Bill Tarmey (1941–2012) played the lovable rogue Jack Duckworth in Coronation Street for 31 years until his character was killed off during the show's 50th anniversary in 2010. His story of growing up in post-war Manchester, singing in working men's clubs, and then finding his niche playing a rascal whose life uncannily mirrored his own will be cherished by all fans of Britain's longest-running soap.

By thoroughly re-examining all available evidence, this investigation into the arson attack on the German parliament building in 1933, four weeks after Hitler’s appointment as Reich chancellor, seeks to resolve the controversy over who started the Reichstag fire. It debunks claims that it was the Nazis themselves, and concludes that Marinus van der Lubbe, a communist sympathiser, was the lone perpetrator of a crime that arguably led to the worst atrocities of the 20th century.

From his childhood in Pontypridd to his performance at the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Concert in 2012, this volume follows the life and career of Tom Jones (b.1940) in over 100 photographs. Accompanied by a description of his experiences, image and musical style, there are formal portraits, stills from his stage and television career, and photographs with stars including Elvis, Cher, and his fellow judges on the BBC series The Voice.

The German Wehrmacht series of DVDs uses archive film, private film clips and detailed English voice overs to look in detail at German armoured forces, tank and infantry units and examines their involvement in various theatres of the Second World War. Along with chapters on combat missions and conditions on the Northern, Eastern and Western fronts, this film covers topics including Stalingrad, North Africa, air combat and motorcycle troop missions. One DVD; running time approx 60 minutes.

The legend that the original series of Star Trek was something of a failure and that its creator battled the studios to present his groundbreaking vision are questioned in this analysis of Gene Roddenberry. Revealing the turbulent private life and controversial business dealings of the producer, this book examines the creation of his vision of a utopian future and how, through numerous movies and television spin-offs, it developed into a worldwide phenomenon.

Members of the London Stock Exchange from well-known families such as the Rothschilds served alongside clerks from City insurance, shipping and banking firms in the 10th Battalion, Royal Fusiliers during the First World War. This book uses personal diaries and letters as well as accounts written after the war to tell the story of this 'pals battalion', which was in action on the Somme, at Ypres and during the advance through France in the last months of the war.

Fast-paced and wise-cracking, this first book of the Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard trilogy introduces Magnus, son of the Norse god Frey, currently homeless in Boston. Young adult.

Patrick Grant, the director of the men’s clothing house E Tautz, presents profiles and photographic portraits of 81 men with nothing in common but ‘uncommon-ness’. They are divided into four groups: the ‘Artists’ all made their living in the arts and include film directors, architects, writers and painters; the ‘Heroes’, who include Mohammed Ali and Ernest Shackleton, all achieved something outstanding by physical prowess or courage; the ‘Libertines’ lived life recklessly; and the ‘Stylists’, though not necessarily well-dressed, lived their lives with style.

Following the pattern of medieval bestiaries, Brendon’s book illuminates the life and work of Winston Churchill through animals, from the Albatross he invoked in an important parliamentary speech in 1935, to his fondness for Zoos, despite his aversion to captivity. As well as the pets, menagerie and game that played significant roles in his life, the Bestiary explores Churchill’s frequent and often memorable use of animal imagery, such as likening himself to the lion’s roar, in writings and speeches.

The location and even the very existence of the Holy Grail have been shrouded in mystery for centuries. In this book the authors present the texts of parchment documents recently discovered in Egypt, revealing that the relic passed through the hands of kings and reached the Iberian peninsula in the mid eleventh century, having previously been preserved in Jerusalem. This evidence is combined with material from other sources to identify the Grail as a chalice now kept at León in northern Spain.

This book is a history of humanity’s long struggle towards the answers to two questions: how old is Earth and how does it move within the solar system? But the author also uses that story to delineate a philosophy of science. As he explains the bold innovations of thinkers such as Copernicus, Galileo, Halley and Darwin, he emphasizes the importance of Enlightenment values in facing the threat from modern fundamentalist movements of East and West. Foreword by Tariq Ali.

As part of Operation Grapple, Britain’s H-bomb testing programme, the light fleet carrier HMS Warrior set off from Portsmouth in February 1957 for Christmas Island in the South Pacific. In the Gunroom were ten junior officers (including the author) who weeks later would witness the detonation of Britain’s first thermonuclear device. This month-by-month account of their voyage, which examines the logistics behind the testing, describes their naval duties and celebrates their unfaltering comradeship.

The influence of Freud’s revolutionary ideas extends to art, literature and the language of everyday life. With clear and concise explanations of Freud’s technical terminology, this guide to his theories begins with a short biography, then explains how he developed each of the central concepts of psychoanalysis.

The exuberant ironwork adorning many of Spanish architect Antoni Gaudí's projects was a significant influence on the development of blacksmithing and is the starting point for this exploration of the art of contemporary wrought iron. Explaining the craft's history and techniques, the book provides over 600 photographs and drawings demonstrating an array of creative designs from small-scale domestic items to grand projects, serving as a showcase and inspiration for designers, architects, working practitioners and anyone interested in the art. Slightly off-mint

Ancient Romans often treated animals in ways that we consider cruel, but in many respects their attitudes were similar to our own. Ferris proposes ‘a way to understand Roman culture through analysing the society’s relationship with animals’. Using literary, visual and archaeological evidence, he shows how animals were kept for farm work and as household pets; how they were slaughtered for food, as sacrifices and as public entertainment; and how Romans presented animals in mythology and as attributes of deities.

The competing species of Terrans, Zerg and Protoss, from the StarCraft games, as well as their weaponry, vehicles and equipment, are profiled in this illustrated manual, presented as an official Terran Dominion Marine Corps Combat Handbook.

From Windsor Castle to the Great Wall of China, and from Japanese mussel gatherers to market traders in Algeria, this volume contains over 400 hand-tinted photographs in a survey of the world as it was in 1900. Jürgen Sorges’ introduction describes the tremendous pace of progress over the late 19th century and, with hindsight, sees in these wonderful images of wide open spaces, streets without cars, unspoilt mountainsides and low-rise cities a world ‘dancing on the edge of the abyss’.

In her study of ‘the two regions that gave birth to the art of the early Renaissance’, Professor Blum argues that the Netherlands and Florence shared many artistic aims and both achieved a new, realistic depiction of the material world – but in response to social developments rather than classical revival. Through in-depth discussions of works by Claus Sluter, Donatello, Jan van Eyck, Masaccio and Rogier van der Weyden, Blum shows how their innovations were used in the promotion of traditional Christian content.

From rumours of war in July 1914 to its aftermath in 1919, this well-researched and illustrated study explores the impact of the First World War on the city of Bath and surrounding area. Combining letters from the front lines with stories from the home front, and covering topics such as rounding up ‘aliens’, the War Hospital and food shortages, the author builds up a vivid picture of wartime Bath. The book ends with lists of the city’s military and naval casualties.

This introduction to fine lingerie offers the buyer advice on choosing suitable styles, taking correct measurements, and caring for delicate items. There are lists of the world's best designers, manufacturers and museums of lingerie and an explanation of terms relating to cut and fabric.

When 100 elite US soldiers were sent to capture a Somali military leader, their mission was supposed to take no more than an hour. Instead they were pinned down in the heart of Mogadishu, battling an enemy that numbered in their thousands. Mark Bowden’s acclaimed account captures the brutal reality of a contemporary combat engagement, and vividly describes the events that led to a downed Black Hawk helicopter and a devastating loss of life. Off-mint.

The Andean region hosts a particularly rich diversity of animal and plant life and this comprehensive field guide identifies over 2,000 birds of 1,100 species (accounting for different taxonomic groups and plumages) found in the temperate and alpine zones of South America, from Venezuela and Colombia in the north to the southernmost tip of Chile. Descriptions are supplemented by line drawings and distribution maps and 64 plates provide colour illustrations of over 1,000 birds.

After seeing an advert for a writing course ‘in Carmarthenshire’s beautiful Upper Towy Valley’, Jason Robbins finds himself on a bogus course in the gloom of remote Heron House, where the torments of the past intrude into the present.

Different martial arts have distinct styles of movement and may be associated with particular weapons and clothing. This guide to successfully drawing manga characters in authentic fighting scenes considers ten disciplines, including Kung Fu, Karate and Boxing, and provides step-by-step tutorials as well as background information on the traditions and characteristic positions of each style. Slightly off-mint.

Diane Ackerman may rue the destruction of the natural world, yet she is thrilled by human ingenuity and here contemplates nascent technologies – including those for body heat recycling, 3D-printed human tissue and carbon capture – that may yet save our planet and our species. Slightly off-mint.

William Shakespeareasaurus and the Brontëosaurus sisters are two of the six literary giants transformed in this pre-historic introduction to literature. Fun information and extracts of each spoof author’s work are complemented with a biography of the actual writer. Age 7+

This history compares events in Paris, New York and London from 1765 to 1795, when the first two were convulsed by revolution, and the third came close. Drawing on archives, letters and travelogues, the book evokes a world in which aristocrats, lawyers, artisans and society hostesses passionately debated the issues of liberty, justice and the social order, and assesses how those momentous years have shaped the political and physical fabric of all three cities to this day.

Challenging the common modern distinction between Romans as organized, professional ‘soldiers’ and their opponents as individualistic ‘warriors’, this history of Roman warfare focuses on the part-time legionaries who served only for the duration of a campaign and sought glory in single combat. The author explores these warriors’ deeds, beliefs and mindset, through examples such as the man who fought with a prosthetic iron fist and a centurion who executed his commanding officer for cowardice.

After years of civil war, the restoration of Charles II in 1660 heralded the rebirth of London. In this account of the capital and its prominent figures such as Wren, Newton, Halley and Pepys, Don Jordan shows how the city recovered rapidly from plague and fire to become the crucible of commerce, science and culture in which modern Britain was forged.

From his ‘lucky, lucky childhood’, a war baby growing up in his mother’s sweet shop, to experiencing ‘another burst of wonder’ as a grandfather, Michael Foreman tells the story of his life in prose suited to readers young and old, and in pictures from the books he has illustrated. Tracing his career through those story books, Foreman describes his collaborations with writers, especially Terry Jones and Michael Morpurgo, who has written the foreword for this charmed life in pictures – and stories.

From Saul and Augustine of Hippo to Muhammad Ali and George W Bush, why have people throughout history changed their faith? Jacoby considers religious conversion from a secular perspective, challenging the idea that it is a purely spiritual journey. She examines the social and economic framework within which conversion takes place – whether through theocratic coercion, for political advantage or by interreligious marriage – and reflects on the ‘religious marketplace’ of modern America, where changes of faith are especially common. Slightly off-mint and felt-tip mark on lower trimmed edge.

The year 1616 brought such notable events as the arrival of a samurai in the Vatican, the Inquisition’s investigation of Galileo, the deaths of Shakespeare and Cervantes, the visit of Matoaka (‘Pocahontas’) to London, and the first stage appearance of Father Christmas. In this illustrated history of the year Christensen interweaves stories from around the world, highlighting themes relating to the global economy, international travel, women’s emerging roles and developments in art and science as the modern age was being born.

Made famous by the long-term studies conducted by Jane Goodall, the chimpanzees of the Gombe National Park by Lake Tanganyika in Tanzania have revealed previously unknown behaviours, such as the use of tools and meat-eating, and have shown that the apes have complex social relationships and individual personalities. This large-format photographic study captures the chimps over a period of more than ten years and contains notes on the history of the community and the lineages of its prominent dynasties.

Each of these four volumes begins with verses from Poly-Olbion – a 17th-century poem by Michael Drayton – accompanied by black-and-white maps of the various regions of England, showing geographical features represented by gods, nymphs and faeries. These are colouring books, but not in the contemporary sense: the black-line images should be carefully washed over with watercolours, according to cartographic tradition. Slipcased.

From the ancient Italian and Spanish universities of Bologna and Salamanca, to the ultramodern Rolex Learning Centre, part of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology opened in 2010, the architecture of universities has reflected a striving for cultural and intellectual excellence. In this selection of 23 universities from 15 countries, Guillaume de Laubier presents photographic studies of their facades, libraries, ceremonial halls and teaching buildings, while writer Jean Serroy outlines the history of each institution and its architecture.

Despite the A–Z of the title, this book takes a thematic approach as it tells the stories behind a selection of Scottish names of far-flung places. Starting with the explorers and pioneers who opened up wilderness lands, from Sir Alexander Mackenzie in Canada to Dundee Island in Antarctica, chapters describe the Scottish traders and migrants to North America, Australia and New Zealand who named places after themselves, their heroes or their homeland.

This wide-ranging and extensively illustrated survey explores every aspect of London’s politics, not only in its position as the capital of the nation, seat of the monarchy and home of Parliament, but in all its diversity. Richard Tames charts the development of the city’s often contentious local government, its long-standing function as a magnet for exiled revolutionaries, and its role as an arena of conflict for strikers, suffragettes, Fenians and fascists.

Any idea that our planet has been completely tamed is dispelled by the 39 thrilling expeditions in this book. Discover what it is like to be dragged, hanging from a balloon, through a rainforest, to inch up a sheer rock-face, or to trek through a desert as the water runs out. Illustrated with more than 250 breathtaking colour photographs, these gripping first-hand accounts demonstrate that the spirit of adventure is very much alive in the 21st century.

Lord Kitchener recognized the need for recruitment on an unprecedented scale in 1914 and his call for 'the First Hundred Thousand' was quickly met by enthusiastic volunteers. Local regiments were then created, encouraging brothers, friends and workmates to join up in companionable 'pals' battalions, but eventually the government was forced to introduce conscription. This study of these early volunteer soldiers, dubbed by the original regulars of 1914 as Kitchener's Mob, includes illustrations of recruitment literature, archive photographs and military memorabilia.

Amy Leach’s debut collection of creative non-fiction displays a remarkable fusion of enchanting poetic language, quirky humour and factual information relating to the natural world and our communion with it. From lilies and peas, frogs and beavers to the moon, constellations and exploding stars, each of these 26 short pieces is filled with what Olivia Laing has called a ‘tumultuous, incantatory rejoicing in the astonishing multiplicity of the Earth’.

Philosopher or poseur, aristocrat or democrat, austere classicist or flamboyant eccentric? More than 200 years after Beau Brummell dazzled London with his elegance, the dandy remains an enigma. This entertaining, richly anecdotal history charts the evolution of dandyism from London to Paris, St Petersburg to Hollywood. Along the way, we meet a long line of men – Byron, Disraeli, Oscar Wilde, F Scott Fitzgerald, and Noël Coward among them – who dedicated their lives to making a stand against drab conformity.

Beyond the horrors of the Western Front, the First World War sent Britons to the far corners of the globe and affected all aspects of life on the home front. This portfolio of contemporary photographs, documents, letters and ephemera (first published as The Worst Ordeal in 1994) takes the broadest view of the conflict – from the experiences of soldiers, sailors and airmen and their families to dealing with strikes, volunteer work, rationing, conscientious objectors and the Irish rebellion at home.

When men from the Great Western Railway’s audit division left to fight in the First World War, they began to correspond with staff back home in the Paddington office where their letters were compiled into monthly ‘newsletters’. Twelve of these newsletters are arranged chronologically in this touching collection, in which a group of colleagues bound together by work, yet scattered across France, Belgium, the Dardanelles, Greece, India and Egypt, pour out their thoughts and reflections about life on the front.

From 1917 to 1945, Paul Ginsborg views great events and transitions through the lens of family life, examining the role of families (and radical alternatives to families) in the social and political life of the nation-state. The book focuses on five nations: revolutionary Russia and the Soviet Union; Turkey in the transition from Ottoman Empire to republic; Italy under Fascism; Spain during and after the Civil War; and Germany from the failure of the Weimar Republic to the Nazi state.

The events of the months between the fall of Germany in May 1945 and the surrender of Japan in August would dictate the world order for generations. Combining archive material and original interviews with eyewitnesses, this people's history tells the story of civilians, soldiers, victors and vanquished across the globe during a fateful summer – from the VE celebrations in London and the continued fighting in the Pacific to the elation of VJ Day and the terrible aftermath of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

World-changing decisions have been made over dinner, from the post-Napoleonic Congress of Vienna to Nixon’s historic meeting with Zhou Enlai. This enlightening book not only reveals the importance of dining to diplomacy, it enlists the acclaimed restaurateur Tony Singh to recreate the menus, from the Capon Stuffed with Virginia Ham eaten by Hamilton, Madison and Jefferson as they discussed the new US capital to the Poached Salmon Trout with Caviar consumed by Churchill, Stalin and Roosevelt in Tehran.

The First World War touched the life of everyone in Britain in one way or another and many families hold treasured mementos in the form of medals, letters home and war diaries. This book explores 20 different human stories revealed by investigating such keepsakes connected with the author's own extended family, and also provides tips and advice about discovering and analysing ancestral information so that readers can research their own families.

Despite early optimism that the First World War would be swiftly concluded and cause little disruption to British life, the long struggle in fact turned British industry on its head, encouraging technological and organizational advances and a rethinking of traditional gender roles as women took the place of men in the factories. This book examines how different industries coped with the demands of the war and the heroic efforts made by ordinary men and women to keep industry moving.

Kristie Macrakis begins by describing how she unearthed a formula for invisible ink in the Stasi archives, which inspired her to pen this history of secret writing, from the simple but ingenious techniques used in ancient Greece and Rome to the newest opportunities for concealment provided by computer files and DNA microdots. In an appendix she offers a selection of recipes for invisible inks derived from such everyday ingredients as porridge and tonic water.

An Olivier award-winning performer, accredited hypnotherapist and the first artist in residence at the British Library, Christopher Green presents an illustrated history of hypnosis, covering both the reputable side of the subject – brain imaging, clinical trials, hypnotherapy etc – and the smoke and mirrors of stage ‘mesmerists’ and hypnotists. ‘I love hypnosis’, writes Green, ‘I don’t know of any other subject that is at once so erudite and yet so trashy’.

Physician John Elliotson and his friend Thomas Wakley, founding editor of The Lancet, were well-known medical pioneers in Victorian London. Yet when Elliotson championed the new ‘science’ of mesmerism, which purported to dull surgical pain, their friendship – and Elliotson’s credibility – were severely tested. Against a backdrop of Victorian lecture theatres and hospital wards, the two distinguished men publicly clashed over a technique which, for all its successes and failures, is still little understood.

In judging ‘crimes of passion’, where should we draw the line between the ‘mad’ and the ‘bad’? This question featured prominently at several sensational trials between 1870 and 1914 as lawyers began to argue with psychiatrists over the inner lives of murderers. Focusing on three such trials in different countries, this book uses court and asylum records, letters and newspaper accounts to highlight the social debates prompted by the mind doctors’ new concepts of insanity.

Medieval people gave little thought to prisoners or to the conditions in which they were kept, but by Victorian times troubling questions were being asked about the purpose and effectiveness of incarceration. Wade traces the evolving nature, use and management of British prisons over the centuries, asks whether changes in practices such as hard labour and solitary confinement have made the prison system more humane and investigates how social changes led to new definitions of criminality.

Although the numbers of immigrants seeking naturalization in pre-revolutionary France were insignificant, the process of becoming ‘naturalized foreigners’ – they never attained the full legal status of French ‘naturals’ – offers a unique perspective on the policies and practices of citizenship and nationality. Sahlins’ social, political and legal history of early immigration explores these processes of naturalization before and after the 1789 Revolution.

Witty, wealthy and beautiful, Catherine Tylney Long was the most eligible heiress in England. Courted by royalty, she chose instead to marry William Wellesley, the charming but feckless and dissolute nephew of the Duke of Wellington. Combining archival research and the readability of detective fiction, this history unravels the story of a scandalous marriage that delighted the press and cartoonists of the day, and culminated in financial ruin and a landmark court case.

Greg Grandin's study of slavery begins not on the west coast of Africa but in the South Pacific, off the coast of Chile, where in 1805 Captain Amasa Delano, an anti-slavery American, happened upon a slave rebellion on board the Tryal. The incident, recorded in Delano's memoirs, has inspired many literary works, notably Herman Melville's Benito Cereno; here, it leads to a new account of slavery across continents, and the deceptions inherent in the New World's 'Age of Freedom'.

Riot police patrol the borders, children’s bodies wash up on beaches, and refugees crowd into makeshift camps; how did the EU, founded on the values of human rights and dignity for all, reach this point? With vigour and compassion, Cast Away reveals the human stories behind the numbing statistics through the first-hand accounts of five people forced to flee their homelands, and forms a scathing indictment of Europe’s political leadership.

Deemed unfit for army service when he tried to enlist in 1914, Barclay Baron (1884–1964) served instead with the Young Men’s Christian Association, or ‘Red Triangle’, in France, Belgium and occupied Germany, from 1915 to 1919. His memoirs and letters give a vivid account of the often overlooked war work of the YMCA in supporting British troops on the Western Front. The memoirs are accompanied by substantial chapters on Baron himself and the wartime YMCA.

The treaty of Rapallo was concluded by Germany and the Soviet Union in 1922, and was to have significant consequences for Britain, France and newly created small states in east central Europe. This study focuses on the impact of the treaty and ‘the myth of Rapallo’ – the fear of a secret Russo-German alliance – on British foreign policy between 1922 and 1934, the year which signalled the end of the Rapallo relationship as Germany signed a non-aggression pact with Poland.

New York Times correspondent Robert F Worth gives his analysis of the contemporary Middle East in this investigation of how the optimism of the Arab Spring of 2011 disintegrated into civil wars, brutal repressions and the rise of Islamic State. Illuminating the conflicts and contradictions through people caught between loyalties to family, sect, country or religion, the narrative focuses on Egypt, Libya, Syria, Yemen and Tunisia.

After liberating itself from French colonial rule in one of the 20th century's most brutal wars of independence, Algeria became a standard-bearer for the non-aligned movement. But by the 1990s, its revolutionary political model had collapsed into savage conflict between the military and Islamist guerrillas. This lucid account explores Algeria's recent history, showing how the post-independence generation became increasingly alienated and turned to the rising Islamist movement.

‘It’s a wonderful caanty is Yorksher.’ The dialect writings of John Hartley (1839–1915) not only capture the everyday speech of Victorian Yorkshire but also document many aspects of its social history. This anthology brings together ten of his poems with selections from his sardonically humorous essays on such diverse subjects as hope, sport, fools, foreign travel and cheating a landlord. A glossary of dialect words is provided.

The Royal Borough of Kensington was an area of great wealth and extreme poverty, near enough to central London to be close to national events during the Great War. Drawing on extensive research and dramatic first-hand accounts, this generously illustrated local history charts the borough’s response: a resident’s attempt to teach the nation to make food economies, the shooting down of a Zeppelin, the raising of local regiments, and the local men who never returned.

Kenneth Roy's panorama of post-war Scottish life begins with the VE Night celebrations in the spring of 1945 and proceeds year by year to November 1975, when the first North Sea oil was pumped ashore. Using a wealth of contemporary accounts, the book tells a complex and often disturbing story of a country riven by poverty, struggling for a sense of its own identity, and ill-served by its masters. With a new post-Independence referendum afterword by the author.

Columbus This classic biography of the discoverer of America reveals him to have been a novice navigator whose first trans-Atlantic voyage was motivated as much by ambition for social advancement as any firm conviction of the existence of a western route to the Indies. First published in 1974, this edition contains an updated introduction by the author to include the latest scholarship.

Roy Calley presents a visitor’s guide to the castles, palaces and houses associated with the life of Mary, Queen of Scots, from her birth in Linlithgow and early years in Stirling Castle to her execution at Fotheringhay. As well as telling Mary’s story through her many places of residence and captivity, Calley describes sites such as Notre-Dame in Paris, where she married Dauphin François in 1558 and Kirk o’ Field, the scene of Darnley’s murder in 1567.

‘Elizabeth’, writes Lisa Hilton, ‘was happy to play on the conventions of gender when it suited her ‘weak and feeble’ woman’s body to do so’. In this biography, Lisa Hilton argues that Elizabeth’s upbringing, education and royal status effectively negated gender and the Queen saw herself as – and ruled as – a Machiavellian prince. This study of Elizabeth shifts the focus from her gender and sexuality to her statecraft and her view of England as a Renaissance state. Felt-tip mark on lower trimmed edge.

General practitioner, researcher and activist Lachlan Grant influenced debate about social reform in rural Scotland in the early 20th century. The two parts of this book comprise a collection of essays examining a broad range of his interests, from the provision of healthcare in the Highlands and Islands to land reform and economic development, and a selection of his journalism, speeches and correspondence, including his evidence to the Dewar Committee in 1912.

Inspired to fight against the Spanish Empire in South America in 1817, Englishman Richard Vowell distinguished himself in Simón Bolívar's war of liberation in Venezuela as part of a British Legion of volunteers. This book tells the story of the adventurer from his English childhood to his part in Bolívar's South American campaigns, service as Commander of Marines in the Chilean Navy and later years in Australia, where he was discharged from his job as a convict-camp administrator under strange circumstances.

The art dealer John Hunt (1900–76) helped to shape the medieval collections of museums around the world and was Sotheby’s principal advisor on medieval art. This biography reveals not only the extent of Hunt’s published work on archaeological and historical topics but also his cultural benefactions to Ireland, the adopted homeland where he spent the 1950s restoring the crumbling 15th-century Bunratty Castle. The final chapter covers the investigation into recent allegations that Hunt had links to the Nazis.

Basil Clarke was an intrepid First World War correspondent and father of the public relations industry. This first-ever biography tells how he defied Kitchener’s ban on reporters in 1914 to live as an ‘outlaw’ in Dunkirk, reported from the Battle of the Somme and the Easter Rising, and caused a global scandal by accusing the government of failing to enforce its naval blockade of Germany, before going on to create Britain’s first PR firm.

First published in 1902, this is a biography of Anna Amalia (1739-1807), Duchess of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, who acted as regent for her son Karl August from 1759 to 1775, and became a great patron of art and literature. With a new introduction.

Sheila Rowbotham’s 1986 play Friends of Alice Wheeldon dramatized the trial of a Derby socialist and feminist accused by an undercover agent during the First World War of plotting to kill the prime minister, Lloyd George. This new edition includes a carefully researched historical introduction that describes the interaction between workplace militants and anti-war activists, the intrigues of politicians and the intelligence agencies, and the campaign to clear Wheeldon’s name.

Martin Amis's life is itself the stuff of fiction. Son of one of the most popular novelists of the post-war era, he forged a groundbreaking style of writing that owes little to his father, or to anyone else. This absorbing biography offers the real Martin Amis – elegant, tortured, kind, aloof, loved by women and devoted family man. It evaluates the unique achievement and wide-ranging influence of his menacing novels, and discloses the autobiographical thread that runs through his work.

Henry Cockburn (1779–1854) was a judge of the Court of Session and a leading personality in 19th-century Edinburgh, best remembered now for his posthumous literary works, Memorials of His Time (1856), Journal (1874) and Circuit Journeys (1888). This selection of 180 letters written by Cockburn provides new information about his career as judge, Whig activist, family man and pioneer of building conservation. With introduction, notes and index.

In 1901, George Moore, the celebrated author of Esther Waters , returned to his native Dublin at the height of the Irish Literary Revival. First published in 1911, his monumental Hail and Farewell! profiles the movement’s leading figures, including WB Yeats, Lady Gregory and JM Synge, charts the development of the Abbey Theatre, and illuminates the literary, artistic and musical tastes of the period. This new edition provides notes explaining many references familiar to the book’s original readers but now obscure.

No writer has been performed, adapted and translated in such a variety of languages and cultures as Shakespeare. This dazzlingly original book ranges across four continents and four centuries to show how Shakespeare was fascinated with the world, and the world became fascinated with Shakespeare. Blending travelogue and cultural history, it ranges from a troupe of English actors tramping the Baltic states in the early 1600s, via Bollywood and apartheid South Africa, to the skyscrapers of 21st-century Beijing.

In 1891, the first issue of The Strand magazine appeared; it was an immediate and massive success, mainly due to the debut of Sherlock Holmes in its pages. In this study of the relationship between Holmes's creator and the magazine, Mike Ashley first sketches the early career paths of Conan Doyle, the publisher George Newnes and editor Greenhough Smith before exploring their extraordinary achievement and Doyle’s subsequent 40-year association with The Strand up to his death in 1930.

Published in honour of Peter Beal, the renowned scholar of scribal culture, these 14 essays cover topics including the English verse of Robert Fabyan, the Countess of Cumberland's Prayse of Private Life and the practice of letter-locking with silk floss.

In Book VII of his encyclopedic Natural History, Pliny turns to the human animal, ‘for whose sake nature was created’. This edition presents both the Latin text and analysis of Pliny’s historical, scientific and literary contexts, highlighting what his discussion reveals about the ancient Roman worldview. For less experienced readers, the commentary offers plenty of linguistic explanation and the volume ends with a thorough glossary of vocabulary.

Published by Sam Fogg, the renowned gallery dealing in ancient and medieval artefacts and texts, this catalogue describes 86 Chinese books ranging in date from the 1st to the 19th centuries and divided into sections of manuscripts from Dunhuang, sacred texts, works of literature and history, science, illustrated books and two books from Korea. Each work is represented by one or more reproductions of pages, together with descriptive details and a scholarly commentary.

The two dark stories in this volume are both told from the point of view of a deceased character, the first of whom exacts revenge from beyond the grave and the second who watches his former lover undertake an unsettling trip to his home town in Ireland.

Through the relationship between research scientist Margot Sharpe and her patient, the charismatic but tortured amnesiac Elihu Hoopes, this poignant, unsettling novel explores the line between science, ethics and obsession, and probes the darkest corners of the human psyche.

This third title in the Sky’s Dark Labyrinth trilogy begins before the First World War, and fictionalizes Einstein’s formulation of the Theory of Relativity and his links with scientist/priest Georges Lemaître, explaining how they forged our understanding of astronomy today.

Paul Kingnorth’s dark, eloquent novel finds Edward Buckmaster alone on a West Country moor, facing an existential battle with himself, the elements, and something he begins to see in the margins of his vision – some creature that is tracking him.

This thought-provoking novel about memory and self-discovery tells the story of an unusual road trip: the travellers are a pregnant teenager facing difficult choices and her great aunt, an elderly lady in the first stages of dementia. Young adult.

Birds in the order Pelecaniformes share biological traits such as feeding predominantly on fish and incubating only a limited clutch of eggs (one or two) by the transmission of heat from the foot webs. This meticulous study, first published in 1993, provides a worldwide survey of the 32 species of cormorants and shags, two species of darters and seven species of pelicans, examining their biology, behaviour, plumage, distribution and ecology, and including colour photographs and anatomical drawings.

Grouse are a vast family of birds found throughout the northern hemisphere from the Gulf of Mexico to the Kamchatka peninsula; they include the capercaillie, ptarmigan and prairie chicken. This comprehensive English-language guide explores the evolution of the grouse, then examines each species in turn, noting its distribution and habitat, diet, breeding habits and conservation issues. The extensive illustrations include maps, paintings, photographs and line drawings that highlight anatomical features and behaviour.

Primates, carnivores and hoofed animals share basic expressive similarities such as the use of ears and eyes to show excitement, alarm or aggression. This book explains how such actions can be interpreted and reveals how an understanding of environment can make sense of behaviour. Starting with a primer on how such core motivations as feeding, breeding and avoiding predators influence conduct and demeanour, the book is in sections dealing with animals in different regions, and is illustrated with detailed line drawings.

The transformation of unpromising larvae into complex and delicate adult insects is one of the wonders of nature. This photographic celebration records the metamorphoses of a variety of creatures including crickets and grasshoppers, butterflies and moths, ants, bees, flies and beetles. The detailed close-ups reveal their life-cycles from the hatching of an egg to the emergence of the adult, and the accompanying text explores the mechanisms that drive the process and why insects have evolved these remarkable solutions to survival.

Andrew Zuckerman's portraits of animals are always taken in a studio against a pure white background, and 'explore not just the forms, textures, and movements of creatures, but more importantly, their characters'. This volume presents 150 such portraits and close-ups of mammals, birds, amphibians and insects – all subject to the same sensitive scrutiny, whether African elephant or tortoise, hyena or five-horned rhinoceros beetle. The book ends with an 'Epilogue' by the photographer and a visual index of the animals.

Andrew Zuckerman is well-known for his photographs of animals: shot against his trademark white background and with great sensitivity, his images reveal the essential nature of each subject. In this volume he concentrates on birds, taking a contemporary, minimalist approach to these colourful and astonishingly varied creatures. The book contains 200 photographs of 75 different species, including cranes, parrots, turkeys, eagles and owls, in flight or stationary, all meticulously observed. With an introduction by Massimo Vignelli.

Beginning with a history of the breed from the first-ever 'yellow retriever' hunting dog (called Nous), to the companions, medical-detection dogs and 'canine partners' of today, this is a complete guide to owning, training and caring for golden retrievers. There are also chapters on 'gundog life' for those who want to work golden retrievers and on every aspect of responsible breeding, including advice on how to say goodbye to the puppies as they go to new homes.

The relationship between humans and cetaceans – whales, dolphins and porpoises – has changed dramatically over the centuries. Where once a lost or stranded whale was hacked to death, now desperate attempts would be made to save it. In this Natural History Museum book, Sarah Lazarus describes the history of whaling; 20th-century efforts to limit the industry; the dire threat of polluted oceans; and the relatively recent interest in ‘close encounters’ with whales and dolphins.

From the horns of dung beetles or the enormous claws of male fiddler crabs to the elaborate antlers of elk, some animals have developed extravagant weapons that seem out of proportion with their size. Evolutionary biologist Douglas Emlen has made a study of the factors that drive the evolution of these extreme specializations and, in this study, draws parallels with the development of military technology in human history, concluding that the governing factors are the same.

London has more parks and green spaces than any other capital of a comparable size, so a climbable tree is never far away. Extolling the virtues of lifting oneself out of the city bustle and finding new perspectives on the urban scene, this book records the exploits of a committed tree climber seeking out interesting specimens and unusual vantage points, from a tall sweetgum alongside the walls of St Paul's Cathedral to a scruffy willow on the Swiss Cottage roundabout.