32 Travel and Places


with the first regular horse-drawn tram services. In 1898 they began to be replaced by electric trams, although steam continued to work the streets until 1903. Bradford had one the country’s most impressive fleet of these pollution-free, reliable trolleybus vehicles, and the last service running in 1972 - just before the oil crisis! Celebrates the city’s tremendous heritage. 200 b/w photos with extensive captions plus full history of each type of vehicle. 128pp softback. £12.99 NOW £3.50


74420 CLARKSON: The Top Gear Years by Jeremy Clarkson


For The Top Gear Years we concentrate on the TV programme and magazine that made him famous. Although the show actually started in 1977, it was the arrival of Jeremy Clarkson and other less reverent presenters in 1988 that saw the show’s popularity bloom. To accommodate the new format Jeremy and co built Top Gear HQ on the site of a former aerodrome in Surrey, where they and their guests could fool around in cars to their hearts’ content. Next came Top Gear Live, whereby the chaps charged around the world with the subtlety of a 1970s Led Zep tour, establishing outposts of petrolhead mayhem across the globe. This book is a collection of the best of Clarkson’s Top Gear magazine columns from 1993 to the end of 2011, which document in his inimitable style the evolution of both the show with its much-loved features, stars and guests, and that of the motor industry and the cars themselves. 510pp. £20 NOW £6


74733 BRITISH RAILWAY INFRASTRUCTURE


IN COLOUR by Robert Hendry Designed for the modeller and historian. Here we discover the achievements of Robert Stephenson, Isambard Kingdom Brunel and Francis William Webb to mention just three celebrated engineers. It is an in-depth study of passenger stations, goods depots, bridges, tunnels, locomotive sheds, the formation, cuttings, embankments and level crossings, the permanent way, platform furniture and signs. Illustrations range from the late 1950s to the present with detailed captions on how to identify different types of rails and chairs. With glossary of railway terminology and architectural terms. 96 large pages, softback. Colour illus. £14.99 NOW £5


TRAVEL AND PLACES


A good traveller has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving. - Laozi


75173 CHARLES DARWIN:


The ‘Beagle’ Letters edited by Frederick Burkhardt


The round the world voyage of the Beagle from the end of 1831 to October 1836 is one of the most famous and important ever taken, yet its original purpose was relatively mundane - to survey and produce accurate sea charts and safe harbours for the Admiralty.


Charles Darwin, whose name will be forever linked with the voyage, was not even the ship’s appointed naturalist - his accommodation was free, but all his other costs were covered by his father. This was to prove crucial, as consequently all Darwin’s time was pretty much his own, giving him ample opportunity to observe, collect, think and postulate theories and, as we see here, write, receive and read letters. Following an excellent introduction by leading Darwin scholar Janet Browne, the book then reproduces in chronological order the full texts of every letter that Darwin is known to have written and received whilst aboard HMS Beagle. They provide a first-hand account of a voyage of discovery that was as much personal as it was intellectual. We follow him as he prepares for the voyage, alights upon his first tropical island, watches an earthquake flatten a city, learns how to catch an ostrich from a running horse, witnesses slavery, political revolution and epidemic disease and share with him the otherworldly experience of the Galapagos Islands, collecting specimins and the remote islands of the Pacific. His tales of adventure and excitement are delightfully counterpoised by letters from family and friends in England which record the comfortable world of monied English society. As an extra bonus the text is enlivened with not only Darwin’s own notes and sketches but also a wide selection of original watercolour and pencil sketches by ship’s artist Conrad Martens depicting the landscapes, plants, ships, towns and people that Darwin describes. Includes Darwin/ Wedgwood family tree and brief biogs of over 500 persons mentioned in the letters, plus maps. 495pp, over 50 colour and b/w illus. £32.99 NOW £10


75472 ODD MAN OUT IN THE ALPS


by Sir Ron Norman OBE Francophiles, gather round. Here is an author who delights in all things French. He is not only a wayside gourmet but also part ornithologist, part zoologist, and part botanist, with a historical curiosity that is insatiable. As a distinguished engineer, whose work on the hyperbolic paraboloid roof on the


Commonwealth Institute in Kensington is much admired, readers would perhaps not suspect the hidden depths of idiosyncratic fun in his writing. This makes for all the more pleasure in his account of two summers’ worth of walks following the Grand Randonée Cinq from Lake Geneva to Nice. Of course, any of our readers could have done the same, but perhaps they would not have left such a gem of a record as we have here. Sir Ron, clad in shorts, sandals and crumpled Panama hat, carrying little more than a toothbrush, compass, map and


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guide to all things wild, strides forth as the eccentric Englishman abroad, to infect his fellow-hikers - and now his armchair followers too - with his own delight in the open spaces and towering heights of the remote Alps of eastern France. We love the way in which he strides past the elegantly-dressed, perfumed, sophisticated denizens of Nice, utterly unconcerned in his bedraggled outfit, and contented in his memories of Mont Blanc, clematis, edelweiss, ibex and black woodpeckers. 215 pages with line drawings and colour plates. £16.95 NOW £6


75103 TOKYO: A Cultural and Literary


History by Stephen Mansfield From its obscure origins as a fishing village along a marshy estuary, Tokyo has grown into one of the world’s largest and most culturally vibrant metropolises. In the backstreets can be found wooden temples, fox shrines, mouldering steles and statues of Bodhisattvas that evoke a different age. This is a city of literature, inspiring authors like Murakami Haruki, of art, producing print masters Hokusai Hiroshige and Utamaro, and of the distinguished Kabuki theatre. It is a city of jaw- dropping, postmodernist architecture, but also a city of calamities such as the great fires of the Edo period, the floods, famines, typhoons and earthquakes. An in-depth cultural and historical 268 paperback pages. Index of places and landmarks, illus. £12 NOW £4.50


75093 JOY UNCONFINED!: Lord Byron’s Grand Tour Re-


Toured by Ian Strathcarron When Lord Byron set off on a Grand Tour in 1809, he was accompanied by his faithful diarist Hobhouse, a valet, a pageboy, a butler and a mysterious German-speaking Farsi, not to mention numerous trunks of luggage and creature comforts. Byron was heavily in debt, and in spite of the expense of the tour its


purpose was to keep him from putting his inheritance further in the red. The destination was Persia via the Mediterranean, avoiding the extensive territories of the French empire. After landfall in Portugal and Gibraltar, the Princess Elizabeth docked in the grand harbour of Valletta, a cosmopolitan city held at the time by the British, and Byron soon found himself embroiled in espionage. He was recruited by a wily spook called Spiridion Foresti, who calculated that the Ionian islands could be secured for the British from under the nose of the tyrant Ali Pasha. Meanwhile Byron was introduced to the fascinating Mrs Constance Spencer-Smith. When Constance herself was captured by the French she escaped from prison disguised as a boy. The author and his wife retrace the route taken by Byron. 263pp, colour photos. £19.99 NOW £5


75095 ON THE ROAD TO BABADAG: Travels


in the Other Europe by Andrzej Stasiuk Poland’s leading travel writer Stasiuk has a superb ability to conjure up the essence of a location with a small telling detail. He recalls his journeys on the road in the eighties with no passport. More recently he has used maps to plan his trips south from the Baltic into Slovenia, Hungary and even Albania, but ‘no trip from the land of King Ubu to the land of Count Dracula will hold memories you can rely on later’. Following the trail of Adam Bodor’s bestselling Sinistra District he conjures up the Transylvanian warlord Coca and his rival Mukkerman. Driving southwest he asks the inhabitants if he is in Ukraine or Russia, but even they do not seem to be sure. The train between Budapest and Gonc runs through forests and limitless sunflowers, and at Szerencs the station is next to the biggest chocolate factory in Hungary. Finally he finds that ‘Albania is loneliness’. 255pp, map. £14.99 NOW £5


75099 AT THE KREMLIN GATES: A Historical


Portrait of Moscow by Gerald R. Skinner A portrait of Moscow through time but with one constant, the Kremlin, which has been at once the supreme metaphor of State power and also a symbol of Russian national identity. The tension between Moscow as an urban community and the Moscow of empire and belief is fundamental to the city’s narrative. By tradition, the city is the easternmost bastion of western civilization. If Moscow has endured barely imaginable catastrophes, it has also been the scene of creative brilliance. It seems to be at one and the same time ‘the pilot-boat to hell and a celestial city of the future’. This gripping book seeks to reconcile the differing images he had of the city before, during and after communism. 396 paperback pages with b/w illustrations, chronology. £14.99 NOW £5.50


74703 COLUMBUS: The Four Voyages by Laurence Bergreen


Drawing on vivid eyewitness reports, Columbus’ personal logbooks and the passionate letters he sent to his Spanish patrons King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, the author digs deep into the explorer’s overwrought psyche spinning an epic tale to match the events of an epic life. He recreates the terror and thrill as Columbus and his men attempted to settle and conquer unknown territories, establishing a colony that became the town of Santo Domingo, yet at the same time provoking 50,000 natives to commit mass suicide. He reveals how Columbus’ voyages had an irreversible effect on the world’s ecosystems and societies, transforming an evolutionary process that had begun millions of years before. They also had profound consequences for human biology and culture, bringing maize and syphilis to Europe, and horses and alcoholism to America. Columbus was a self-promoting and ambitious entrepreneur but also a masterful seaman and a brilliant captain. After returning to Spain, he would sail back to the New World three more times in the span of only a decade, leading campaigns that grew more conflicted, violent and morally ambiguous. By the time they ended, he was broken in body and spirit, a hero undone by the tragic flaw of pride. This rich, engaging biography analyses the complex legacies of exploration - political, scientific and even medical - that continue to shape our lives today. 423 pages illus in colour and b/w, maps. $35 NOW £7


74771 VENICE REVEALED: An Intimate Portrait by Paolo Barbaro


Venice is a kind of miracle surrounded by sea, cut by more canals than streets, and made up of 120 separate islands connected by bridges, built on sand and mud and reinforced by millions of ancient, petrified tree trunks. It defies nature and belief. No city in the world has been more often painted or written about Venice and for centuries it has drawn visitors to its cafés, churches and street life. But Venice is dying, literally sinking into the sea, a victim of global warming, increased pollution and the weight of its tourists. Rediscover the beautiful labyrinths. 233pp in paperback. Illus. £10.99 NOW £3.75


74681 BRIEF HISTORY OF VENICE by Elizabeth Horodowich


The modern city of Venice exists on a series of interconnected islands in a lagoon in the North Adriatic. The central city is composed of about 120 islands, spanned and connected by more than 430 bridges that cross 170 canals or rii. The only piazza is that of San Marco, the city’s ceremonial and civic centre. In this colourful history, a leading expert on Venice tells the story of the city from its ancient origins and its early days as a multicultural trading place where Christians, Jews and Muslims lived together at the crossroads between East and West. She explores the often overlooked role of Venice alongside Florence and Rome, as one of the principal Renaissance capitals. She also looks at the threat from rising water levels. 250pp in paperback. $13.95 NOW £5


75102 ATHENS: A Cultural and Literary


History by Michael Llewellyn Smith As British ambassador to Athens in the late 20th century, Michael Llewellyn Smith knows all the layers of invasion and occupation that have left their traces. Dominated by the classical city, Athens nowadays has little evidence of the Byzantines, Franks, Catalans and Florentines who created their own culture and architecture in the Middle Ages, although next to the magnificent cathedral there is the Byzantine Little Cathedral, its west front decorated with marble animals and signs of the zodiac rifled from more opulent buildings. The Turks ruled Athens for 400 years, though you have to look carefully to find clues that they used the Acropolis as a garrison and that the Parthenon was a mosque. Llewellyn Smith knows all the ins and outs of Lord Elgin’s controversial note of permission to remove antiquities from the Acropolis. Olympic Athens, the Colonels, and the modern city are all unpacked for our enjoyment. 257pp, paperback, line drawings. £12 NOW £4


57493 LIFE AND VOYAGES OF CHRISTOPHER


COLUMBUS by Washington Irving The trials and disappointments of the great explorer are graphically detailed in this biography first published in 1828, when Washington Irving was America’s most famous writer. People had thought it was only the great distance that made it impossible to reach Asia sailing west from Spain. No one had predicted that a vast continent stood in the way. And indeed, for Columbus himself, the revolution of understanding was too much to comprehend. He had counted on a new route to Asia that would bring him glory, riches and titles, and the thought of an unknown and undeveloped continent held no attractions. Paperback, 720 pages. ONLY £4


73815 DEPARTURES AND ARRIVALS by Eric Newby


In this captivating collection of 19 tales, Newby 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, paperback, photos. £8.99 NOW £4.50


74896 GRAND CANAL, GREAT RIVER: The Travel Diary of a Twelfth-Century Chinese Poet by Philip Watson


Readers must surely be tempted by this rich panorama of 12th century China, an exotic mixture of travelogue, politics and poetry. Between July and December 1170, Lu You, a Chinese poet, politician and historian, travelled from east to west China to take up an administrative post. His remarkable 1,800-mile journey took him from near modern Shanghai to Sichuan province, along the mighty Grand Canal, begun in the 6th century and today the oldest and longest canal in the world, and up the Yangzi River through the famous Yangzi Gorges. Along the way he kept a daily record of his experiences, the people he met, the unfolding and ever-changing landscape and the famous historical sites, shrines, monasteries and pavilions. This new modern translation of the whole of the diary makes a superb work of literature accessible for the first time to the general reader, and the detailed commentary fills in all the essential background information. A beautiful 256 pages illustrated in colour and b/w with photographs of the places described, contemporary paintings and other artworks, notes, dramatis personae and map. £20 NOW £7


73892 COLUMBUS: The Four Voyages, 1492- 1504 by Laurence Bergen


Brilliant, persuasive, volatile and paranoid, Christopher Columbus knew little about celestial navigation and nothing about the Pacific Ocean which fringes the place he went looking for - China. Instead, he thought he had found India and it was with much relief that the Santa Maria, Pinta and Niña sighted land on 12 October 1492 - the Santa Maria was taking on water and the crew were on the verge of mutiny. Yet for all his many flaws, Columbus was a masterful seaman who changed the entire course of world history. Journey into the uncharted waters of the New World - 1492-3, 1493-6, 1498 and 1502-3, his failure to obtain backing for a fifth voyage in 1505 and falling from favour with the Spanish court and his death, aged 54. Colour artworks, maps and woodcuts. 423pp, paperback. £10.99 NOW £5


74912 AFOOT IN ENGLAND by W. H. Hudson One of the Stanford’s travel classics of fine historical travel writing, this new paperback edition has a Foreword by Robert MacFarlane. William Henry Hudson was born in Argentina and spent his youth studying the local flora and fauna travelling widely on horseback visiting Brazil, Uruguay and Patagonia. In 1869 at the age of 28 he settled in England and began a new life as a field naturalist. He eventually achieved fame with his books about the English countryside which in turn helped foster the back-to-nature movement of the 1920s and 1930s. This book recounts his wanderings from village to village from Surrey to Devon and Cornwall and along the East Anglia Coast. 192pp in paperback. £9.99 NOW £4


73881 HENRY HUDSON: Dreams and Obsession by Corey Sandler


Like so many explorers, Henry Hudson was a driven man, and his tragic end, set adrift in Hudson’s Bay with his sons and a few loyal crew members, was the result of his determination to find the elusive north-west passage through to the Pacific. The author describes Hudson’s four voyages in the early 17th century, retracing his steps and undergoing the punishing conditions first hand. In 1607 and 1608 Hudson attempted to reach the Pacific by sailing up to the Arctic in his ship the Hopewell, first trying the western passage and then the eastern route north of Russia, but both times he encountered impenetrable ice. He spent a month in Novaya Zembla and also corresponded with John Smith, the explorer consolidating the English settlement at Jamestown in Virginia. Finally the ill-fated fourth voyage. 431pp, paperback, photos, maps. £14.95 NOW £3


75009 LAST GENTLEMAN ADVENTURER: Coming of Age in the Arctic


by Edward Beauclerk Maurice In 1930, aged 17, Edward Beauclerk Maurice from Somerset impulsively signed up as an apprentice in the fur industry “somewhere in Canada” with the Hudson Bay Company - the company of Gentleman Adventurers. He may have been isolated at Frobisher Bay, but Edward was not alone. The Inuit who lived and traded there taught him how to track polar bears, build igloos, hunt fox, seal, whale and walrus and survive the most ferocious of winter storms. He learned their culture, taught their children English in the polar winter and completely immersed himself in their culture, earning himself the name Issumatak, meaning “he who thinks”. In 1934 he left Frobisher Bay, but after a year in England returned to manage the outpost at Southampton Island, where he experienced first hand how the isolated Inuit were starting to suffer from diseases brought by the white traders. He was to remain until 1939 when he left to serve in WWII, and would never return. He became a bookseller in an English village and died aged 90 as this, his only book, which covers his first stint up to 1934, was being readied for publication. 392pp paperback. $14.95 NOW £5


WAR AND MILITARIA


The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.


- G. K. Chesterton 75612 ULTIMATE RIFLES


AND SHOTGUNS by David Miller


720 longarms organised A to Z by gun maker’s name within seven chronological chapters. We begin with American Civil War rifles like the ball lever action carbine and Springfield model 1863, frontier rifles before moving on to 20th century military rifles like the Arisaka Meiji 38th year rifle and


carbine, the Remingtons, Berettas and Brownings, Bushmaster M17S Bullpup with its lightweight, short- stroke piston, gas-operated, air-cooled, semi-automatic rifle, an evil looking death machine. Modern rifles include the Marlin Camps, the squat shaped Universal Firearms Model 3000 Enforcer Carbine which packs a lot of firepower in a very small envelope, double barrelled shotguns, semi-automatics and the beautifully styled Franz Sodia Over-and-Under with a rabbit scene on the left side, a capercaillie on the right and a woodcock on the bottom. For each of the 720 rifles there is a detailed colour image including close ups of particular features of many weapons. The journey will differentiate between rifles as longarms with grooves machined inside the barrel to make the single projectile spin to early smoothbore muzzle-loading guns known as muskets. In shotguns we progress from the English Probin Double barrelled muzzle-loading gun of 1800 to the state of the art semi-automatic lightweight, Italian Benelli Super Black Eagle. 272pp in softback, glossy colour. ONLY £7


75297 DARING DOZEN: 12 Special Forces Legends of


World War II by Gavin Mortimer


Offering a skilful analysis of some of the legendary Special Forces commanders from both the Axis and the Allied sides during the Second World War, an award- winning writer and lecturer examines their qualities as military commanders and the true impact


that their own personal actions, as well as those of their units, had on the eventual outcome of the conflict. He also stresses the importance of Special Forces in all modern armies today. The tactical abilities and vision of the likes of David Stirling, Ralph Bagnold, Orde Wingate, Friedrich von der Heydte, Prince Junio Valerio Borghese and Baron Adrian von Fölkersam were to change


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