The 25 contentious publications discussed in this book illustrate how the censorship of literature has developed in the United Kingdom and United States, which both claim an ancient tradition of free expression. Ranging from medieval translations of the Bible to Marjane Satrapi’s recent Persepolis, they include works now considered masterpieces, such as Joyce’s Ulysses, which were banned because they challenged the orthodoxies of their time.

General Leclerc and the French Second Armoured Division (2eDB) entered Paris and liberated the city on 25 August 1944; prior to that the Resistance had mounted an insurrection that weakened the occupying forces; and on 26 August, Charles de Gaulle led his great victory march down the Champs Elysées. In an almost hour-by-hour account, Moore disentangles the interests and ambitions swirling around the city’s liberation and reveals the crucial role of Leclerc and his 2eDB in securing the freedom of France’s capital.

Remarkable for their creativity, the intrepid travellers in these tales include two prisoners of war whose escape from Turkey in 1917 was aided by a Ouija board, and Auguste Piccard, who explored the atmosphere via helium-filled balloon in 1931. Also featured are Grayson Perry’s pilgrimage to Bavaria with a teddy bear, and filmmaker Andrew Kötting’s tour of the world with a giant inflatable of his father.

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.

Alfred Leete’s iconic image of Lord Kitchener pointing over the slogan ‘Your Country Needs You’ is a design classic which was widely imitated, for instance in the American designer James Montgomery Flagg’s Uncle Sam poster. James Taylor explores its influence on the propaganda posters of Allied countries in the First World War and beyond, while arguing that, since it originated as a magazine cover and postcard, its direct effect on enlistment was smaller than is commonly believed.

Alongside her career as a professor of English, Leonora Leet spent two decades working on the Kabbalah and Pythagorean geometry to produce this magnum opus, in which she derives a new model from the Tree of Life and her own Sabbath Star Diagram, based on seven Star of David hexagrams. She thereby expands the four worlds of the classical Kabbalah, synthesizing science and spirituality as she provides a mathematical basis for aspects of the Jewish mystical tradition.

From the bird’s-eye views and flat maps of Renaissance Europe to GPS-derived imagery and digital mapping of the present day, and from Asia to North America, Jeremy Black traces the development of the city and its representation by cartographers over the last 500 years. More than 150 reproductions illustrate the variety of maps and plans and their increasing sophistication through the centuries, ending with past visions of what the future city might look like.

Practical, spacious and easy to maintain, the Austin FX4 was designed specifically for the London taxi market, establishing the classic form for a 'black cab' and becoming widely used well beyond the capital. This analysis includes details of the car's history and development, and examines its construction and mechanical systems, identifying different models and variations introduced over the years. There are also notes on buying, driving and maintaining classic vehicles.

By preaching in the open and visiting lay people at home, mendicant friars took religion outside church buildings. Yet, despite their dedication to apostolic poverty, the friars were criticized for their churches’ considerable size. In her study of the ‘social lives of buildings’, Bruzelius describes how friars’ activities shaped the interior and exterior spaces of medieval cities; in particular explaining how individual donors’ requests for intercessory prayers and burial rights led to the episodic expansion and decoration of the friars’ convents.

One of the most celebrated graphic artists of contemporary comic books, Alex Ross was obsessed with the genre from early childhood and his breakthrough series Marvels in 1994 laid the groundwork for creating the unified Marvel Universe of the film franchise. This retrospective of Ross’s work tells the artist’s story and includes hundreds of drawings, paintings and photographs of characters including Spider-Man, Captain America, Iron Man and Black Panther. Slightly off-mint. Felt-tip mark on lower trimmed edge.

Should a self-confessed murderer be allowed to become a priest? In 1984 the Church of Scotland wrestled with this question when James Nelson, who had served a prison sentence for killing his mother, applied for ordination as a minister. Kelly uses this case as the starting-point for a history of the Church in Scotland, which also combines personal memoir, true-crime narrative and an exegesis of biblical and literary accounts of sin and forgiveness.

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.

Highlighting the cultural and geographic diversity of Western Europe, from the cosmopolitan centre of Lisbon to Austria’s alpine attractions and the ancient monuments of Greece, this guide focuses on the main attractions of each country and introduces its heritage, art and architecture.

This highly illustrated study examines the part played by persuasive and subversive graphic art in protest movements. Tracing the genre's roots in the satirical sketches of previous centuries, example posters, cartoons and logos demonstrate notable designs, from the political agitation of the 1920s to the counter culture movements of the 1960s and more recent climate protests and social activism.

In these articles Brian Aldiss (1925–2017) reflects on the events of his life and how they were transmuted into the ‘metaphysical realism’ of his science-fiction stories. He describes his travels in 1960s Yugoslavia, examines his preoccupation with exile in an introduction to Solzhenitsyn’s The Gulag Archipelago, and imagines a meeting with Thomas Hardy.

A senior journalist surveys Sky’s progression from scrappy start-up to billion-dollar business, focusing on its clashes with the BBC and BT, News Corporation’s bid for full control and the bidding war between two global media giants. Interviews with key individuals and stakeholders also highlight the Murdoch family’s huge role in building the modern media landscape.

When three-year-old Dylan is diagnosed with a life-limiting illness, his parents find themselves at an impasse, unable to agree whether to pursue every possible avenue to extend his life or to let him go.

Heather Harpham relives the anguish she experienced when her new-born daughter Gracie was diagnosed with a life-threatening disease requiring ongoing blood transfusions. The best option is a stem-cell transplant from a future sibling, a risky path fraught with moral implications and made more complicated by the difficult relationship Heather had with Gracie’s father.

The original Secret Policeman’s Ball in 1976 revolutionized thinking about charity fundraising. Published to celebrate Amnesty International’s 50th anniversary, this illustrated collection includes scripts of the funniest moments from the 12 major shows, which have featured comedians including Python members, Peter Cook and Rowan Atkinson as well as stars such as Eddie Izzard, Dylan Moran and Victoria Wood.

Marseille’s wealthy merchants were strongly opposed to the influence of the French monarchy, which saw the port’s commerce with the Ottoman Empire as central to the enrichment of the state. In her analysis of the period from 1660 to the plague of 1720, Takeda shows how the Crown co-opted the city’s traditions of civic virtue to extend its own power.

On Christmas Eve 1800 a bomb exploded on a crowded Paris street, killing several people and injuring many more. Its intended victim, Napoleon, escaped unharmed. Using first-hand accounts, trial transcripts and archival material, this book explains the background to the assassination attempt, profiles its royalist perpetrators, recreates the event, and follows the criminal investigation into this early terrorist attack.

Many rock stars become monuments to their youthful fame, but Thurston Moore has remained innovative. In this account of the guitarist’s career, friends and colleagues discuss his work from 1978 to the present, including Sonic Youth and his free jazz improvisations.

The former poet laureate tells the story of three generations of an artistic family: George, a leading Australian painter; Constant, a composer-conductor; and Kit, who managed rock group The Who. With cultural insights into topics ranging from revivalist art and classical music to post-war ballet and pop, this book depicts a family whose artistic urges were frequently undermined by internecine strife and self-destructive tendencies.

Dispelling the notion that dandyism can be defined as an extravagance of dress, and seeing it more as an art form, this social history explores its relationship to modernity and issues of identity. Through profiles of six 20th-century dandies, including the Duke of Windsor, Quentin Crisp and the film director Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Philip Mann shows how their dedication to style is linked intrinsically to their aesthetic values and attitudes.

A highly respected poet and editor, Mick Imlah (1956–2009) was noted for his critical pieces, whether writing on canonical figures, such as Anthony Trollope and WB Yeats, or in response to fellow poets and contemporaries. This volume brings together his essays on 40 writers, plus eight book reviews on topics as diverse as aviation and the social history of drink, and an interview from Oxford Poetry in 1983.

While the creation of international tribunals to try heads of state for crimes against humanity are usually hailed as new, breakthrough victories for human rights, this study argues that such trials have a long history. In cases from Charles I in 1649 to Charles Taylor, the former president of Liberia, in 2012, Laughland examines the constitutional issues raised by political trials and ‘special tribunals’, discussing the nature of the Prosecution and the often ignored Defence as well as procedural shortcomings.

After an introduction setting aspects of Futurism in the context of 20th-century art history, Umbro Apollonio presents an illustrated anthology of writings by the Italian Futurists. Dating from between 1909 and 1918 and beginning with FT Marinetti’s The Founding and Manifesto of Futurism (1909), the collection includes articles by Umberto Boccioni, Carlo Carrà, Giacomo Balla and Gino Severini. First published in 1970. Translation by Robert Brain, RW Flint et al. (1973).

The restaurateurs and cookery school owners Katie and Giancarlo Caldesi offer a collection of dishes inspired by their Italian travels, such as Roman Potato Gnocchi in a tomato sauce and Tuscan Linguine with Sausage and Kale Ragu. In addition to information about the origins of the featured recipes they explain how to make a variety of fresh pasta shapes and offer advice on flavour combinations.

Opened in 2019, the Wellcome Galleries at the Science Museum, London, bring together the personal collection of Henry Wellcome and the Museum’s own medical holdings to provide the world’s most extensive display of the history of medicine. Arranged in ten chapters that reflect the interests of the curators, the book covers topics including protheses, military medicine, iron lungs and psychiatry, and illustrates artefacts as diverse as moles’ feet amulets (to ward off cramp) and a 21st century athlete’s running blade.

Written by the veterinary surgeon and Shooting Times canine expert Tony Buckwell, this illustrated guide is suitable for both the novice and the experienced gundog owner. It looks at issues such as choosing a breeder and acquiring a healthy puppy with the right temperament, and also offers health advice, including recognizing and dealing with illnesses, reducing the risks of injury and disease, emergency first aid and senior care.

Studying prose and poetry from the Romantic and Victorian eras alongside recent ecological writings, Heidi Scott discusses how the 19th-century literary concepts of chaos and microcosm have been adopted into ecology’s scientific epistemology.

Matt Hayes is one of Britain's best-known anglers, through appearances on the Discovery Channel and contributions to the Angling Times. His photographs of the sport, and the fish, have been used in many publications and, in this guide, he describes his methods for creating compelling angling images, from taking a good 'trophy shot' on the river bank to creating atmosphere and drama in a variety of locations, and photographing fish underwater. Limited Edition. Off-mint.

Compiled by a leading figure in sports engineering, this analysis of sporting technology describes the historical development of equipment, from dimpled golf balls to spaghetti-strung tennis rackets and swimmers' bodysuits, and explores the latest innovations.

Taking the theme of the human body, the sometimes-provocative art in this exhibition catalogue includes installations, paintings and sculpture by 20th-century giants such as Duchamp and Magritte, as well as prominent contemporary artists including Rachel Whiteread and Sarah Lucas.

Charles Monro commanded divisions in France during the First World War and ordered the evacuation of Gallipoli in 1915 before being appointed Commander in Chief of India. This biography describes his contributions to the Army and the governance of the Empire.

The well connected and urbane Patrice des Moutis began putting his talent for mathematics to his advantage in the late 1950s, exploiting the French state-run Tiercé betting system so effectively that the rules were repeatedly changed to thwart him. This biography of the gambler reveals how dangerous underworld connections and allegations of illegal bookmaking and race fixing were increasingly catching up with him at the time of his apparent suicide in 1975.

When Nabokov arrived in America as a penniless exile in 1940, Wilson was an acclaimed writer and critic who became his mentor. This account examines their close friendship and describes how it soured after the success of Lolita in 1955 brought Nabokov worldwide fame. Slightly off-mint with felt-tip mark on lower trimmed edge.

This well-illustrated volume focuses on works from the Royal Collection to consider how the image of the artist – both in reality and in perception – has been developed, represented and mythologized over time. Self-portraits by influential artists including Dürer, Rubens, Rembrandt, Reynolds and Freud are examined thematically, alongside artworks created by their friends, relatives and pupils, including the most reliable surviving likeness of Leonardo Da Vinci by his student Francesco Melzi.

Saint George and the Dragon have captured the popular imagination for centuries, not least for their capacity to represent human power over adversity. This catalogue to a 2015–17 exhibition about the myth of Saint George, held in the Musée des Arts Contemporains in Hornu, Belgium, surveys drawings, icons, illuminations, paintings and sculpture of the saint, including those by Albrecht Dürer, Lewis Carroll and Andy Warhol, and features seven essays on his cultural legacy.

Exploring the significant role of Mexico and Mexican art in the formation of modernism in the USA, Landau looks in detail at the Mexican experiences of four major American artists: Isamu Noguchi, Philip Guston, Jackson Pollock and Robert Motherwell. The chapters on Noguchi and Guston focus on their social and political sympathies during the Depression era; on Pollock, Landau discusses his Mexican-related iconographic experiments in New York; and her study of Motherwell examines the influence of Surrealist expatriate circles.

The Victorian Liberal writer and economist Walter Bagehot (1826–77) never wrote an autobiography, so Frank Prochaska has provided one for him. Drawing on Bagehot’s Collected Works and his own extensive research, he has woven together this ‘faux memoir’, often in the subject’s own words, to present an intimate portrait of the author of The English Constitution, from his Somerset childhood to the failing health brought on by overwork.

In search of the inspiration behind the work of Bath’s celebrated architect, John Wood the Elder, Kirsten Elliott explores the myths of King Bladud, Stonehenge and Stanton Drew, before taking a ‘virtual walk’ around Bath to examine Wood’s architectural motifs. Slightly off-mint.

With excellent reproductions of 90 etchings, woodcuts, lithographs and drawings from the collection of European works on paper in the Art Gallery of New South Wales, this volume presents the work of more than 70 artists, from the Renaissance master Andrea Mantegna to Edgar Degas in the late 19th century. The book includes works by many of the great European masters, among them Dürer’s Melencolia (1512) and Little Devil’s Bridge (1809) by Turner, with substantial commentaries on every artist.

Federico Fellini received twelve Oscar nominations for the four feature films that he made during the 1960s, his iconic work helping to define the style of the era. This celebration of the decade in the director's oeuvre presents over 150 images, reproduced from the original negatives, of the making of all his films of the period, including La Dolce Vita and 8½, and also contains a series of essays discussing the movies and their influence. Off-mint.

Throughout history, humans have rebuilt settlements destroyed by earthquakes, so that today as many as 60 of the world’s largest cities lie in areas of major seismic activity. Robinson considers how we live with this risk and respond to its challenges: he identifies opportunities for post-disaster renewal and analyses the wider political and economic ramifications of earthquakes, with case studies ranging from the great uprising by ancient Sparta’s subject peoples to debates about nuclear power following the 2011 Fukushima meltdown.

These eight papers from the 30th Haskins Society annual conference include studies of the Norman conquest of Sicily; the ascetic practice of self-flagellation in 11th-century Italy and the life and musical work of Godric of Finchale.

In the 1960s and 1970s there were remarkable encounters between the most prominent French philosophers and contemporary artists, particularly members of the Narrative Figuration movement. Passages from critical texts arising from those encounters serve as the focus in each chapter of this illustrated study, which explores, among others, the meetings of Jean-Paul Sartre and Robert Lapoujade; Louis Althusser and Lucio Fanti; and Jacques Derrida and Valerio Adami.

Volume II covers the period from the French Revolution to Lindsey’s death in 1808, and reveals his central role in the formation of Unitarianism, and his involvement in movements for political and religious reform. No jacket.

Covering the period from 1747 to the eve of the French Revolution, the letters in this volume include both religious and political debate, and the emergence of a theologically distinct Unitarian denomination. No jacket.

Melissa J de Graaf tells the story of the Composers’ Forum, a free weekly concert series at which American composers such as Aaron Copland, Amy Beach and Henry Cowell introduced their work to a newly developing audience for modern music. She also analyses the transcripts of the question-and-answer sessions sponsored by the Forum: reflecting its inclusive, populist ideology, these conversations offer remarkable insights into New Yorkers’ diverse reactions to the music and their attitudes to modernism, politics and American identity.

In 1809, at the height of the struggle against Napoleon, Britain's Secretary of State for War, Lord Castlereagh, challenged the Foreign Secretary, George Canning, to a duel. The two men met on Putney Heath, and Canning was wounded in the thigh. Drawing on previously overlooked private papers, this detailed history examines the rivalry that led two eminent statesmen to risk their lives in the midst of a national emergency, and traces the far-reaching consequences of this bizarre incident.

In this first in-depth study and catalogue raisonné of the work of Ivor Roberts-Jones (1913–1996), the authors explore the career of this exceptional British sculptor in a number of essays, beginning with a biographical sketch. The essay topics include Roberts-Jones’s most familiar work, the statue of Winston Churchill that stands in Parliament Square; other portraits of Churchill in Oslo, New Orleans and Prague; and the portrait heads; while the catalogue illustrates and comments on over 156 works, with sketches and variants.

In the historic centre of Lisbon stands a chapel commissioned by King John V, which was entirely constructed in Rome during the 1740s before being transported and reassembled at the Church of São Roque. This study of the building features contributions from experts on its architecture and outstanding decoration – sculpture, painting and mosaics – in addition to information about its collections of books, metalwork and textiles.

Eva Sereny's career took off in 1970 when she was hired as a 'Special Photographer' on the set of Catch-22, breaking the glass ceiling in what was then a male-dominated industry. She progressed to working behind the scenes on many of the films that shaped late 20th-century American and European cinema and captured some of the greatest stars of the age, including Audrey Hepburn, Paul Newman and Elizabeth Taylor. This retrospective presents more than 100 rare images, interspersed with her memories and anecdotes.

Based on the historian Peter Kimpton’s collection of fashion postcards from Edwardian times, this well-illustrated guide documents the hat (and hatpin) fashions that defined that era and the designers – including Coco Chanel – who created them. The author also explores the darker side of the millinery industry, from the wholesale slaughter of exotic birds for their ornate feathers to the appalling conditions in the hat-making sweatshops of New York.

In words and photographs, Boris Friedewald traces the life of Salvador Dalí and the various incarnations of his moustache, from the art student dandy of the 1920s to the artist’s death in 1989; and he describes the afterlife of the moustache in popular culture and even haute couture.

Christopher Columbus’s illegitimate son Hernando Colón dreamed of creating a universal library to rival his father’s achievement by bringing order to the vast amount of information that was becoming available in the burgeoning age of print. This biography follows Hernando on travels with his father in the New World; on visits to the great European figures of the age; and on his quest to assemble, organize and catalogue an unprecedented collection of 15,000 books, ephemera, printed images and music.

Reflecting on the pursuit of literary biography, James Atlas recalls his childhood and early compulsion to study the lives of other writers, including the American poet Delmore Schwartz and the novelist Saul Bellow. He also reflects on the work of historical biographers, from Plutarch’s Lives to Boswell’s Samuel Johnson and Richard Holmes’s Coleridge, offering an insight into a profession that usually remains in the shadows.

During the 1980s, Tina Brown spent eight years in New York as editor-in-chief of Vanity Fair. Her diaries tell the inside story of rivalries, scoops and groundbreaking covers – from the Reagan kiss to a naked, pregnant Demi Moore – that helped the magazine sell millions.

Volume 1 introduces Alexander MacDonald, An Àirce and the Clan Campbell, then presents biographies of the 31 Campbells mentioned in the song, analysing the poet’s verdicts.

Volume 2 profiles the ‘Campbells of the Ark’ whose surname was not Campbell, followed by chapters on people named in other Gaelic poems and a detailed study of the Argyllshire Militia.

Guy Kennaway’s surprisingly funny memoir describes what happened after his mother asked him to help end her life. As he reflects on their subsequent conversations, he discusses the moral, legal, practical and emotional issues raised by assisted dying.

When a number of Roman graves with decapitated skeletons were discovered near York, the popular explanation was that heads were ritually removed after death to prevent ghosts returning to haunt the living. Katie Tucker, the human remains archaeologist at the site, analysed the burials and found no evidence to support that theory. Her in-depth study of the archaeological and osteological aspects of human decapitation burials, particularly the evidence for trauma in the skeletal remains, argues that decapitation was the cause of death.

Although German gas attacks on the battlefields of the First World War were greeted with horror, the Allies responded by developing their own chemical weapons. In America, laboratories began engaging in chemical weapon research, eventually amalgamating into the Chemical Warfare Service. This history of the organization brings together the key scientists, politicians and military personnel involved in its establishment, and describes the numerous logistical and ethical challenges they faced in deploying gas against the Germans. Off-mint with felt-tip mark on upper trimmed edge.

This collection adds some of the most eloquent voices of the age to the body of eyewitness evidence of the First World War. Drawn from the manuscript collection of the Bodleian Library in Oxford and covering the first two years of the conflict, from the front line to the Cabinet Office, the correspondents and diarists include Margot Asquith, Lewis Harcourt, TE Lawrence, WB Yeats and a young Harold Macmillan.

On a foggy morning in 1917, a large British mail ship travelling dangerously fast off the Isle of Wight collided with SS Mendi, a steamship carrying more than 600 members of the South African Native Labour Corps (SANLAC). The Mendi sank in 20 minutes, leaving few survivors. Drawing on recent archeological evidence from the wreck, the book reconsiders this terrible tragedy and tells the story of the SANLAC in the British war effort.

If much of the attention in Summer 1944 was on Normandy and the progress of the Allies through France, another enormous multinational army was also fighting doggedly further south and facing the last formidable barrier of German defensive positions, the Gothic Line, stretching from the Adriatic to the Mediterranean across mountainous northern Italy. This analysis of a year of fighting on the front tells the story through the varied experiences of 13 men and women from seven different countries.

In 1983 Justin Schmidt recorded the degree of pain he felt when stung by different venomous insects, resulting in the ‘Schmidt Pain Index’. With chapters on medicine, psychology, society, and the universe, this book examines 100 experiments, ranging from the peculiar (like Schmidt’s) to the groundbreaking (the creation of Dolly the sheep), and appraises their significance for practical science.

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.

The legacy of the English coaches who taught the world how to play football is preserved in the informal word for manager used in Italy, Spain and South America: ‘Mister’. From pioneers such as Fred Pentland and William Garbutt, who helped shape the Italian and Spanish game in the 1920s, to more recent exports, such as Roy Hodgson, this volume traces the history of England’s football missionaries.

Electrification is widespread in the southern countries of Europe and the locomotives in use are often built by local manufacturers, such as Škoda in the Czech Republic and Ansaldo Breda in Italy. The photographs in this collection range from Southern France, Spain and Portugal to former Eastern bloc states including Romania and Ukraine.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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’.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

This collection of 39 tales of expeditions celebrates the spirit of exploration in the 21st century. Covering seven different terrains and with a final section looking at lost civilizations, these illustrated accounts, most of which are first-hand, include stories of skiing solo to the South Pole, crossing the deserts of Egypt on foot, and seeking out the long-sought source of the Mekong River.

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’.

Ever since Beau Brummell strutted onto the scene in 1799, the Dandy has been an enduring icon of British culture. This illustrated history of characters including Lord Byron, Oscar Wilde, Noël Coward and the Chaps of the 21st century collects anecdotes, correspondence, speeches and articles to look beyond the finery and wit of Dandies and examine their place in Britain’s history.

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.