Northumberland is the ‘Land of the Far Horizon’ and England’s most northerly county. It was once a place of industrial innovation and manufacturing, literally fuelled by the coal brought up from its depths. Now Northumberland is a quieter place, loved by residents and visitors alike for its rolling hills and long, sandy beaches, as well as its charming towns and villages.
With this book in hand, meet Grace Darling, a Victorian heroine who took to storm-tossed seas to help rescue survivors of a terrible shipwreck; visit Amble, the ‘Friendliest Port’, and discover its connection to the Mauretania, once the fastest passenger ship to sail the Atlantic; and take in Turner’s View, an atmospheric stretch of coastline that was a lifelong inspiration to Britain’s greatest landscape painter.
You can also take a walk to the top of Cheviot, the county’s highest mountain and what was once a massive and very active volcano; and then top it off in the tranquil setting of St Cuthbert’s Island, where the eponymous saint went to get away from the strangely hectic whirl of monastic life.
Written by a proud northerner, this book will help you discover the more offbeat corners of Northumberland, and appreciate its many treasures.
An History of Richmondshire (1819–23) is the only part to be published of the largest commission ever received by Turner. Originally intended to count 120 drawings for a General History of the County of York by the well-known historian Thomas Dunham Whitaker, it was cut short owing to the death of the author and the spiralling costs. Nevertheless, Turner produced some of his finest work for the project, and the finished engravings demonstrate how his topographical art took landscape painting and illustration to new heights, and guaranteed his popular fame.
All 20 prints are reproduced here, at approximately three-quarters of the size of the originals. This is the first time they have been published together since the 19th century.
John Constable (1776–1837) is England’s best-loved landscape painter, and the familiarity of his images can disguise how revolutionary he really was. His passionate concentration on the truth of the natural world influenced not just other painters but the whole course of romanticism, and the spontaneity and energy of his vision and technique remain as fresh today as ever.
It was a long journey for this sensitive, not very sociable man, a journey whose fascinating twists and turns we can trace through his many vivid letters, where Constable shared his developing ideas and practice with a small group of friends and patrons. To read his letters today is to gain unparalleled insight into a pioneering creative mind. For the first time, these letters have now been selected and arranged into chronological order to create a coherent narrative. The editor is the leading expert on Constable, Anne Lyles, and she has also written an extensive introduction.
Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775–1851) is without contest England’s greatest painter – as his contemporaries were quick to admit, even when they could not understand his increasingly abstract art. Yet, despite achieving fame young, the man himself was so intensely private as to be almost unknown. Both brusque and kindly, tight-fisted and generous, taciturn and witty company, he remained a fascinating enigma and source of many legends.
Soon after Turner’s death the journalist, critic and novelist Walter Thornbury began collecting anecdotes from friends and colleagues. The resulting biography provides most of what we know about Turner. It is unfailingly energetic and entertaining – but also ill-organized and prolix. In this edition, the scholar Ian Warrell has arranged Thornbury’s most illuminating passages into a compact, coherent narrative of the painter’s life.
Unfailingly vivid and thought-provoking, and with nearly 100 pages of color illustrations, this is the first stop on any exploration of Turner’s life and career.
Viewed from a satellite at night, the Peak District National Park appears as an island of darkness, surrounded by the streetlights of northern England’s industrial cities. From these cities come many of the park’s visitors, drawn to one of the most loved and most visited National Parks in the world, often treating it as their own personal playground. This book guides you to 111 Places in the Peak District That You Shouldn’t Miss and includes 11 carefully selected walks to help you explore them on foot. Alongside familiar highlights, it uncovers offbeat, surprising and unusual sites that even regular visitors may have overlooked or never heard of. From the gentle limestone dales of the White Peak to the dramatic edges and rugged moorland of the gritstone Dark Peak, the scenery is wonderfully varied. Stone-built villages, prehistoric remains and traces of early industry add further depth. Join us as we explore the lesser-known corners of Britain’s original National Park in the expert company of the man known as Mr Peak District.
For more than 4,500 years people have been drawn to a windswept plain at the heart of southern England where a circle of vast upright stones topped with massive lintels stands. Yet Stonehenge – probably the most famous prehistoric monument in the world – remains mysterious.
Today, nearly one and a half million people a year come from across the world to see for themselves this silent icon of the ancient past. But what do we really know about the people who built it, why they did so, and what they did here among the stones? In the 18th century stories of Druids, of sacrifices and pagan worship emerged in the silence. How has our understanding of this complex site changed since then?
Through spectacular new photography, historic images, artworks and a remarkable new reconstruction drawing, Susan Greaney tells the story of Stonehenge, its builders and the people whose lives have been touched by this awe-inspiring monument from earliest times to the present day.
Cheshire is one of England’s most stylish and elegant counties, a land of picture-postcard villages, rolling countryside and captivating river views. Perfectly placed between Wales, Manchester and the Peak District, it is the gateway to the North-West. Though it has little traditional coastline, the sweeping estuaries of the Dee and Mersey give it an unexpectedly long sea edge, while its landscapes stretch from fertile plains to upland fringes. At its heart lies Chester, a historic gem with Roman ruins and the longest city walls in Britain. Across the county you’ll find grand estates such as Lyme Park and Tatton Park, the awe-inspiring radio telescope at Jodrell Bank and some of the country’s most striking streets. Cheshire also delights with its quirks and secrets: the home of the Cheshire Cat, mystical mines at Alderley Edge, the nation’s oldest racecourse, vast wartime shelters and intriguing modern legends. This guide reveals a county that is endlessly surprising, rich in stories and full of unmissable places.
The Italianate villa, Chakrabongse House was built almost 120 years ago on the east bank of the Chao Phraya River with magnificent views to Wat Kalaya, the Wichai Prasit fort and Wat Arun. It was commissioned by Prince Chakrabongse and his wife Katya as a private retreat from their main residence Paruskavan Palace. Designed by Turin-born architect Mario Tamagno, the tall villa with its beautiful teak staircase and panelling has accumulated paintings and works of art from three generations of the Chakrabongse family. Prince Chula who inherited the house after the sudden death of his father in 1920 never lived here full time. Educated in England, the prince’s plans to spend more time in Bangkok were foiled by the Second World War. Instead he lived in Cornwall, while the house in Bangkok was well maintained but somewhat unloved. It was only when Narisa, who inherited the house on the death of her parents, that creating a home full of antiques, paintings and memories began.
In A House by the River Narisa takes the reader through her home, pointing out some important features and the precious items it contains. She also recounts the stories, happy and sad, of the people who stayed here – Prince Chakrabongse, Prince Chula, Lisba and now Narisa and Gee. She also explains why she started her publishing company and opened the boutique hotel, Chakrabongse Villas.
If you really want to get to know Washington, DC, you have to go out and get walking. Beyond the bounty of the National Mall and well-known historic sites, DC is a vibrant city full of unusual places, stories, and experiences that both avid and casual urban explorers will want to seek out.
DC insiders and adventurers Paige Muller and Andrea Seiger take you on 22 self-guided walks that blend the city’s rich history and vibrant culture, with some dishy tidbits thrown in for good measure. You’ll discover lesser-known facts behind popular icons and uncover wonderful spots, often hiding in plain sight.
There is a secret royal connection that lurks in an upper Northwest neighborhood, and a historic building that stands in for the White House in multiple Hollywood movies. See if you can spot the hidden graffiti on a well-known memorial. Discover what inspired Kate Winslet’s famous pose on the Titanic’s bow. And find out all about the Civil War officer whose missing leg is allegedly entombed in a wall.
In the 1910s and 1920s the unique landscape of the chalk downs of southern England began to exert a new fascination on writers, historians, archaeologists and artists. Modernists such as Paul and John Nash, Eric Ravilious and William Nicholson immersed themselves in exploring these enigmatic, ancient places. The stark, rolling forms of the downs suited the modern aesthetic, offering a place where prehistory and modernity could converge.
With the growing political tensions of the 1930s, this modern engagement with ancient landscape took on a symbolism that still resonates. Images of Britain evolved as the downs became both symbols of wartime vulnerability and resilience and the site of machine gun emplacements and crashed aeroplanes.
Ancient Landscape, Modern Times investigates this extraordinary collision of ancient and modern, idea and place, and the network of artists who worked and lived on the chalk. Ninety-nine plates of paintings, watercolors, prints and photographs are accompanied by texts written by leading art historians James Russell and Chris Stephens.
111 Places in the Cotswolds reveals an England of rolling hills, gurgling streams, timeless villages and unexpected stories. Which place did William Morris call “Heaven on Earth”? Where can you channel Provence in summer? Where are stones said to be petrified geese, and which hill is home to 18 species of rare orchid? Awarded Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty status, the Cotswolds are celebrated for their landscapes — but their true charm lies in the human history scattered across them. From Neolithic standing stones and Roman mosaics to farms harvesting nature’s best produce and villages that have barely changed in centuries, this guide uncovers the places and people that have added to the region’s allure. With 111 surprises, legends and historic discoveries at every turn, no day exploring the Cotswolds is ever without something amazing — or, at the very least, a very decent pub lunch.
The Classicist is an annual journal dedicated to the classical tradition in architecture and the allied arts. Focused on the Rocky Mountain region of the United States, the Classicist No. 23 explores the region’s rich architectural history; contemporary examples of classical design through professional and student portfolios; and academic articles authored by leaders within the field.
This scholarly volume explores the evolution and artistic significance of human figures and faces in historical and prehistorical Chinese jade. The fruit of an extraordinary collection of artifacts, assembled over several decades, Jade People: The Human Figure and Faces in Chinese Jade over More Than 7,000 Years showcases Chinese jade working dating back millennia, focusing on representations of the human figure in 3D, in relief and in cutout silhouette form. Portrayals of the human form have featured among the principal drivers of artistic expression throughout history, with China being no exception to this shared spirit of sculptural exploration, as the amazing historical development of Chinese jade-working skills makes clear in these pages.
The well-preserved jade artifacts presented here include prehistoric works from before the Shang Dynasty and are accurately dated thanks to carbon dating of buried organic matter and skeletal remains, providing us with a continuous timeline from ancient times to the present. From leading expert Angus Forsyth, this is an important guide to the history of human images in China’s jade artifacts.
“Good evening. I’m from Essex, in case you couldn’t tell.” Thus spoke the inimitable punk poet of the flat lands, Ian Dury, in 1977. Few other parts of England have so distinctive an identity, sent up by a hundred comedians since the 1990 birth of Essex Man, epitomized by the rise of the ‘Mockney’ radio celeb, and incarcerated through their hideous offspring in TV’s The Only Way is Essex. It’s not just an accent, it’s a way of life, a culture shaped by the Diaspora from London generation after generation, the lure of the sea and powerful Thames estuary, the encroaching of the waters from innumerable creeks and inlets, the dream seaside resort of Southend, the longing for the most succulent of seafood indulgences, the delicious countryside of copses and boughs painted by Constable, but also the threat of invasion by hostile forces repelled by Britain’s most formidable forts. It’s Essex. You can tell.
This is the first book to shine a spotlight on a remarkable group of British women who, in the first half of the 20th century, mastered the art of color woodcuts in the Japanese tradition. Inspired by masters like Hokusai and Hiroshige, these women broke new ground by designing, cutting, and printing their own works – a bold departure from the traditional reliance on teams of skilled craftsmen. Although the process was demanding, little was required in the way of equipment which enabled women to pursue the craft at home, bringing the craft into the modern age. This book uncovers a neglected chapter of art history – a story of creativity, resilience, and innovation – bringing to life the challenges and triumphs of women who carved out their own artistic paths.