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20 True Crime 73738 THE GOVERNMENT INSPECTOR AND


OTHER WORKS by Nikolai Gogol The Government Inspector, a perennial favourite on stage and screen, is considered a national institution in Russia, and Gogol’s stories present us with one of the most marvellous worlds a writer has ever created. His quirky characters - the lowly official who imagines himself to be the King of Spain, the man committed to chase his nose around St. Petersburg, a whole village paralysed at the prospect of being visited by an authority from the capital - are immortal. He was in many ways an arch-conservative, and there is a madcap strain in it that makes him a precursor of Kafka and absurdist drama. Translated by Constance Garnett with new notes and introductions. 552 page paperback. ONLY £2


75887 ART OF THE EPIGRAPH: How Great


Books Begin edited by Rosemary Ahern ‘Look for the ridiculous in everything and you will find it.’ - Jules Renard, 1890. Montaigne one famously said, ‘Off I go, rummaging about in books for sayings which please me.’ Here a New York scholar has done exactly that for us collecting more than 250 examples from across 500 years of literature. The epigraph hints at hidden stories and frequently comes with one of its own. From Herodotus to Hemingway, Jane Austen to Karl Marx, A. A. Milne to Marcel Proust, here is a book that allows us a glimpse of the great writer as a devoted reader. 235 roughcut pages. US first edition. $16 NOW £4.50


ANTIQUES & COLLECTABLES


Plainness has its peculiar temptations quite as much as beauty.


- George Eliot 74696 JEWELS OF TIME: The World


of Women’s Watches by Roberta Naas This incredibly beautiful book features around 100 watches with large photographs accompanied by inspirational texts, sometimes poetic, sometimes historical or descriptive. The first wristwatch in serial production was made by Cartier in 1904. Celebrity watches featured here include Jackie Kennedy’s Piaget watch with a jade dial and jewelled surround dating to 1965, and the opulent Bulgari snake watch from the same decade which Elizabeth Taylor wore in her role as Cleopatra. Watches of the 21st century have been focusing on wildlife, including Cartier’s tiger, lemur and tortoise designs, Chopard’s monkey and penguin, Boucheron’s jewelled elephant and Van Cleef and Arpels’ giraffes, inspired by the writings of Jules Verne. Bulgari sums it all up with the radiating colours of an abstract Garden of Eden. 304pp, spectacular colour photos. 28 x 26cm. £45 NOW £16


77238 1000 CHAIRS by Charlotte and Peter Fiell


More than any other piece of furniture, the chair has been subjected to the wildest dreams of the designers. The particular curve of a backrest, or the twist of a leg, the angle of a seat or the colour of the entire artifact all reflect the stylistic consciousness of each era. From Gerrit Rietveld and Alvar Aalto to Verner Panton to Eva Zeisel, from Art Nouveau to International Style, from Pop Art to Postmodernism, the phenomenon of the chair is so complex that it requires a reference work as comprehensive as this to do it full justice. They are all here: Thonet’s bentwood chairs and Hoffmann’s sitting- machines, Marcel Breuer’s Wassily chair and Ron Arad’s avant-garde armchairs or our favourite (pictured) Alessandro Mendini’s Proust’s armchair of 1978 in rainbow painted colours and cut-out decoration. The book devotes one page to each chair, displayed on its own as pure form, with biographical and historical information about the chairs and their designers. A special treat for anyone who loves good design. 5.5" x 7.7", 624 heavy pages, satin pagemarker. Mostly in rich colour illus.


ONLY £13


77239 1000 LIGHTS by Charlotte and Peter Fiell


Designed to be an illuminating companion to our classic title 1000 Chairs code 77238, this edition contains an awesome selection of over 1,000 lights. Presented chronologically by decade are the 20th century s most interesting electric lights, from Tiffany’s beautiful leaded- glass shades to completely outrageous designs from the late 1960s and 1970s to the latest high-tech LED lamps. A dragonfly chandelier c1900 from France, Greene & Greene lanterns, Gallé creations, Lalique cut glass, René Herbst’s industrial and suspended ceiling lights, dozens of striking floor lamps, desk lamps (à la Pixar!), table lights by Sergio Mazza and others, here are arcs, orbs, squares, even a huge safety pin! (page 439). All major styles are represented here Arts & Crafts, Art Nouveau, Art Deco, Modern Movement, De Stijl, Postwar, Pop, Radical, Post-Modern, and Contemporary in 640 pages of truly illuminated works. For all design fans. 5.5" x 7.7". ONLY £13


AUDIO - BOOKS ON CD 77171 FAST GREEK IN A


DAY CD by Elisabeth Smith A companion to Fast Polish In A Day code 77172, here is the bestselling all-audio language course to make the most of your trip to Greece. Learn in just one hour words you will need in a fast, fun and effective one day course. Get the confidence to chat away and make a big difference to your holiday, stringing whole sentences


together and being understood. The audio CD can be played at home, in the car or on an MP3 player. There is also a booklet and certificate of achievement enclosed. Over one million copies sold. £12.99 NOW £4


77172 FAST POLISH IN A DAY CD by Elisabeth Smith


Here is the bestselling all-audio language course to make the most of your trip to Poland. Learn in just one hour words you will need in a fast, fun and effective one day course.


£12.99 NOW £4 75754 SPOKEN WORD: Poems and Short


Stories: Two CDs by Ted Hughes Produced in association with The British Library, these radio broadcasts of the poet Ted Hughes introducing and reading selections from his poems and short stories include The Harvesting, Snow, Crow: From the Life and Songs of the Crow, Remains of Elmet, Moortown Diary, Earth-numb, Adam and the Sacred Nine. With running time 143 minutes on two compact discs, the collection includes previously unreleased recordings. $24.95 NOW £7


71302 DISCOVERING FRIENDLY AND FRATERNAL SOCIETIES: Their Badges and Regalia


by Victoria Solt Dennis Aprons and medals sometimes turn up in car boot sales or are found in an attic or shop selling bygones. Many of these objects are decorated with arcane symbols and their inscriptions such as Guardians, Past Arch or even more cryptically PCR


or KON. They may be accompanied by photographs of men in starched collars actually wearing these articles - so what are these things, who wore them and what do they mean? Although often grouped under the misleading umbrella title of Masonic, these objects represent a vast range of friendly and fraternal orders that provided sociability, financial security and moral leadership for their members. Ranging from tiny village savings clubs to nationally organised orders, this richly illustrated book unlocks this forgotten history. 160pp in paperback, colour photos. £10.99 NOW £5


76156 COLLECTABLE NAMES AND DESIGNS IN WOMEN’S


FASHION by Tracey Martin Outfits worn by celebrities command six-figure sums at auction, but this book reveals that it is not essential to be a millionaire in order to collect vintage fashion. The designer’s name, the style of the dress and the material are all factors to be considered, together with


whether the design has appeared in magazine, been worn by celebrities or is a limited edition created for a niche market. Organised by era, the book covers the main design features to look out for starting with the flapper outfits of the 20s. The silent film star Clara Bow and the dancer Josephine Baker were both fashion icons whose dresses were copied, and although the LBD was immortalised by Audrey Hepburn in the 60s, it started in the 20s. The cinched waist of the 50s gave way to the shifts of the swinging sixties followed by the Westwood- inspired grunge of the 70s. Lagerfeld and Moschino were big in the 80s, and finally the author features contemporary designers. 278pp, directory, colour photos. £30 NOW £6.50


74339 FARNELL TEDDY


BEARS by Kathy Martin The family firm of J. K. Farnell & Co. Ltd. occupied a position of unparalleled importance in British soft toy history. It was the very first British toy company to manufacture teddy bears and also created the actual bear that inspired A. A. Milne to write the Winnie the Pooh stories. This big well illustrated


book is an exhaustively researched look at all things Farnell and a first rate history not just of teddy bears, but British culture during the first half of the 20th century. With useful teddy bear timeline looking at Steiff production of the first disc-jointed teddy bear in 1905 and the American toy trade publication ‘Play Things’ coining the term ‘teddy bear’ for the first time in 1906, the cut- out-and-sew printed cloth teddy bear, mohair manufacture, Farnell’s new brick built factory occupying 23,000 square feet and the re-launch of the Alpha Bear in 1935, when the factory was hit by an incendiary bomb in 1940, screw-in safety eyes patented by Wendy Boston in 1948, Christie’s first auction dedicated to teddy bears in 1993 and illustrated with beautiful full page colour photographs, one of an extremely rare pin-jointed Farnell bear from the First World War. Notes on condition etc, 192pp, colour and b/w. £19.99 NOW £6.50


TRUE CRIME


If a man should wanton walk with crime ... he shall find in death no great deliverance.


- Aeschylus, The Eumenides


77170 DID SHE KILL HIM? A Victorian Tale of Deception Adultery and Arsenic by Kate Colquhoun


The details of this account, and all italicised speech, are taken from primary records, including Home Office documents, contemporary newspaper accounts, American archives, court transcripts and Florence Maybrick’s own emotionally charged memoir. In


addition, carefully authenticated quotations have been taken from a number of letters written by Florence, and printed in earlier books about this case, although the originals have since been lost. With such rigorous research, plus an absorbing style, the author transports the reader into the tensions and hypocrisies seething at the heart of late-Victorian society. During the summer of 1889, a young Southern belle stood trial in Liverpool for the alleged arsenic poisoning of her much older husband, cotton merchant James Maybrick. Much about the case was perplexing. James was widely believed to be addicted to a number of poisons. Did he have a hand in his own death? His sickroom contained a bottle of meat juice that appeared to have been tampered with, but did it contain arsenic and was there enough to kill a man? And what were the jury to make of the rumours that, shortly before James’ death, Florence had been conducting an affair? The case had all the makings of sensation: a pretty, flirtatious young woman, resentful gossiping servants, rumours of gambling and debt, and torrid mutual infidelity. It cracked the varnish of Victorian middle-class respectability and forced the public to question whether a well-bred lady could harbour such ill-will towards her husband. It seemed to prove that even apparently ideal middle-class marriages concealed suffocating loneliness and falsity, and that contrary to widespread belief, women actually had sexual appetites. A substantial 419 pages with archive b/w photos, notes and a list of the people involved. £18.99 NOW £6


76862 BRIEF HISTORY OF SLAVERY: A New Global


History by Jeremy Black Slavery is not only a matter of the past, but also has echoes to this day, not least with such practices as debt bondage, penal labour, sexual slavery, human trafficking, and girls sold by dowry into marriages that are little better than servitude. Slavery is a subject that has a long history and a broad geographical scope encompassing the ancient and


the modern world, Atlantic and Islamic trades, and is one of the most emotive issues in history. From the uprising of Spartacus and the founding of the plantations in the Indies, Black reveals how slavery served to consolidate empires and shape New World societies such as America and Brazil. He assesses the controversial truth behind the complicity of Africans within the trade which continued with the long, hard fight for abolition in the 19th century. He gives voice to both the campaigners who fought for its end, and the slaves who spoke of their misery. He begins with citing the case of Hadijatou Mani who was sold into slavery at the age of 12, and subsequently beaten, raped and indeed imprisoned for bigamy for marrying a man other than her ‘master’. This case came to the court of Niger in 2008. 322pp in paperback. £8.99 NOW £4


77151 FOUL DEEDS AND SUSPICIOUS DEATHS IN


BATH by Kirsten Elliott For the past 20 years, the author has been guiding tours of Bath for visitors from all over the world, and she knows all the town’s sordid secrets. Here, she takes readers on a sinister journey through centuries of local crime and conspiracy, meeting real-life villains of all sorts along the way - cut-throats and


poisoners, murderous lovers, assassins, infanticides, highwaymen, prostitutes and suicides. For such an outwardly respectable town, Bath has a long, dark history of shocking crime, from robbery and revenge in Roman times, through criminal acts in the dark ages, to the highwaymen, gamblers and duellists of the Georgian period and the murderous Victorian underworld - not to mention outbreaks of mob violence, and corruption in the council. This is the history that the local worthies would prefer to forget! 170 paperback pages lavishly provided with b/w photos. £12.99 NOW £6


76850 MURDER MACHINE by Gene Mustain and Jerry Capeci


In a gruesome and blood-chilling tale of mob treachery and depravity that will certainly dispel any remaining romantic myths about Mafia life, here is a masterpiece of true-crime reporting. It is the saga of a gang of serial killers who maimed, tortured and slaughtered and enjoyed it. They were the DeMeo Gang - the most deadly


killers the Mafia has ever known - and everybody feared them. They started out as a small-time Brooklyn corner crew but, once the killing started, it did not stop. They became the hit-men of choice for their Mafia


ORDER HOTLINE: 020 74 74 24 74


bosses, who came to know them, use them and ultimately fear them themselves. They would kill for profit and pleasure, as a result of cold-blooded plans or just on a violent whim. Now, thanks to the personal revelations of one of the key players, the inside story of these Mafia serial killers can be told in all its astonishing detail - if you have the stomach for it. 478 paperback pages with b/w archive photos. £10.99 NOW £4


76927 WHITE SHOTGUN: The Sicilian Mafia in their


Own Words by Attilio Bolzoni The book’s title is the literal English translation of the Italian phrase “Lupara Bianca”, a Mafia-style killing in which no trace of the victim is ever found. Another well- known Mafia expression is “Omerta”, the brutally enforced code of silence of the Cosa Nostra, which makes a book like this, an anthology of interviews, court


proceedings and transcripts of phone taps of Mafia bosses and foot soldiers, an extremely rare and valuable document. Attilio Bolzoni has been the chief crime correspondent for La Repubblica for many years and has reported upon all aspects of the Mafia and Camorra and associated criminal trials. The voices he has brought together here are from the past 50 years of the Sicilian Mafia, yet they could easily be from a different world. The words rise up in threat, bewildering and unnerving the listener. More than just words, Mafia language is an exercise in intelligence, power, threat and honour and despite the terrible crimes its users have committed, it deserves this fascinating treatment. As the judge Giovanni Falcone, murdered by the Mafia in 1992, once said, “Strange though it may seem, the Mafia has taught me a lesson in morality.” 473pp paperback. £12.99 NOW £4


76346 MURDER OF CLEOPATRA: History’s Greatest Cold Case by Pat Brown


This penetrating exploration debunks the myth that, when the Roman general Octavian stormed Alexandria, the great pharaoh Cleopatra desperately ended her own life with the bite of an asp. Her findings, borne of scientific


method, rigorous inquiry and deductive reasoning, are revealed against a historical backdrop of mystery, drama, politics, danger and romantic intrigue - providing a thought-provoking analysis of the amazing woman Cleopatra really was. Here is a fascinating account of her final, desperate attempt to escape Egypt with her ships and treasure, and the brutal homicide that ended her life as the last Egyptian pharaoh. 261 paperback pages with maps, b/w photos. Small remainder mark. £15.99 NOW £5.50


76172 STRANGEWAYS: A Century of


Hangings in Manchester by Martin Baggoley Strangeways Goal opened in 1868, the year that public executions ended. Between then and 1964 when the last man was hanged within its walls, 100 murderers were executed there. Most were men, but several women also felt the noose being placed around their necks, and there were double executions. Some of the murderers and their crimes are still remembered such as Dr Ruxton of Lancaster who murdered his wife and housemaid, before dismembering their bodies. Others are almost forgotten and amongst these is Joseph Holden of Bury, the only man in the 20th century to be hanged for murdering his grandson. Learn about Margaret Allen Rawtenstall’s lesbian murderess, (1949) who met her end bravely, or John McKenna, the Rochdale wife killer of 1877. 176pp, illus, paperback. £10.99 NOW £4


76153 BRINGING DOWN THE KRAYS: Finally the Truth about Ronnie and Reggie by Bobby Teale


Bobby Teale and his two brothers David and Alfie were the three men that the Kray twins trusted the most. They were not members of the infamous Firm, but something much closer - old family friends, confidants, companions going back generations. As Reggie and particularly Ronnie became increasingly psychotic, taking what had been typical gangland violence to sickening new levels of murder, torture and rape, Bobby felt compelled to take action. Unbeknown to his brothers he became a police informant. Using the codename “Phillips” he fed DS Leonard “Nipper” Read and his colleagues the information they needed, but with bent officers feeding information back to the twins, they were well aware they had a grass in their midst. As the Krays closed in on Bobby, the police were closing in on them, getting there first on 7 May 1968, Bobby’s evidence ensuring that the twins both received life sentences in 1969. However, the Firm was still powerful and Bobby was forced to flee the country for rural America until 2010. With much nostalgia for the post-war East End and the many decent people who were terrorised by the Krays’ brand of criminality. B/w and colour photos, 312pp.


£14.99 NOW £6


76510 LETTERS FROM A SUBURBAN HOUSEWIFE


by Mark Eden and Bill Hill This is a true story. The trial is an edited version of the transcripts from the Old Bailey in December 1922 and all Edith Thompson’s letters reproduced here are authentic. When they began their adulterous affair, Edith Thompson was a married woman of 27 and Freddy Bywaters an 18-year-old young seaman. 18 months later, they were both hanged for the murder of Edith’s husband, Percy. To some, it was a sordid tale of two immoral, selfish people who would stop at nothing to satisfy their carnal appetites. Others felt that Edith was simply a victim of the strict moral climate that prevailed in the 1920s. The authors conclusions may astonish some readers. 183 pages, archive photos and maps. £11.95 NOW £4.50


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