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72893 BOX OF BEANS: Book and Two CDs


by Clarissa Dickson-Wright The One Fat Lady reads her autobiography Spilling the Beans on two audio CDs. Determined and clever, Clarissa at the age of 21 was the youngest ever woman to be called to the Bar. Then her adored mother suddenly died and there followed a mind-numbing decade of wild drinking. Rich from her


inheritance, in the end Clarissa had drained her entire fortune. Includes the bestselling paperback, 328pp with colour photos. Audio book on two CDs runs to two hours.


£22.98 NOW £5 72365 WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN WINTER: A


Memoir in Blindness by Candia McWilliam Candia McWilliam was born in Edinburgh in 1955 and her first three novels A Case of Knives (1988), A Little Stranger (1989) and Debatable Land (1994) each won major literary awards. A descent into divorce, alcoholism and writer’s block appeared to have destroyed her writing career, but she fought back and her life seemed to be back on course by 2004. Then, in a cruel twist of fate in 2006 she began to suffer from blepharospasm rendering her functionally blind. She embarked upon a painful personal voyage, a memoir that offered no hiding place - her childhood in Edinburgh, devastating alcoholism, finding and losing her bearings at Cambridge and in London, her marriages, her divorces, her children and, looming over everything, her mother’s suicide. We end in 2009, when she has regained most of her sight. 440pp.


$27.99 NOW £4


72505 ALWAYS THE CHILDREN by Anne Watts


This is the story of Anne Watts who grew up in a village in North Wales in the 1940s. Defying her Merchant Navy father’s views, she trained as a nurse and midwife at Manchester Royal Infirmary, joined Save the Children fund and was posted to Vietnam in 1967. One of only a few British nurses in the region, Anne witnessed the random cruelty of warfare, nursing injured children and caring for wounded and dying servicemen. Over some 45 years she brought courage and compassion to those in need. 386pp, paperback, colour photos.


£6.99 NOW £3


72545 TED AND I: A Brother’s Memoir by Gerald Hughes


Gerald Hughes was nine years old when baby Ted was born on 17th August 1930. From the moment Ted could toddle, they were inseparable, with Ted following his older brother everywhere, roaming the Yorkshire countryside, camping, making fires, pitching tents, hunting rabbits, rats, woodpigeons and stoats, flying kites, building model planes and fishing. All of these adventures were to fuel the future Poet Laureate’s fascination with wildlife and the countryside. Those carefree, magical days are beautifully recalled in these pages along with delightful portraits of the close-knit Hughes family - Mam, Dad, grandparents and a host of colourful aunts and uncles. Frieda Hughes provides the foreword. Author’s sketches. 218pp. £16.99 NOW £5


72649 THE GARDENS OF RUSSELL PAGE: A New Edition of a Classic Account by Gabrielle van Zuylen and Marina Schinz


Perhaps the greatest garden designer of the 20th century, Russell Page was originally trained as an artist and he carried over, to the many vast garden projects that he undertook, an architectural sensibility and a keen eye for style. His gardening education began in the grand manner at Longleat in the 1930s. He designed gardens all over England, the US and Continental Europe such august schemes as the Battersea Park Festival Gardens for the 1951 Festival of Britain, the gardens at La Mortella - on the volcanic island of Ischia - for Sir William and Lady Walton, and the gardens of the Frick Collection in New York City. 256 pages 25.5cm x 31cm, 250 exquisite colour photos. £35 NOW £12.50


72758 COUNTING ONE’S BLESSINGS: The Selected Letters of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother edited and with an introduction by William Shawcross


Brimming with wit, acute observation and a deeply held sense of duty, the letters of the Queen Mother constitute a vivid chronicle both of her long life and of the 20th century as a whole. We can experience her delight in her beloved daughters and her real anguish when she and her husband realized that he would become King because his brother, Edward VIII was determined to abdicate. We can admire her work during the Second World War and her horror at the suffering caused by the Blitz, her joy in the marriage of her elder daughter Elizabeth, her grief at the tragically early death of her husband. Touching and very moving revelations. 666 pages with photos and family trees. £25 NOW £9


72970 CLIMBING THE STAIRS by Margaret Powell


Margaret’s mind turns to finding a young man while working below stairs in 1920s London, but it is hard to look beguiling when you are elbow deep in dishwater. As a kitchen maid, it is not just being at the beck and call of the people upstairs that is difficult, but having to deal with temperamental cooks, starchy butlers and chauffeurs with a roving eye. Marriage is the only escape, but with just one evening off a week, Margaret has no time to lose. Between Perce the bus conductor (who brings his mother on dates) and Mr Hailsham the elderly fishmonger, her initial prospects are hardly the stuff of dreams. Then she meets Albert the milkman, and having spent their whole lives serving others, can they start to figure out what they want for themselves? 199pp in paperback. £6.99 NOW £3.75


deplorable state. 74259 STRAWBERRY HILL: BUSINESS & COMPUTERS


The hardest thing in the world to understand is the income tax. - Albert Einstein


74169 A PARENT’S GUIDE TO THE IPAD by Nick Vandome


Apple’s iPad was become an iconic device, a must-have for adults, let alone children. Combining as they do the ability to handle most computing tasks, allow


communication via text messaging,


social media, email and facetime, full Internet access via WiFi and 3/4G mobile Internet, a fully functional camera, a massive memory for photos and video/photo downloads and a load of games thrown in, they look really cool, too! Given that you’ve justified the cost (yes, of course you will need it for “research”) how do you keep an eye on what your little cherubs are using this exciting machine for - what are they viewing, who are the communicating with, what kinds of games are they playing, what music or films are they downloading? This fully illustrated, colour, easy to follow, plain English guide aims to put your mind at ease and keeps kids safe. It outlines all the key functions and how to implement content filters, security settings, which are the must-have apps and so much more. “Hot Tip”, “Remember” and “Beware” icons in the margins alert you immediately to any issues. Now your only problem is going to be getting a go on it yourself! Published 2012, this is the second edition which covers iOS 6 for 3rd and 4th generation iPad and iPad 2. 216pp softback. £10.99 NOW £6


73515 THE ART OF WAR: The New Illustrated Edition by Sun Tzu


Here is the first known military treatise, written in China more than two and a half millennia ago by the sage Sun Tzu. Since the 18th century it has caught the imagination of political and military leaders and proved to be highly influential in shaping strategy. His aphorisms, unique in their range and perceptiveness, cover not only battlefield manoeuvres but also vital elements of the military background, such as economics, politics and psychology. Today, his precepts have been taken to heart for the lessons they offer on competitiveness, compromise and goal-setting. 272 softback pages illustrated in colour and b/w, with beautiful calligraphy. Plus a biography of the author and two appendices: Wu Ch’I’s Art of War and Brief Biographies of the Commentators. £14.99 NOW £7.50


72851 YOUR MONEY AND YOUR BRAIN by Jason Zweig


Zweig explains why smart people can be stupid about their money and how they can do better. Combining the latest research in psychology, neuroscience, economics and animal behaviour, he explains how our minds estimate risk and anticipate gain, why investors tend to be over confident and why the investing brain is a battlefield between reason and emotion. Amazing colour photos. 340pp, paperback. £14.99 NOW £2.50


COLLECTABLES


The only carrots that interest me are the number you get in a diamond.


- Mae West 74260 VENETIAN GLASS


MOSAICS 1860-1917 by Sheldon Barr The mosaics of Venetian


manufacturers are now, quite rightly, treasured for the splendid


masterpieces they are, and it is they that form the subject of this very highly informative volume. But, tragically, this was not always the case. The 1850s found Venice in a For instance, the condition of the


antique mosaic decoration of the virtually abandoned Basilica of San Marco was alarming. The mosaics were literally falling from the façades, walls and domes. Fragments from both San Marco and Santa Maria Assunta on Torcello were being detached and sold to wealthy tourists. A lawyer called Antonio Salviati, who came from a modest background but had an appreciation of creative art, was horrified by the decline of the noble arts of glass and mosaic making and was determined to bring them back to life. He found two similarly inspired allies, the Muranese abbot and glass historian Vincenzo Zanetti and the Mayor of Murano, Antonio Colleoni, who wanted to resurrect the moribund industries in order to provide much-needed employment for the people of his island. This compelling account relates how these three men set about revitalizing a number of industries which, in the past, had been sources of both great wealth and pride. The recovered art of Venetian glass mosaics in the late 19th and early 20th centuries is now seen as one of the most important aesthetic achievements of the Victorian/Edwardian era. Neglected and under- appreciated for decades, surviving mosaics are now being cleaned and restored worldwide. This superb volume records many of their splendours, such as the amazing mural depicting Aurora and Cephalus on the vault of the avant-foyer of the Opéra Garnier, Paris, and the glorious maritime façade of the Palazzo Barbarigo Stabilimento Venice, and is a book to cherish. 143 pages 30.5cm x 24.5cm very lavishly illustrated in dazzling colour with list of illustrated examples of the mosaic makers’ work. £39.50 NOW £20


Renaissance Glass by Michael Peover


Horace Walpole’s little gothic castle of Strawberry Hill at Twickenham is a jewel in the suburbs of west London. It was the passion of Walpole, collector, author, dilettante and the youngest son of Britain’s


first prime minister, who turned it into the most important and influential building of the early gothic revival. Walpole assembled a large collection of over 450 pieces of stained glass at Strawberry Hill, insipiring a craze among his contemporaries for the setting of ancient glass as a fashionable addition to a home. An early description of the house said that it had the sparkle of ‘a harlequin’s coat chequered with all the colours of the rainbow’. Walpole included heraldic blazons and decorative roundels as well as new commissions from English Glaziers such as William Price the Younger and William Peckitt, who were reviving what was considered at that time a lost art. This eclectic collection of stained glass is currently being extensively renovated and reset in accordance with Walpole’s original intentions, as part of the Strawberry Hill restoration project. Softback, 48pp. £6.95 NOW £4


74077 STRAWBERRY HILL: Horace Walpole’s Gothic Castle by Anna Chalcraft


and Judith Viscardi Giving its name to a whole architectural style, Horace Walpole’s castle at Strawberry Hill near Twickenham was an inspiration for the whole 19th century Gothic Revival movement, though nothing quite came close to the quirkiness


and sheer exuberance of “Strawberry Hill Gothick”. The wealthy son of prime minister Robert Walpole, Horace became an art collector and antiquarian and not only kick-started the architectural fashion for Gothic but also wrote the first great Gothic novel, The Castle of Otranto. Strawberry Hill was built over a period of 50 years to Walpole’s instructions, and was open to the public in his lifetime. Georgian visitors in the 1760s must have been shocked by the pointed wooden arcading and elaborate foliate designs. The celebrated Holbein Chamber, designed to house Walpole’s considerable collection of Holbein prints, was suffused with a purplish glow from stained glass and dominated by a monumental chimneypiece, while a pointed arch opened up like a stage revealing the state bedchamber beyond. The theatrical illusionism was continued in the Long Gallery, where the dazzling white and gold fan vaulting of the ceiling 57 feet above the visitors’ heads was achieved not with plaster but with papier mâché, and crimson hangings on the walls completed the magnificent effect. The authors also cover life below stairs and the impressive landscaped gardens. 168pp, lavishly illustrated in colour, chronology, bibliography, diagrams. Softback. £20 NOW £7


73940 COLLECTOR’S GUIDE


TO THE LUFTWAFFE by Christopher Ailsby With the ever-increasing interest in the world wars, more and more people are drawn into collecting items from the time. This book focuses on the Luftwaffe, the air force of Hitler’s Third Reich. Hermann Göring formed this clandestinely under the guise of civil flying organisations that were permitted after the ban imposed at


the end of WWI on Germany’s military forces having an air arm. The organisation finally encompassed paratroops as well as designated ground troops and it even had a Forester service. The collecting of flying insignia is a fascinating topic. Our guide gives information on a wide range of equipment, uniforms, medals and awards in colour photographs as a reference to buyers and military historians plus gives an indication of their rarity value. From speciality badges to rank insignia, cuff titles, non-portable awards plus an early pre-history of the Luftwaffe in the 20s and 30s, there are explanations of maker’s marks and big clear colour photos throughout. 160 page paperback. £15.99 NOW £6


72604 FERDINAND COLUMBUS: Renaissance Collector


by Mark McDonald


In cultural and intellectual summaries of this period, one fascinating figure has been largely overlooked - Ferdinand, the illegitimate son of Christopher Columbus - who not only travelled on the fourth and final voyage to the New World in 1502, but compiled an account of that journey and wrote the first biography of his father. At the time of his death, his library contained over 15,000 volumes and more than 3,200 prints. Ferdinand’s own catalogue, with his extraordinary system for classifying the prints, survives in the Bibliotecca Colombina in Seville. All the major Renaissance artists working in the medium are represented in this beautiful volume, including: Albrecht Duerer, Lucan van Leyden, Ugo da Carpi, Hans Burgkmair, Giovanni Battista Palumba and Marcantonio Raimondi. 256 pages 24cm x 29.5cm, 20 colour and 178 b/w illus and maps. £25 NOW £11


72727 MASTERPIECES OF ITALIAN DESIGN by design.doc


From the Mona Lisa to contemporary shoe design, Italy symbolises everything that is stylish and eyecatching. This stunning book on 20th century design starts with Bruno Bischofberger’s Arabesco coffee table of 1950, a miracle of swirling wood and glass. Marcello Nizzoli was a genius who excelled in architecture, painting and graphic design, but is perhaps most famous for the Olivetti Lettera 22 typewriter. Architect Gio Ponti moved away from the neoclassical of his Pirelli skyscraper in Milan to the radical concept of the Superleggera chair. The book concludes with designers who have adopted Italy as their design home. 272pp, softback, colour on every page. £25 NOW £10


Collectables 9


Author Christopher Warwick kindly visited Bibliophile at the Ideal Home Show at


Christmas and signed Her Majesty for the winner, new customer Diana Cooper.


70662 HER MAJESTY edited by Reuel Golden and Christopher Warwick A stupendous brand new Taschen publication has just been published. In honour of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee 2013, 60 years on the throne, Bibliophile celebrates the extraordinary private and public life of Her Majesty. Born in 1926, married in 1947, crowned as Queen in


1953, for over six decades she has steadfastly and loyally carried out her duty on behalf of her country. The hundreds of spectacular photos have it all - history, politics, glamour, fashion, culture, travel, and, of course, hats. As the Queen, she has endlessly travelled the globe, been introduced to every leading icon of the 20th century, including the Beatles, Marilyn Monroe and JFK, attended thousands of receptions and state functions; while concurrently being a mother to four children and under the constant glare of public scrutiny. These photographs cover the early years, coming of age during World War II, becoming a wife, Queen and mother, the Royal Tours, the palaces, the crowds, the weddings, the Royal Family, the Silver Jubilee in 1977 and the later years. God save her indeed! Photographers include Cecil Beaton, Studio Lisa, Dorothy Wilding, Karsh, Lord Snowdon, Patrick Lichfield, as well as more contemporary work from the likes of Wolfgang Tillmans, Rankin, Annie Leibovitz, and many others. With two gatefold colour posters included of the family tree and the Coronation Commonwealth Tour. Text in English, French and German. A huge 11.4 x 15.6 in., 366 pages in special mailing box.


ONLY £100


74245 DIAMOND JUBILEE COMMEMORATIVE BOX SET


by Pyramid International A limited edition


commemorative box set containing 18 collectable colour prints each measuring 30cm or 12" across by 40cm, or nearly 16" tall.


Presented in a beautiful silver foil box for safe keeping and limited to 2012 copies, we have here to review number 1879, surely to become highly prized and collectable. Now that the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh are taking more well-earned rests, the images reproduced are not only startlingly beautiful, but of great historic importance. The first is a cameo portrait in sepia of the young Queen on her Coronation in 1952, the Royal Tour as depicted on the front cover of the London Illustrated News, a facsimile of the approved souvenir programme of the Coronation in heraldic colours and crest, postage stamps of Windsor, Edinburgh, Carrick Fergus and Caernarvon castles, crown regalia, what must be a Cecil Beaton portrait of the young Queen in her finery, another from her Silver Jubilee, Coronation Day, with an adoring corgi seated beside her on the sofa, and resplendent in later years, always smiling. Presented on high quality 250gsm paper, the images have been reproduced by kind permission of Royal Mail and Getty Images. Save over £100 and pay just a ludicrous £1 per poster.


£120 NOW £18 A Limited Edition Box Set


73174 THE TREASURES OF QUEEN ELIZABETH by Tim Ewart


With luxury padded cover and 10½” square slipcase featuring the 1953 Coronation image of the Queen with her ermine


cape, sceptre and orb and in full Coronation regalia. Among the 15 items reproduced in facsimile in the document wallets inserted in the book are a design for the Queen’s dresses by Sir Hardy Amies, an invitation to one of the garden parties held at Buckingham Palace, a menu for a White House dinner, extracts from programmes, the White House Oath of Allegiance she signed on 2nd June 1953, and throughout the text pictures such as the Queen with members of her Privy counsel, the crowning of the Prince of Wales in 1969, intimate home life, presidential balls and other royal duties, meeting sports people, travelling to the Commonwealth, out riding, public perceptions, the good years and bad. £30 NOW £11


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