to be found here too. 240pp, 9½”×11", colour. £25 NOW £16.50


74019 CLAPTON: The


Ultimate Illustrated History by Chris Welch One of the greatest blues guitarists ever, Eric Clapton was being hailed as a giant of rock by the end of the sixties. Public fascination was increased by the intrigues of his personal life, particularly the notorious tug of


war between Clapton and George Harrison over Patti Boyd (Clapton won), and also by his periodic ill-judged remarks on immigration issues. This sumptuous book is not only crammed with wonderful pictures but also aims to assess Clapton’s appeal and achievement. Clapton found the guitar too difficult as a teenager, but on being expelled from art school in 1962 he got an electric guitar and started to play seriously. His first band was the Roosters, and when he at last got a call - though he had no phone - from a serious Blues band, the Yardbirds, Clapton was on his way to the top. Ever publicity-conscious, the Yardbirds invaded Lord Willis’s home after he made disparaging remarks about modern bands, and an archive photo shows them performing for the grinning peer. In 1965 Clapton quit the Yardbirds and the following year Cream was formed, with the iconic album Blues Breakers featuring Clapton on the cover reading the Beano. A negative review in 1968 led to the group’s break-up and after that Clapton was on his own. Jimi Hendrix came to Britain in order to meet him, and Hendrix’s death in 1970 was a huge blow, but Clapton is a survivor. 256pp, stunning colour photos on every page, features on Clapton’s guitars, discography. Limited stocks. £25 NOW £15


MYTHOLOGY


Go not to the elves for counsel, for they will say both no and yes.


- J. R. R. Tolkien


73890 THE DEATH OF KING ARTHUR: The Immortal Legend Thomas Malory’s Le


Morte d’Arthur A Retelling by Peter Ackroyd


Thomas Malory created for posterity the images of the lovers Lancelot and Guinevere, the bold Galahad and Gawain, sad Tristram and Isolde, Merlin the wily magician and Arthur, the once and future king. It was through the agency of


Malory’s book Le Morte d’Arthur that the latter took on a posthumous life in medieval histories, for there is no evidence that such a monarch ever existed. In Malory’s own account, this great epic was composed from sundry ‘old books’. So King Arthur may simply be a figment of the national imagination. Yet it is still a remarkable tribute to Malory’s inventive genius that Arthur and the Round Table have found a secure and permanent place in the affections of the English-speaking people. As a result of his plangent and often elaborate prose, the song of Arthur has never ended. It inspired both Milton and Dryden. In the 19th century Tennyson revived its themes. William Morris wrote The Defence of Guenevere and Algernon Swinburne composed Tristram of Liones. Now acclaimed author Peter Ackroyd takes on the task of abridging and retelling this much loved tale, and transforming a 15th century work into a dramatic modern story, vividly bringing to life a world of courage and chivalry, magic and majesty. 316 stirring pages.


$26.95 NOW £8 73994 SONG OF TALIESIN:


Tales from King Arthur’s Bard by John Matthews


20 rare Celtic tales from Camelot are here collected by one of the great culture-bearers of our times who has written over 40 books on the Arthurian legends, esoteric wisdom and the Grail. We know Arthur as the ‘once and future’ legendary king who organised the


6th century Celts against the invading Anglo-Saxons for some 40 years. Less known is his poet Taliesin who, like Merlin, was said to have shamanic powers. While Taliesin’s legacy of initiatic wisdom has largely been lost, enough remains to convey the passionate heart of the ancient Celts’ spirituality. John Matthews has mined original sources such as the Welsh Mabinogion, the Triads, the Book of Leinster, the Story of Perceval, and Malory’s Morte D’Arthur. Part legend, part fiction, part


NATURE


There is no such thing as bad weather, only inappropriate clothing.


- Sir Ranulph Fiennes


74079 SANDSTONE AND SEA STACKS: A Beachcomber’s Guide to Britain’s Coastal Geology


by Ronald Turnbull We British do, as the song points out, like to be beside the seaside, and with good reason. We no longer have glaciers or volcanoes, but we can see what they created when


we did, and we still have the greatest earth-shifter of all, the sea, hard at work along 6,000 miles of shoreline. There are caves, arches and sea stacks, cliffs bent and crumpled by unimaginable forces, solidified lava in all its forms and a myriad of fossils, desert sand dune emerging from the ocean, millions of rockpool microenvironments, cliffs, platforms and boreholes created by swift-moving tides and collection of sedimentary, igneous and metamorphic rocks, stones and clays to rival anywhere in the world. When we slow our eyes down to the pace of the “what’s the hurry we’ve got all day” pace of the beachcomber we begin to see the shell, creatures and corals from millions of years ago, the colours and shapes of the rocks and the minerals they contain and the beauty of the coast. This celebration of our coastal geology takes us in words, magnificent colour photos and explanatory diagrams all around the British coast, describing it, exalting in it and explaining what we have, how it got there and what is likely to happen to it. Turnbull may be a fully-fledged geologist but he also has a poet’s way with words. 240pp, 8¾”×11¼”. £25 NOW £10


74238 THE INSHORE


FISHERMEN OF WALES by J. Geraint Jenkins A book not only for historians and fishing enthusiasts but for all those who are interested in the compelling maritime heritage of Wales. For centuries, the coastal communities of that mysterious country have based their economy on the rich harvest of the sea and river estuaries - from salmon trapping on the river Wye


and cockle gathering at Pen-clawdd in north Gower, to fishing for herring off the Llyn peninsula and mussel


mythology, they thrill with the power of one of the most compelling mystical/literary traditions the world has ever known. Full of authentic and textured magic which weaves spells of images, wonderings and spiritual insights. 234 large pages in softback with illustrations by Stuart Littlejohn. $19.95 NOW £5


73996 SUPERSTITIONS:


1013 Wacky Myths Fables and Old Wives’ Tales by Deborah Murrell Have you ever stopped to think about why people pick up a ‘lucky’ penny or say ‘God bless you’ when someone sneezes? Thanks to modern science many superstitions no longer hold - or do they? Who


doesn’t sometimes get a shiver down the spine when a black cat crosses his path or feel uneasy when a dog howls in the middle of the night? Goethe wrote in 1819 ‘Superstition is the poetry of life.’ At Christmastime people kiss under the mistletoe and before an actor goes out on stage someone may call out ‘break a leg!’ Our book reveals the geographical, religious and social origins behind more than 1000 intriguing superstitions from around the world grouped by Hearth and Home, Sickness and Health, Love and Romance, Babies and Children, Spirits and Souls, Magical Little People, Omens, Good Luck Charms, Protective Amulets, Numbers, Calendar Customs and Rituals and more. 200 charming illus throughout 256 large pages published by Reader’s Digest. ONLY £7


71451 DRAGON HUNTER’S


HANDBOOK by Adelia vin Helsin Few manuscripts survive from the Middle Ages, and none so intriguing as the journal of Adelia of Firense - found among the oldest papers in the library of the famous Vin Helsing (sic) dynasty. This records her fate as the family’s last fighting ancestor, destined to save the world from a furnace of dragon flame - a destiny that had haunted the family since 1352. Here, she details her journey to Tibet to do battle with one of humanity’s greatest foes - a powerful she dragon and her teeming brood. 30 fold-out pages 25.5cm by 30.5cm in menacing colour, padded cover and pockets full of secret documents. £14.99 NOW £3


72584 THREE YOUNG RATS AND OTHER RHYMES by Alexander Calder


A Woman in Love with a Pig, Lucy Locket, London Bridge is Broken Down, I Went to Frankfort and Got Drunk, Lizzie Borden Took an Axe, I’ll Sing You 12 O Green Grow the Rushes O, and Three Young Rats with Black Felt Hats are among the adult rhymes based on the nursery rhymes of England and other popular tales and comic verse, but with a rather adult angle. Alexander Calder is well known for inventing the mobile, but here his 85 distinctive line drawings, originally published in 1944, are frank depictions of nudes adding a new depth and resonance to a host of familiar chants and verses. Large softback, 132pp with index of first lines. £14.49 NOW £2.75


dredging in the Conwy estuary. Now the picture is rapidly changing. Over-fishing and pollution have reduced fish stocks, modern equipment has replaced age- old practices, and international restrictions on fishing grounds and the quantity of fish caught have all imposed new patterns on the industry. This volume is the first full-scale survey of Welsh coastal fishermen, past and present. It looks at traditional fishing methods, some fast disappearing, others still in use today. The wealth of different varieties of fish found around the coasts is described and listed. Equipment and techniques, including the varied netting practices, trapping, long lining and shellfish gathering are explained in detail. A lovely, but worrying wallow in nostalgia. 167 paperback pages illustrated in b/w, with map, diagrams. £17.99 NOW £6.50


74246 FOSSIL INVERTEBRATES by Paul D.


Taylor and David N. Lewis Here is a window into the ancient Earth, when the seas teemed with ammonites, crinoids and trilobites. The sheer abundance of these fossils reflects the fact that many invertebrates, with solid, decay- resistant shells, were well suited for


preservation. Some have close relatives living today and this splendid book demonstrates how the fossil record is not only interesting in itself, but can also shed light on today’s fauna. The Natural History Museum is a leading research institution, with unparalleled collections and award-winning public exhibitions. The two authors of this authoritative book have worked there, in the Department of Palaeontology, for a total of 66 years between them and can therefore be assumed to know a great deal about their theme! When searching at any fossil site, collectors - be they undergraduates or amateur fossil enthusiasts - are more likely to come across an invertebrate fossil than any other kind. This extensive volume is a marvellously detailed and accessible resource designed to unravel and interpret the rich fossil record. It covers all major groups, from those who live in colonies such as corals, bryozoans, sponges and graptolites, through shelled molluscs and brachiopods, worms and tubes and the jointed-limbed animals, the arthropods, to the spiny-skinned echinoderms. 208 pages 26cm x 23cm lavishly illustrated in colour and b/w, with list of websites. £25 NOW £8


74081 BEAUTIFUL CHICKENS: Portraits of Champion Breeds


by Christie Aschwanden and Andrew Perris You may be thinking that we have taken the Diagram Prize for implausibly titled books too seriously with this one, but it really does do what it says on the tin. This is no less than a photographic festival of the zenith of gallinaceous pulchritude, superbly captured by Andrew


73541 ANIMAL FABLES FROM AESOP: 20th Anniversary Edition adapted and illustrated by


Barbara McClintock With entirely rescanned artwork and improved typography, these famous tales have been selected and adapted by the artist Barbara McClintock and illustrated in her inimitable, sophisticated


anthropomorphic style. The collection includes such time-honoured fables as The Fox and the Grapes, and The Country Mouse and the City Mouse as well as lesser-known stories like The Wolf and the Lamb and The Crow and the Peacocks. The wisdom, humour and lessons of Aesop’s timeless tales are fully exploited, and they are all revitalized by the author’s uncanny ability to capture, in the expressions of her exquisitely drawn creatures, humanity, with all its weaknesses and strengths. 46 pages 26cm x 18.5cm illustrated in delicate colours.


$17.95 NOW £6


73562 LUKA AND THE FIRE OF LIFE by Salman Rushdie


‘There was once, in the city of Kahani, in the land of Alisbay, a boy named Luka who had two pets, a bear named Dog and a dog named Bear...’ Luka is Haroun’s younger brother who must save his father from certain doom in this magic-enthused intricate story. Rashid Khalifa, the legendary storyteller of Kahani, has fallen into a deep sleep from which no one can wake him. To keep his father from slipping away entirely, Luka must travel to the Magic World and steal the ever-burning Fire of Life. Filled with mischievous wordplay. Tiny remainder mark and roughcut pages, US first edition. $25 NOW £6


71588 CHIVALRY: The Path of Love introduced by Jeremy Catto


This beautiful and illuminating introduction to the ancient code of behaviour which shaped relations between the sexes in medieval times is lavishly illustrated. It accounts for the evolution, history and practice of chivalry from its roots during the Crusades to its zenith in Eleanor of Aquitaine’s Court of Love, where romantic disputes were resolved. Exquisite colour illus. 61pp. $9.95 NOW £1


72284 THE ANCIENT FABLE: An Introduction by Niklas Holzberg


Here is the first and only one-volume study of the fable’s history in antiquity considering its literary history and individual analysis. Fables used by many Greek and Roman authors were exempla, then the verse fable books of Phaedrus, Babrius and Avianus and finally one Greek and one Latin prose fable book, both dating from the time of the Roman Empire have been attributed to Aesop are studied. Uunearths some of the best early short stories for example Horace’s version of ‘Town Mouse and Country Mouse’ from his Satires. With veiled criticisms, beautiful verse and much more. Paperback, 128pp. £10.99 NOW £3


73952 THE FAMILY OF TOUCANS: The


Complete Plates by John Gould Simply gorgeous. Presented as 51 unbound, fine art prints in an enormous red linen clamshell case, this portfolio contains what is generally thought to be the most dramatic illustrations of John Gould (1804-1881), the only ornithological artist of the 19th century to rival John James Audubon in ambition and quality. The range of vivid colour in The Family of Toucans - shiny black, vibrant red, yellow, and orange - creates an unprecedented sense of animation; the birds seem to emerge from the page more like living creatures than two-dimensional representations. Each beautiful bird is anatomically correct and exquisitely rendered in colour, in a natural setting on a branch or under foliage, often in pairs. The plumage is dazzling and appealing and all nature lovers can appreciate the rarity of this collection. Taken from the revised and expanded edition published in London in 1854, the facsimile plates are individual prints ready for framing, measuring just larger than 13" x 19", and are accompanied by a bound


introduction of 31 pages to the artist and his book, in English, French, and German. Slipcased, measuring 20 x 13.75 x 1.25 inches. ONLY £50


Perris and with full descriptions (including temperament, features, use, related breeds, size, origin and distribution) by a self-confessed chicken nut. We simply had no idea there were so many chicken breeds, so varied and - yes! - so beautiful! The book showcases over 40, such as the robust heavyweight British Dorking which can weigh up to 14lbs, the Rumpless Tufted Araucana from Chile, one of the strangest looking creatures we have ever set eyes upon, the Scots Dumpy which, as you may have guessed, sports very short legs below its heavy body, the Asian Frizzle and Silkie, both of which look as though they have just stepped out of a beauty parlour, the long-legged and extremely elegant English Modern Game, the irresistibly cheeky little Sebright Bantam, the outrageously fluffy Chinese Cochin and the German (via Japan) Yokohama, which is equipped with what is the most impressive set of tail feathers this side of a bird of paradise. In addition there is behind-the-scenes reportage from some of the world’s top poultry shows, plus a short history of the domestic chicken. A real eye-opener for the unconverted, 112pp softback, colour throughout, 10"×8½”.


£12.99 NOW £6


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