Category Archives: Travel Guides
Living in Morocco
Beautifully illustrated chapters on decorative and folk arts alternate with chapters on Moroccan life today. The attention to detail make this book an inspiration for interior design and decoration.
Naturalists in Paradise: Wallace, Bates and Spruce in the Amazon
Alfred Russel Wallace, Henry Walter Bates and Richard Spruce were English naturalists who went to Amazonia 150 years ago. This book is the first to combine all three young mens experiences of the Amazon, drawing heavily on their own letters and books. All three explored an unknown river and had many thrilling adventures: violent attacks
Window Shopping Through the Iron Curtain
The book presents 170 images, mainly shop window displays, shot by artist David Hlynsky during the final years of the collapsing Soviet empire in Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, East Germany and Moscow, using a Hasselblad camera to capture the slow, undramatic moments of daily life on the streets. The photographs are accompanied by essays
Across the Arctic Ocean: Original Photographs from the Last Great Polar Journey
On 21 February 1968, Wally Herbert and his team of three companions and forty huskies set out from Point Barrow, Alaska, embarking on a journey that no one had ever attempted. Sixteen hard months later they finally set foot once more on solid land, having attained the North Pole and crossed the frozen Arctic Ocean
Pirate: The Buccaneer`s (Unofficial) Manual
Pirates have a well-earned bad reputation, and this book invites the reader to join their ranks. Here you will discover everything the aspiring pirate needs to know in order to join a crew and start ‘“ and possibly end ‘“ a life of adventure, plunder and glory. The hopeful initiate is educated on all manner
Roman Mythology: A Traveller`s Guide from Troy to Tivoli
All Roads Lead to Rome, as the famous saying goes. The sites and events throughout the ancient world provided Romans with a rich tapestry to weave the stories of their past. Rome itself was a melting pot of peoples from across the Mediterranean and beyond, each bringing their myths and legends of heroes and heroines,
An Underground Guide to Sewers: or: Down, Through and Out in Paris, London, New York, &c.
Lose yourself in the vast sewer networks that lie beneath the world`s great cities – past and present. Let detailed archival plans, maps and photographs guide you through these subterranean labyrinths – previously accessible only to their builders, engineers and, perhaps, the odd rogue explorer. This execrable exploration traces the evolution of waste management from
Pilgrimage: Journeys of Meaning
Pilgrimage, a global ritual embraced by all faiths, is one of the most enduring traits in our human story. In this compelling history Peter Stanford reflects on the reasons people have walked along the same sacred paths across the ages. How do the experiences of the first pilgrims to Jerusalem, Mecca and Santiago de Compostela
France: A Short History
Artists, martyrs, kings, revolutionaries: France`s dramatic history fascinates the world and attracts millions each year to visit its chateaux and cathedrals, boulevards and vineyards. Jeremy Black succinctly narrates how France`s past has created its distinct character and powerful artistic, intellectual and political influence across the globe. France has an incomparable cultural legacy: from the cave
Italian Architecture
The years between 1520 and 1630 in Italy are among the most crucial periods in the history of architecture, but it is a story that has never been fully told. Conventionally, the classic age of the High Renaissance ends with Michelangelo; Baroque begins with the generation of Borromini and Bernini; and in between comes `Mannerism`,
The Greek and Roman Myths
This handy guide to the Greek and Roman Myths brings classical mythology to life. Written by a bestselling author on Ancient Greece and Rome, the book features an engaging blend of stories, facts and quotations from ancient authors, and places ancient myths in a modern context, discussing the afterlives of the myths and the relevance
African Art
The art of the Fang, the BaTeke, the BaKota and other African peoples is extremely vigorous and shows brilliant sense of form. The substantial aesthetic impact of their works upon the development of 20th-century Western art – on Picasso, Derain, Braque and Modigliani, among others – continues to this day. This survey reveals the astonishing
The Empire of Death
Paul Koudounaris` “Empire of Death” is a dark, macabre, and intriguing look into Ossuaries and Charnel Houses. Visitors to the Paris catacombs were once greeted with a sign telling them that they were entering “THE EMPIRE OF DEATH”, and this book goes some way in explaining why.This riveting book takes the reader on a tour
Art of the Andes
This wide-ranging survey, now established as the best single-volume introduction to Andean art and architecture on the market today, describes the strikingly varied artistic achievements of the Chavin, Paracas, Moche, Nasca, Chimu and Inca cultures, among others. For this fully revised third edition, Rebecca Stone has rewritten and expanded the text throughout, touching on many
The Last Colonial
This is an autobiography in essays that conjures up a truly unique portrait of a world that is fast disappearing. Christopher Ondaatje is a true child of the British Empire. Born in Ceylon in 1933 and brought up on a tea plantation, he was sent as a teenager to boarding school in England. But soon
Egyptian Art
The art and architecture of Egypt during the age of the pharaohs continue to capture the imagination of the modern world. Vivid, graceful forms decorating monuments that emanated ambition and authority spark our wonder about this distant culture. Ever youthful and elegant men and women encounter odd, animal-headed gods and monsters amid scenes of work
Chinese Lives
China is the most populous country on earth, with the longest history of any modern nation. In the 21st century, it is clear that Chinas future, as a political and economic world power, is set to be as significant as its past, and its achievements still depend upon its people. This book tells the story
In Search of a Masterpiece
If you find yourself in Hull, Cork or Dundee, what paintings should you go and look at? Many masterpieces are waiting for you around the British Isles, sometimes neglected, in our galleries and museums. Here, broadcaster, critic and President of the National Association of Decorative & Fine Arts Societies (NADFAS), Christopher Lloyd, identifies over 265
Vincent`s Trees
Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890) felt a profound empathy with the natural environment, and considered the spiritual essence of trees to be comparable with that of human figures. “Vincents Trees” traces Van Goghs development as a painter of trees in the natural landscape from his home province of North Brabant, through Paris to Provence. Ralph Skeas
Mapping it out: An Alternative Atlas of Contemporary Cartographies
Over 130 leading lights from different fields artists, architects, writers and designers, geographers, mathematicians, computer pioneers, scientists make sense of exterior and interior worlds through highly personal and imaginative maps and charts. Some have translated scientific data into simplified visual language, while others have condensed vast social, political or natural forms into concise diagrams. Many
