8 Biography / Autobiography


72510 FROM REMBRANDT TO VERMEER edited by Bernd Wolfgang Lindemann


and Claudio Strinati Subtitled ‘Civil Values in 17th Century Flemish and Dutch Painting, Masterpieces of the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin’. Published


to coincide with an exhibition of Flemish and Dutch paintings from the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin, this catalogue is aimed, not at art experts, but at ordinary art lovers. They may all have heard of Rubens and Rembrandt but not everyone may be familiar with the fabulous diversity of painting arising from both these artists. On display in this impressive volume are the fabulous works of artists such as Gerard ter Borch, Gerard Dou, Nicolaes Maes and Jan Steen, as well as the formidable work of Joachim Anthonisz Wtewael, a major artist from Utrecht. Contrasted with the artwork produced during the same period of time by Spain, France and Italy, whose paintings clearly revealed the symbols of a civil or religious, rich landowning authority, forgetful of its mercantile origins, the Flemish and Dutch paintings depicted the interiors of ordinary homes and the chores of everyday bourgeois life. They produced masterpieces of art whose main subjects were captured with a veracity that would remain unequalled when compared with subsequent artistic styles. In these paintings, the woman played a twofold role, representing both the sweetness of hearth and home and at the same time temptation and sin, creating a gallery of female figures who would remain an important point of reference in the history of art. Works of art such as Portrait of a Genoese Noblewoman by Anton van Dyck, Girl Weighing Pearls and The Mother by Pieter de Hooch are examples of this. Equally trenchant and effective was the depiction of the activities that went on inside shops, and the labour of the artist in his studio. This is a summoning up of a chapter of history where all is remembered and nothing is considered minor or irrelevant. The book also showcases the genres of Landscape, Still Life, the Seaside and Animals. 149 softback pages 28.5cm x 25.5cm in glorious colour.


£30 NOW £12.50


70876 ALL THE MIGHTY WORLD: The Photographs of Roger Fenton


1852-1860 by Gordon Baldwin et al This volume comprises not only the works of Roger Fenton but also nine illustrated essays by six leading scholars. He was England’s most celebrated photographer during the 1850s. He pictured noble country houses, evocative ruins and the rolling countryside that surrounded them. Equally arresting are his muscular views of cathedrals and of the royal castles and Houses of Parliament. He was a founder of the Photographic Society (later the Royal Photographic Society). In 1852, he travelled to Russia and was among the first to photograph the Kremlin. Commissioned in 1855 to document the Crimean War, he returned with portraits of shell-shocked soldiers and confident officers, views of a chaotic Balaklava harbour and bleak panoramas of the terrain of battle. 290 pages 25.5cm by 30cm with 174 illustrations, 96 in quadratone, 90 of Fenton’s finest photos. £40 NOW £12.50


72411 DUCHAMP by Janis Mink Someone else may have invented the wheel, but Marcel Duchamp (1887-1968) invented the ready-made. He may be best known for his urinal signed R. Mutt, 1917. This study addresses the myth and reveals the compelling charisma of Marcel Duchamp. Features a detailed chronological summary of the artist’s life and work, covering the cultural and historical importance of the artist, approximately 100 colour illustrations of his and other artists like Matisse, explanatory captions and a concise biography. 9½” x 12", 96 pages. ONLY £7


71339 SPANISH SPLENDOR: Palaces, Castles and Country Houses


by Juan José Junquera Y Mato


From Aragón, Galicia and the Basque region in the north to the central cities of Madrid and Toledo, and from the fabled Andalucian cities of Seville and Granada in the south to the Catalan capital Barcelona, over 30 enchanting and historically significant properties are visited. The history of each property, its owners, architects, decorators and landscapers accompanies the lovely colour photographs and façades, interiors and gardens, furnishings, painting and sculpture collections on view. The Islamic influence is evident in the Court of Myrtles which closely resembles the Alhambra’s Nazarí style. Fine floor tiles, sumptuous carpets, elegant drapes, stucco details, libraries adorned with antique books and tapestries, Gothic tracery on staircases and railings, magnificent sea views, olive groves, a stunning book-lined mezzanine in a very sumptuous 420 page tome, 12" square. £55 NOW £13


BIOGRAPHY / AUTOBIOGRAPHY


Wisdom comes from experience. Experience is often a result of lack of wisdom.


- Terry Pratchett 73962 HOUSE IN FRANCE: A


Memoir by Gully Wells In a scintillating portrait of her mother Dee Wells, the glamorous and rebellious American journalist, and her stepfather A. J. Ayer the celebrated Oxford philosopher, Gully Wells transports readers to Provence, New York and into the heart of London’s liberated intellectual inner circle of the 1960s. The house of the title, La Migoua,


was perched on a hill between Toulon and Marseille. This was where, every year, her parents and friends came together, and where Gully herself learned some enduring lessons about life. Dee was an adventurous TV commentator, earning a reputation for her outspoken style and progressive views. Ayer - known as Freddie - was an icon in the world of 20th century philosophy and as prodigious a womaniser as he was a thinker! In London, the author’s mother and stepfather mixed with the likes of Alan Bennett, Isaiah Berlin, Iris Murdoch, Bertrand Russell, Jonathan Miller, Martin Amis, Christopher Hitchens, Robert Kennedy and Claus von Buelow. In New York, they were friendly with Mayor John Lindsay, boxer Mike Tyson and lingerie king Fernando Sánchez. Wherever they went, they ‘caught the spirit of the sixties’ and the vivid memories of the author manages to capture them too. 307 rough cut pages with b/w archive photos. $26.95 NOW £6


74237 DIARY OF A YOUNG WIFE 1953


by Hazel Wheeler


Working in the local libraries in and around Huddersfield, Hazel desperately fights to fit her passion of writing around the unenviable daily demands of a 1950s housewife. ‘6am washing clothes. Cooked breakfast, ironing. Cleaned oven, bedroom, the windows.


Walked Crosland Moor then down the fields to mother’s. Played with Major (the dog) in the field. Library. 140 issues. Left at 8.30pm.’ Terrified of social pressure to have children, Hazel finds herself ‘wondering if there could possibly be a means of having a family without the bodily distortion.’ Washing must be scrubbed by hand over the sink, socks must be darned and tea must be on the table by 5 o’clock sharp. Hazel Wheeler is a feisty young woman who passed her 11 plus to attend Greenhead Girls High and who chronicles in her daily diary the first shaky steps of marriage. She and her husband Granville are flat broke and burdened by a cold, carpet-less house with a dark cellar which simply will not


sell. No one is safe from neighbours’ prying eyes and escape comes in the form of a trip down to town and a coffee at Sylvio’s. Studded with the author’s own photographs, contemporary advertising for the Put-U-Up Bed, adverts to ‘be gay’ in Newman’s evening sandals and Timothy Whites and Taylors products, there is much local colour, nostalgia and recollections like the funeral of Queen Mary. A true bibliophile, this lady is reading every night and loves finding romances for her lady readers at the library. 128pp in large softback, illus. £12.99 NOW £3


73206 STIEG: From Activist to Author by Jan-Erik Pettersson


Until the posthumous publication of the mega-selling Millennium Trilogy with its unforgettable heroine Lisbeth Salander, Stieg Larsson was best known in Sweden for his commitment to left-wing causes and as an anti-fascist activist. Horrified by the rise of Swedish far-right extremism in the 1980s, Larsson threw himself into monitoring and exposing these shadowy, violent groups, gaining an international reputation for his depth of knowledge and achievements, but at the cost living in constant fear for his life. Jan-Erik Pettersson has spoken in particular to all who knew Larsson and his partner Eva Gabrielsson on Expo magazine, and is well aware of his subject’s strengths and failings. Here he shows how this energetic champion of social justice and women’s rights. He himself having many character traits in common with Blomqvist. 304pp paperback. £8.99 NOW £3.50


73250 DOCTOR GOEBBELS: His Life and Death


by Roger Manvell and Heinrich Fraenkel Part biography and part real-life horror, this shudder- inducing volume delves deep into the mystery shrouding one of Adolf Hitler’s most vicious henchmen. Beginning with Goebbels’ idyllic childhood and ending in his dramatic death by suicide, it reveals the man behind the Nazi propaganda machine. Using first-hand accounts from the Nuremberg Trials from Goebbels’ sister Maria, and from the fiancée of his youth, Else, his carefully crafted character is ripped apart to reveal a boy determined to overcome his youthful disabilities and prove his devotion and dedication to his country, by any means, however wrong. 329 paperback pages, illus. £15.99 NOW £6


72329 BORSTAL BOY by Brendan Behan This marvellous, unforgettable work of autobiography and prison literature begins with Behan, aged 16, getting arrested at his Liverpool lodgings, barely a few days after his arrival from Dublin, with his suitcase full of his “Sinn Fein conjuror’s kit” - explosives and detonators. A tyro terrorist, his head full of Republican glory, eager to blast Britain any way and any how he could, the rest of his three years in this country were spent first in prison, then in the borstal to which his youth entitled him. In borstal he was treated with relative decency, and when finally expelled to Ireland, he was a significantly changed, if undefeated rebel. At the time of writing, Behan was neither the familiar writer in the making, nor the usual IRA rank-and-filer, but clearly something quite different. Tells of secret food orgies and “the smell of soap and shit...the smell of a British jail.” Banned for obscenity and here in The Independent edition with a low jacket price for its readers. Rare import. 305pp. ONLY £4


73315 POET McGONAGALL: A Biography by Norman Watson


William McGonagall is a literary legend whose execrable rhymes and terrible scansion have assured him a very special place in the poetic pantheon. Here the author explores the life and times of this one-time Dundee weaver, who became Scotland’s ‘other national poet’ - other, that is, than Robert Burns. We are not sure where he was born, where he was brought up or, indeed, where exactly he is buried. We cannot prove whether he was really Scots or actually Irish, and almost nothing about his first 50 years is in the public domain. What we do have are the outrageous tragedies and paeans he penned in celebration of victories, heroic deeds and various public figures of the time, and these speak volumes about the man himself. 306 pages, photos, notes, Gazetteer and Chronology of his Poems and Songs.


£20 NOW £9 73320 TAXI! Never a Dull Day - A Cabbie


Remembers by Douglas J. Findlay Little did Findlay know, when, in the 1950s, he took a job as a taxi driver, that driving a cab would broaden his experience of life to the extent that it did. He got into fights, met ‘hooks, crooks and comic singers’, found the inside of a police cell uninviting and even became friendly with a notorious madam who ran a brothel in central Edinburgh. He got to know and like a doctor with a sideline as an abortionist, and risked his life tangling with an ex-RAF policemen who murdered two people six weeks after his altercation with Findlay! En route, the cabbie also met an extraordinary range of colourful characters, including Charlie the Gangster, Pedro the Pirate, and Mr Goldbaum and his Housewives’ Friend. A riotous romp through the demi-monde that lurks behind Edinburgh’s genteel façade. 230 paperback pages. £8.99 NOW £3.50


73606 CARAVANS AND WEDDING BANDS:


Memories of a Romany Life by Eva Petulengro Vividly capturing a time when life was changing for ever for the Romanies, the author reveals how, despite the changes, the Romany spirit endured. She has had to get used to living with a gorger - or non-Romany - but at the same time records fascinating glimpses into the lives of her family, telling tales of their whirlwind romances and travelling adventures. She also describes becoming a famous clairvoyant, with celebrity clients lining up to have their palms read, and discloses the secrets of many of the colourful characters she met. But, despite her vow to remain true to her origins, when she was young it was the Swinging Sixties, and an innocent Romany girl could easily find herself in some strange situations. 373 paperback pages, photos in colour. £6.99 NOW £3


74059 SHADOWS OF THE WORKHOUSE by Jennifer Worth


When Jennifer Worth became a midwife in the 1950s, she joined an East End where many lives were touched by the shadow of the workhouse. Although the institutions were officially abolished in 1930, in reality many did not close until several decades later. In the follow-up to her bestselling Call the Midwife (code 74053), Jennifer tells the true stories of the people she met. There’s Peggy and Frank who were separated in the workhouse when their parents died, until Frank’s strength and determination enabled him to make a home for his sister. Jane was a bright, lively child, whose spirit was broken by cruelty until she found kindness and love later in life. Then there is the matchmaking nun, Sister Julienne, and Sister Monica Joan, who ends up in the High Court. 294pp in paperback with photos, one a rare picture of workhouse boys with their schoolmaster. £7.99 NOW £4


71720 DIAMOND QUEEN: Elizabeth II and Her People by Andrew Marr


In an impressively thick volume, arranged thematically, Andrew Marr dissects the Queen’s political relationships, crucially those with her prime ministers, and investigates why she spends three hours every day reading the contents of the red boxes sent over from Downing Street. He examines her role as the Head of the Commonwealth, and looks at what she actually does, from walkabouts to meetings with visiting heads of state and other dignitaries. He also looks at the drastic changes in the media since her accession in 1952 and analyses how the monarchy have had to change and adapt as a result. 418 pages, many photos in colour and b/w. Scuffed jacket. £25 NOW £7


71933 CHRISTOPHER ISHERWOOD DIARIES:


Volume One: 1939-1960 edited by Katherine Bucknell


Christopher Isherwood was one of the most celebrated writers of his generation. He left Cambridge without graduating, briefly studied medicine and then turned to writing novels. The famous and hugely praised musical Cabaret was based on his book Goodbye to Berlin. In these intimate writings, Isherwood records his search for a new life in California, his work as a successful screenwriter in Hollywood, his pacifism during World War II, and his friendships with such gifted artists and intellectuals as Greta Garbo, Charles Chaplin, John Gielgud, Laurence Olivier, Richard Burton and Aldous Huxley, E. M. Forster, Somerset Maugham, Tennessee Williams and a host of others. 1,050 paperback pages. £20 NOW £5


72052 LAURA ASHLEY by Martin Wood


Drawn from first-hand accounts of Laura Ashley’s family, friends and colleagues. Against the background of Laura’s life - from her birth in South Wales in 1925 to her sudden and untimely death in 1985 - the author chronicles the designs, products and intrinsic style which are the essence of this iconic print and fashion house. He describes how she and her husband, Bernard worked together as a team, combining his drive, business acumen and appreciation of colour and design with her taste, eye for fashion and unerring ability to spot a trend. They launched a range of household textiles and furnishing, the ‘Laura Ashley Style’ quickly became a phenomenon. 192 pages 24cm x 29.5cm, 200 photos in colour and b/w. £35 NOW £11


ERIC NEWBY “Any book by Eric Newby is an event”.


73866 ROUND IRELAND IN LOW GEAR by Eric Newby From the shores of Donegal to the Holy Mountain, Eric Newby guides the reader on a tale of mishaps and magic with his own peculiar style of humour and charm. To avoid tourists, he decided that the depth of winter would be the very best time to explore Ireland, by mountain bike, panniers laden with antique Irish travel books and spare


parts. Astonishingly, he managed to persuade his long-suffering wife Wanda to accompany him and ‘keep him out of trouble’. Lashed by winter storms, fuelled by Guinness and warmed by thermal underwear, the elderly adventurers cycle the highways and byways of Ireland, encountering hospitable locals, swaying saints and ferocious dogs. His endless curiosity keeps you in the saddle through his 372 paperback pages. Maps and illus. £8.99 NOW £4.50


73822 SOMETHING WHOLESALE: My Life and


Times in the Rag Trade by Eric Newby


Any book by Eric Newby is an event. Author of the classic ‘A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush’, Eric is much loved and admired for his comic travel writing, but far less well known are his adventures as a commercial buyer in the improbable trade of women’s fashion. Here is his


hilarious tale of his chaotic life as an apprentice to the family garment firm of Lane and Newby. A story of unfortunate escapades with wool allergies, tissue paper and matching buttons, it is also a warm and loving portrait of his eccentric father, who seemed to spend more time participating in disasters than preserving his business. With his quick wit, self-deprecating charm and splendid detail, this is vintage Newby, only this time with a garment bag instead of a well-worn suitcase. 228pp in paperback. £8.99 NOW £4.50


73815 DEPARTURES AND


ARRIVALS by Eric Newby With an eye for minute, quirky detail and brimming with his trademark gentle humour and self- deprecating charm, Eric Newby has delighted readers for decades with his accounts of fascinating destinations near and far. In this captivating collection of 19 tales, he guides the reader from shops and streets of the Barnes of yesteryear to a fair of elephants


in India, and from an opal-mining town in Australia to a cycle ride along the Meridian Line, navigating rivers and ill-placed homes. It is a series of charming snapshots by the man who invented the modern comic travel book. 228pp in paperback, photos. £8.99 NOW £4.50


74152 ERIC NEWBY: Set of Three by Eric Newby


Buy all three titles and save even more. £26.97 NOW £11


72529 HER MAJESTY: 60 Regal Years by Brian Hoey


Affectionate anecdote is combined with impartial analysis - we look at Lilibet and the early days, Elizabeth and Philip, Buckingham Palace, the inner circle, family ties, the impact of Diana, the Camilla factor, mother and daughter, a woman of faith, hostess to the world, with her ministers home and abroad, royal money, the sport of queens, the case against the monarchy, royal protection, the public image, royal style and the world traveller among this far ranging collection of vignettes and opinions. 357pp in paperback. £9.99 NOW £3


72141 INSTEAD OF A BOOK: Letters to a


Friend by Diana Athill and Edward Field The irrepressible Diana Athill was, until she retired, a well- known and much respected editor. For over 30 years, she has corresponded with the American poet Edward Field, freely exchanging jokes, pleasures and pains with an old friend. This sparkling, witty volume incorporates gossip about mutual friends, sharp pen portraits and uninhibited accounts of her relationships. 328 pages. £20 NOW £4


72204 PATRICK MOORE: The Autobiography by Patrick Moore


Sir Patrick Moore has been honoured with an OBE, a CBE and a knighthood and was also involved in the lunar mapping carried out prior to the NASA Apollo missions. He has written more than 60 books, all on his 1908 Woodstock typewriter. A self-taught musician and talented composer, he has played for the Lord’s Taverners’ charity cricket team. 276 paperback pages, colour photos. £7.99 NOW £3


72261 NO ONE BUT A WOMAN KNOWS by Margaret Llewelyn Davies


A classic collection of stories from motherhood from before the war. Just ten shillings coming in to last 12 weeks, an agricultural labourer’s wife, how one woman consoled herself with an orphan boy, strikes, out of work and short time - beneath each story is the wife’s allowance, how many children, how many stillborn, or her wages. 257pp in paperback. £7.99 NOW £3


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