Is it to exalt the mountain or the climber that the mountain should be climbed? Or to gain a good vantage point for telling things, pace James Baldwin?
With its grottoes, terraces and fountains, the Villa d'Este has arguably the finest garden of the Italian Renaissance. Stunning photographs of both villa and garden, with a text by the direc... read more
There are only 1000 copies of this in existence, and they are all being sold through real bookshops rather than by online multinationals. Covering 75 years, it is an updated version of the 2... read more
The first was made in 1894, as a thirteen-year-old; the last in 1972. 170 drawings, paintings and photographs, some previously unpublished. Bonafoux has been working on this project for seve... read more
In one generation, the Mongols reshaped the balance of world power, aided by the internecine struggles of the Byzantines, Seljuks, Crusaders and others.
The history of the world through the lens of the family, from a group walking along a beach 950,000 years ago to Caesars, Medicis, Bonapartes, Krupps, Assads, etc.
Gorgeous story of a princess and her quest to restore joy and music to a grey realm; tales within tales reveal the evil enchantment. First published in 1969. Ages 7-10.
The title could pass off as a short story by M.R. James or as one of the exploits of Robert Louis Stevenson's little-known, rather Ruritanian sleuth called Prince Florizel. It is in fact a d... read more
Tangled, mossy, temperate rainforest still prevails in some valleys and creases of these isles - though it seems hard to imagine after these months of drought... And the author's name is of ... read more
How we might stabilise climate change and repair habitats and the environment, in consultation with geophysicists, oceanographers and meteorologists, engineers, economists, mathematicians, h... read more
Heaney's translations from Old and Middle Irish, Italian (both medieval and modern), classical Greek, Latin, Spanish, French, Romanian, German - and this is not a complete list. A staggerin... read more
CM has become the supreme chronicler of Italy under Mussolini. Indefatigable and brilliant, she turns her attention now to Mussolini's favourite and influential daughter, who married Count C... read more
Trust in the elusive and mysterious beast that is the British constitution relies on the decency of our politicians. As a nation, we have perhaps been complacent about the erosion of our his... read more
New translation of the 1936 bestselling Austrian novella in which a cavalry officer rides through Russian guns into a world of enchanted love... With a foreword, rather surprisingly, by Patt... read more
Portraits, tapestries, sculpture, armour, manuscripts and objects from this artistically cosmopolitan court: Flemish weavers, German painters, Florentine sculptors... all in the service of d... read more
Distils the ideas of half a dozen C20th conservative (small 'c') intellectuals. The imperfection of the Westminster parliamentary model, and democratic systems at large, was one of the few t... read more
When a woman is killed by a bus, Jack Reacher pursues the man who pushed her and stole her bag - and finds himself in a huge and complex web of corruption and danger. Beware the grey hoodie,... read more
Bold building with timber, even in tall structures: Ban, the Japanese architect who won the Pritzker prize in 2014, also uses paper, adobe and other sustainable materials in innovative ways.... read more