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From preparing canvas to framing and storing finished artwork, this source book is a practical, up-to-date guide to materials for artists, amateur and professional. Starting with oils, the book covers acrylic, encaustic and tempera painting, watercolours, gouache and drawing materials; there are chapters on pigments, colour mixing, brushes and other applicators and, finally, guidance on working safely with artists’ materials.

Designed to hone skills, build confidence in your drawing and widen its scope, this practical workbook presents over 100 subjects, progressing from a still life of two pears to much more ambitious projects including a village scene, a sports car, and people on the beach. For each subject, Barrington Barber’s drawing is broken down into five steps, with his works-in-progress sketches and notes on techniques.

Both a religious order and a private army, the Templars were answerable only to the Pope and dominated the politics of the Middle East during the tumultuous age of the Crusades. This book traces the history and changing fortunes of the order, from its foundation in 1119 to its suppression amid accusations of heresy less than two centuries later.

Produced in association with the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, Mapping the Oceans records millennia of human efforts to navigate and chart the seas, first for trade and more recently for research. Illustrated with historic maps, paintings and prints, it explores the development of navigational instruments, the principles of latitude and longitude, marine biology, and the new technologies that have allowed scientists to probe the oceans’ depths.

Covering the story of Britain in eight chronological sections – on prehistory, Roman Britain, the age of invaders and settlers, medieval, early modern, Georgian and Victorian Britain and the 20th century up to and beyond the millennium – Richard Dargie offers a rapid and very accessible survey of these islands’ history, with timelines, text boxes on special topics and illustrations.

Using famous examples from the history of art as well as his original drawings, the artist and teacher Barrington Barber provides inspiration and encouragement as well as practical information on materials and techniques, and he offers insights into the possibilities and the pitfalls of portraiture. After the basics of proportion and composition, the course covers topics including group portraits, dress and props, animals, self-portraits and the art of caricature.

Designed for artists of all abilities, this course focuses on the human figure and the techniques required to draw the human body, clothed or unclothed, at rest or in motion. Barber begins with anatomy, from the skeleton to elements such as hands and feet, and goes on to explain how to tackle clothes, various poses, action and facial features, using his own drawings as step-by-step examples and gradually building up to more advanced techniques of figure drawing.

From Scandinavia to the Pacific Islands, ancient cultures around the world have developed rich mythologies to answer humans’ most fundamental questions. This abridgement of Coleman’s sizeable reference work focuses on recurring themes, such as the significance of twins, dogs and rainbows in different belief systems. It also covers the mass of stories clustered around specific legendary figures, especially King Arthur, and events including Creation and the Trojan War.

Jason’s quest for the golden fleece, Echo’s doomed love for Narcissus and the visits to Hades by Ulysses and Aeneas are among the 49 Greco-Roman myths retold here by expert storytellers of the 19th and early 20th century. Inspired by the versions of ancient authors, they recreate an age when mortal heroes mixed with vengeful gods and faced such dangerous creatures as the Sirens and the Minotaur.

HG Wells' thrilling 'scientific romance' about the Martian landings in Woking and the terrifying alien conquest of London has captured imaginations since 1898, not least in 1938 when Orson Welles' radio dramatization caused panic in New York.

Described by its author as ‘a trap for the unwary’, this supernatural tale is narrated by a young governess, new to a country household, who struggles for the souls of her two charges against the evil ghosts of former employees.

Marco Polo spent 24 years exploring the Mongol empire on behalf of the Emperor Kublaï Khan. His richly detailed travelogue revolutionized medieval Europeans’ knowledge of the East; seven centuries later it continues to convey his wonder at the unusual creatures and customs he encountered.

Jerome's comic masterpiece describes the exploits of three men and a fox terrier named Montmorency messing about on the river. The book was first published in 1889 and remains as fresh and as funny as ever.

Scott Fitzgerald's debut novel, originally published in 1920, captures the feel of its era and explores themes such as the quest for success and the power of money as it tells the story of Amory Blaine's journey from youth to maturity.

Set in a Nottinghamshire mining village, Lawrence's autobiographical novel centres on the relationship between Paul Morel and his mother – an attachment that becomes a struggle as Paul is attracted first to Miriam, a shy country girl, then to Clara, a married woman.

Following the death of Sir Charles Baskerville – purportedly killed by a monstrous ghostly hound – Sherlock Holmes and Watson pursue the mystery across wild and desolate Dartmoor.

Since 1609, when they were first published, Shakespeare’s sonnets have fascinated readers, both with the depth of the poet’s insight into the variety of love and the passage time and with the mysteries of the beautiful Young Man, the Rival Poet and the Dark Lady. This volume presents all 154 sonnets, with a brief introduction.

Jane Austen explores the psychology of romantic love as she tells the story of Mrs Dashwood and her daughters Elinor and Marianne – one full of good sense, the other prone to romantic notions.

Published in 1907, Conrad’s compelling tale of anarchy, espionage and violence is set in the seedy back streets of Victorian London where Adolf Verloc, a shopkeeper who is also a secret agent, is assigned the task of blowing up the Greenwich Observatory.

First published in 1929, Virginia Woolf’s extended essay was based on lectures given at Girton and Newnham Colleges in Cambridge and employs a fictitious narrator and fiction to make the argument for greater liberty for women within the patriarchal literary establishment.

Based on the ordeal of a real castaway, Alexander Selkirk, Defoe's novel is narrated by Crusoe, who tells how he survived a shipwreck and 28 years on a desert island before being rescued by an English ship. First published in 1719, Robinson Crusoe remains one of the most convincing adventure stories ever written.

Written in 1791 as a response to Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France, Thomas Paine's Rights of Man is a seminal work on human freedom and equality, arguing that governments must respect the welfare rights of all citizens.