“A page turner, even for those familiar with the subject…The surprising truth that emerges is no less human, and no less revealing about the Victorians than the myths; on the contrary it gives a far more compelling insight into what relationships, family and money really mean.” — Country Life
“Ruskin’s marriage was doomed from the start, but not for the reason most people think, argues this well-researched book.” — The Times
Effie Gray was an innocent victim of a male-dominated society, repressed and mistreated. Or was she? John Ruskin, the greatest art critic and social reformer of his time, was a callous misogynist and upholder of the patriarchy. Or was he? John Everett Millais, boy genius, rescued the heroine from the tyrannical clutches of the husband who left his wedding unconsummated for six years. Or did he? What really happened in the most scandalous love triangle of the 19th century? Was it all about impotence and pubic hair? Or was it about money, power and freedom? If so, whose? And what possibilities were there for these young people caught in a world racked by social, financial and political turmoil? The accepted story of the Ruskin marriage has never lost its fascination. History books, novels, television series, operas and now a star-filled film by Emma Thompson (to be released in 2013) have all followed this standard line. It seems to offer an easy take on the Victorians and how we have moved on. But the story isn’t true.
In Marriage of Inconvenience Robert Brownell uses extensive documentary evidence – much of it never seen before, and much of it hitherto suppressed – to reveal a story no less fascinating and human, no less illuminating about the Victorians and far more instructive about our own times, than the myths that have grown up about the most notorious marriage of the 19th century.
In 1975 Abram Games, one of Britain’s greatest graphic designers, was commissioned to make a fund-raising poster for the Royal Shakespeare Company. His brilliant solution was to become iconic: the face of Shakespeare built up from the titles of all the plays as they appear in the First Folio.
The poster has been seen all over the world; but Abram Games intended much more. After his death, his daughter Naomi discovered a mock up he had made of a flick book. As the reader flicked the pages, Games planned to make Shakespeare’s face gradually emerge.
Now at last Games’ original project is coming to life. All 37 plays are included, in the order they are printed in the First Folio of 1623, ending with Pericles, Prince of Tyre, added to the collection in the Third Folio of 1664. At the end, the playwright makes a graceful exit, marked by the poems and the lost or doubtful plays. The book is completed with some favorite quotations, and the date of each work. Naomi Games has written a brief introduction about the history of Games’ image.
California Locos brings together over 40 years of LA culture, presented through the eyes and hands of the artists who shaped it. Featuring three generations of legendary LA artists, this book chronicles the life and work of the five original locos, Chaz Bojórquez, Dave Tourjé, John Van Hamersveld, Norton Wisdom and Gary Wong, and expands this core membership to include works by Mister Cartoon, Shepard Fairey, Estevan Oriol, Retna, OG Slick and many others. Surf and skate culture, street art, tattoo, street photography, graphic design and music come together on over 432 pages to celebrate Los Angeles in all its exuberant diversity and raw grittiness. Being a LOCO means being crazy about life, being creative, rebellious and open-minded to the ethnic and cultural diversities of our city and the world. LOCOS is a movement and embodies the innovation, multiculturalism and rebellious.
The mountains have always fascinated people. When you think of a mountain vacation you immediately think of hiking, skiing, cross-country skiing, climbing, etc., but there are plenty of other disciplines to discover that you can practice while overlooking magnificent mountain scenery! Jurgen Groenwals, editor-in-chief of 100%Snow and 100%Trails, guides you through the rich array of mountain sports, and in the meantime lets you discover the twenty most beautiful – known and less known – mountain villages and valleys in Europe.
“The magnificent photos invite you to enjoy the luxurious ambience, the views and the very special flair and to let the constant rattling of the train wheels carry you to distant lands.” — Lovely Books
“Hopefully history’s extravagant chariots serve as inspiration for the trains of the future. Newly published book Luxury Trains is full of elegant examples of how to travel in real style.” — Hoom Magazine
“Transports you back ot the golden age of travel, with pictures of 25 of the most elegant trains in the world.” — Good Housekeeping UK
Luxury trains have always fascinated and excited our imaginations. A great source of style, romance and exoticism, they have long held starring roles in literature and in Hollywood movies. This wonderful book evokes long-lost days of travel, where trains marked international railway history, from the Orient Express to the Train Bleu. Today, train companies around the world are creating new palaces on rails and these pages offer a journey into that extravagant and luxurious world.
Whether comfortably seated in the restaurant car of the Venice Simplon – Orient-Express as you glide past the Venetian Lagoon, traveling through the Highlands of Scotland on the famed Royal Scotsman, or admiring the ancient splendors of Machu Picchu at the Hiram Bingham bar aboard the Andean Explorer, this book traverses the globe in celebration of these wonderful locomotives. A superb gift for the travel enthusiast and anyone interested in the decadent features of these trains.
Love is one of the most difficult things to photograph, yet this anthology of moving, unexpected images captures the heart of what it means to know and love another. From first love to lost love, these intimate portraits express the tenderness and vulnerability, passion and patience of this powerful emotion. Challenging our perceptions of relationships in the 21st century, this joyful celebration of love beautifully depicts the deep connections between partners of all genders, between friends, siblings, parents and children, and communities.
October 21, 1982. Three singers stand on the steps of the High Court with large cheques and broken dreams. The women are Annie (Annabel Leventon, the book’s author), GB (Gaye Brown), and Di-Di (Diane Langton). Their dream was of a British three-woman rock band, unique and different from anything that had gone before. They called themselves Rock Bottom. They were raunchy, rude and hilarious – the contemporary media described them as ‘a cross between the female Rolling Stones and the female Marx Brothers’ – and they nearly made it.
Until Thames Television stole everything and made a major award-winning series called Rock Follies, about them, based on them, but without them. It made stars of the three lookalikes playing them. And they lost everything.
A common enough tale of showbiz betrayal. Except that they fought back. At the offset of the Court trial, the Head of Drama at Thames TV sarcastically quipped, ‘three little actresses against the might of EMI?’ Forget it, the three ladies were told. Move on. They didn’t. They took the case to the High Court and won. Breach of Confidence is now on the Statute Books and it has become one of the defining cases in Intellectual Property.
The Real Rock Follies is a real-life story of youthful trust betrayed, dreams of stardom dashed and cruel lessons learnt. The three girls, then in their late twenties, learned too late that in the harsh showbiz world you can hardly trust anyone, not even your friends. However, despite everything, they got the last laugh. Their promising career couldn’t be returned to them but they enjoyed the huge satisfaction (both emotional and financial) that the ruling confirmed that the creative concept behind Rock Follies was fully theirs.
“Dachshunds, debutantes and Donald Trump: capturing the glitzy, bizarre world of 80s high society.” — The Guardian on Saturday Magazine
“Through these varying shades of grey, Jones was able to capture the pomp and grandeur of 1990s New York.” — Air Magazine
“British photographer Dafydd Jones documented New York’s upper class in the 1990s. His photo book “High Life, Low Life” is a testimony to a time lost in dreams.” — Die Welt Germany
“The renowned photographer, known for his images of debauchery at Oxford University, has released a new book of his time among East Coast socialites.” — The Times UK
“Dark, glamorous and hedonistic…captures New York in the 1990s.” — Wallpaper*
‘In England, I’d become too well-known as a Tatler photographer. It was wonderful to be invisible again.’
At the end of the 1980s, society photographer Dafydd Jones began a new life in New York. He had been hired by Vanity Fair to attend the most talked-about parties in the city and soon found himself descending into a world of human tableaux, ladies who lunch, princesses in powder rooms and dachshunds scrapping over canapés. Camera at the ready, Jones quickly filled the society pages of the illustrious magazine, snapping the likes of Leona Helmsley, Donald Trump, Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell and Imelda Marcos as they celebrated, mourned and unravelled in the bright lights. During the day, he captured the city streets and the ordinary citizens grounded in the real world. In these pages, the author of England: The Last Hurrah reveals the story of New York, the highs and the lows, as the ’90s unfolded in front of his expert lens.
‘Mr. Jones goes about his business with cheery zest and a wicked eye.’ – New York Times, 1993
“The RSN has worked on regalia for every Coronation since 1902, when Edward VII was crowned, and most recently designed and embroidered the robes of state for their Coronation last year. Its patron, Queen Camilla, has written a charming foreword to this beautifully illustrated book.” — The Lady
“Bees, butterflies, beetles and 24 different plants – the astonishing sewing secrets behind the gorgeous Coronation robes of the King and Queen.” — The Mail Online
Many initiatives to support women were begun in the late 1800s, but the Royal School of Needlework (RSN) is one of the few that remain. This initiative was born from the desire of three women – Princess Helena, Lady Victoria Welby and Lady Marian Alford – to popularize the lost art of ornamental needlework and place it on a par with other decorative arts, such as painting and sculpture. Their other, yet no less important goal was to provide employment for women compelled to earn their own livelihood. Though women are no longer so limited in occupational options, the RSN has been keeping traditional embroidery techniques alive for a century and a half.
An Unbroken Thread tells the story from the RSN’s founding in 1872 to the current day. It highlights key people, royal and other special commissions, the changing fortunes of the school as fashions changed and the approach to teaching hand embroidery, as well as bringing attention to the role and position of the RSN historically and today, associating with everyone from society ladies and theater impresarios in the late 19th century to working with fashion designers Patrick Grant, Nicholas Oakwell and Alexander McQueen, and architects in the 21st century.
First published to coincide with the RSN’s 150th anniversary, this revised edition details the most recent projects worked by the RSN, showcasing their skilful work on regalia for the coronation of Their Majesties King Charles III and Queen Camilla – The King’s Robe of State, The Queen’s Robe of Estate, The Anointing Screen, The Stole Royal and Girdle, The Chairs of Estate and The Chairs of State.
Antoine Leperlier (b. 1953) is a trained visual artist and painter. He has been working as a freelance glass artist since the 1980s, developing his own glass technique based on casting and the lost-wax technique to create large-format translucent and painterly blocks.
In this survey of work spanning more than 40 years, skulls float, snakes are frozen alive, and what looks like abstract watercolors are preserved forever. Time stands still, the universe speaks. His works explore transience and memory, past and future; he stops time, makes moments eternal. Enamel and ceramic inclusions, bubbles, colors, and engravings create colorful, expressive worlds reminiscent of organic forms floating in outer space. This endeavor to capture dynamic images in material form is an approach unique in contemporary glass art.
Text in English and French.
The history of wine production in Greece dates back more than four millennia, yet for many consumers and aficionados Greek wine is still synonymous with the retsina they drank in tavernas as tourists. Here, Master of Wine Konstantinos Lazarakis argues that to dismiss Greek wine in this way today is to miss out on an array of varied and vibrant wines – even retsina, in the hands of boutique producers, has become a drink worthy of a second chance.
From the foothills of Mount Olympus to the plain of Thessaly in Central Greece and scattered across the vast number of islands, each of Greece’s vineyards has its own challenges, history and varieties. Yet terroir, in Greece, goes far beyond soil-types and weather conditions – it emanates from the culture of the country and the spirit of a people whose ancestors even had a god for wine.
The wines of Greece begins with a summary of Greece’s wine history, geography and grape varieties. The many responses of vine growers and winemakers to the land have created a host of different wines – sweet wines from Samos, the famed Malvasia from the Peloponnese and new, surprising wines from oenological innovators throughout the country. It is to the work of these winemakers that the bulk of the book is dedicated; Lazarakis has tirelessly explored Greece’s 700 wineries and here focuses on some of the most inventive producers and interesting wines available.
Greek wine is on the brink of a new era; anybody curious to rediscover a lost gem of winemaking will have their enthusiasm charged by this lovingly written book.
Georgia has for the last 25 years been resurrecting its unique winemaking tradition and rediscovering the distinctiveness of its native varieties. A handful of producers in 1997 has now exploded to more than 1,300. Wine is arguably more important to Georgia than to any other country and its people firmly believe their country to be the birthplace of wine. Yet Georgian wines are still largely unknown in the West.
Lisa Granik, who began visiting Georgia 30 years ago, starts The Wines of Georgia with a brisk tour through the history of the country and analysis of its complex geology, before moving on to consider Georgian wine culture. She explains not only winemaking methods and viticulture but also the centrality of wine to Georgian culture. Georgia can claim more than 400 native Vitis vinifera varieties; here Granik profiles the most commonly planted grapes, as well as the many ‘lost’ varieties being revived. The second half of the book details each of the major regions. Of Georgia’s 20 PDOs, 15 are in the east, in Kakheti. With a history of wine education dating back 900 years, this prolific winemaking region is home to the qvevri, the conical clay vessel that for many represents Georgian winemaking. Stretching west, the regions become more sparsely populated; some places are still pioneer wine territory, with more amateur and self-taught winemakers. Granik provides details on the most significant producers, along with tips on sites of interest and places to eat and stay, for those visiting the country. This definitive book on Georgian wine is an essential text for anybody studying or making wine today.
When a city is pursuing high-speed development and putting massive infrastructure into construction and operation to enable rapid economic growth and efficient urban operation, it will see, quite possibly, increasingly scarce land and resources. And much of its space for people and life lost to economic development, and worse still, the degradation of the environment and the loss of nature… This disequilibrium has set us thinking: what is exactly the purpose of development? Or is it a choice that’s simply not worth making?
This book includes the research and design project “Shenzhen 2030: Balance is More” by Doreen Heng Liu with NODE Architecture & Urbanism at an invitation to Audi Urban Future Award 2012, as well as interviews and articles by experts and scholars in the field of architecture and urbanism. This project, which takes transportation infrastructures as the object of research and design, attempts to reinterpret, deconstruct and reconstruct Shenzhen’s highly efficient urban roads through an interdisciplinary approach. By establishing new supporting systems and reorganizing urban mobility, it tries to leave more possibilities of “leisure” for people and life within limited space and redefine a new balance between economy, society, and environment – a balance that sustains and brings more.
Text in English and Chinese.
“You can be as smart as Einstein, but if you fail to direct your attention to what is important, then what good is that high IQ? People who are focused are more alert, experience less stress, and worry less. Unfortunately, focus has become a rare commodity: our attention span has dramatically decreased over the past decades.” – Elke Geraerts
How many times have you been distracted today from what you actually wanted to do? We live in a world of constant connectivity, where distraction lurks around every corner. Our endless to-do lists and packed schedules are a merciless reflection of what’s going on in our minds: we are constantly in overdrive, and our focus is completely lost. No wonder stress and burnout rates are at an all-time high. Despite the fact that we now know more than ever what we need to remain resilient and healthy, our overstimulated brain seems unable to handle all that knowledge, let alone put it into practice. Ten years after her bestseller Better Minds, Elke Geraerts presents a book tailored to a generation without attention. She combines powerful insights with practical tools that can be implemented immediately. Her goal? Sharpening our focus again. Not only by making us work more efficiently and attentively but also – and especially – by teaching us to deliberately unfocus. Are you ready for a mental revolution?
Sculptures of Stones by Ronny Delrue depict female statues that are either made of bricks or covered with masonry-like patterns. They form a critical riposte to the heroic male statues of former leaders that are scattered around our cities. Furthermore, the forms also broaden our prior knowledge of the depiction of figures in the public sphere. Sculptures of Stones shows drawing to be a form of spontaneous expression. It offers an alternative to the all-pervasive means of instant communication that govern the world today, namely digital tools and social media systems. Delrue’s drawings are both action and representation. Unlike the electronic devices, a drawing redeems the option of an unmediated, direct action and reflection in and on the world. It re-positions the function of the artist as a free, sovereign subject, who touches the world and is ready to participate and influence history.
English, Dutch and French.
In recent years, photographer Bieke Depoorter developed an overriding interest in astronomy. She sought out amateur stargazers, visited state-of-the-art observatories and researched the history of the field. Gradually, it became clear that her interest in astronomy was linked to lost memories from her past. After all, the night sky is a kind of shared memory; the light of celestial bodies takes hundreds, thousands or millions of (light) years to reach our eyes on earth. In Blinked Myself Awake, photographer Bieke Depoorter explores the power and fragility of memory, the human desire for objectivity and the elusive nature of ‘truth’. She does this by interweaving photographs of amateur and professional stargazers, diary-inspired texts and fragments of astronomical history, in which often-forgotten female astronomers play a role.
During the German occupation, a Jewish Dutch couple had to sell a painting to go into hiding. Their daughters were placed in a children’s home, but were rounded up in early 1944 and deported to Auschwitz, where they died. The parents survived the war and did not discover their children’s fate until 1946. The search for the painting also remained fruitless for a long time, until Origins Unknown Agency discovered that it had ended up in a German museum. The museum had previously tried unsuccessfully to trace its provenance. Thanks to the Origins Unknown Agency, the heirs of the original owner were found. The German museum and the heirs agreed that the painting, an 1882 work by Camille Pissarro, would remain at the museum. As part of the compensation, the painting will be kept on display from November 2024 to February 2025 at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.
Over the course of a year, Brian Rose set out to photograph all the neighborhoods at the ends of the subway lines in New York City. He had multiple reasons for engaging in such a project, but the strongest was the desire to portray New York as a highly diverse, multi-centered metropolis. Having spent a major part of his career photographing the city through often challenging times – the dichotomy of destruction and creativity of the 1980s, the mortal wounding of 9/11, and the suspended animation of the Covid-19 pandemic – Rose was perhaps uniquely equipped to document the city at this moment of political uncertainty under the increased strain of new arrivals, many of whom are refugees from around the world. For a new generation of New Yorkers, the trains roll on ceaselessly, and despite the title, Last Stop is not so much about endings as it is about reinvention.
Life is always winking at us, calling our attention to the beauty hidden in plain sight. And yet, we often miss what’s right in front of our noses, either lost in thought or tethered to never-ending to-do lists. This is a handbook for anyone who feels some of the shine has worn off their daily life and wants to reconnect with the beauty hidden in plain sight. In this exquisite collection of photographs, poems and creative invitations, we are reminded that we don’t need to wait for miracles to be astonished. Wonder is a state of mind, available to us every day of our lives.
From Nigel Grierson, (photographer/sleeve designer and joint creator of the 4AD visual identity), and with an essay by esteemed photography writer, Gerry Badger, comes the first volume of his street photography from the early 1980s – created while studying at The Royal College of Art in London. Here ‘the decisive moment’ combined with Grierson’s uniquely minimalist eye, are employed to create images of great power, humor and poignancy. Pioneering ‘flash in daylight’ within British documentary photography from the late 1970s, onward (‘a time when natural light was almost a creed’ – Badger), this award winning work, is finally published. In his brief introduction, Grierson speaks of his fascination for the ‘paradoxical’ nature of the medium, being both documentation and self expression simultaneously. He states, ‘It seemed to me, that through photography and observation, there was the possibility, for the two great arcs of life; one of the outer world of reality / documentation, and the other of the inner world of fiction and dream, to come together with the single click of a shutter’.
With Road Work, Andrew Holmes continues his pilgrimage through the seductive litter of modern life. Cities are conventionally viewed as static objects, but a third of Los Angeles is on the move; it is a kaleidoscope trapped in a grid, where what you see is what you drive past. Road Work presents 500 of Andrew Holmes’ Los Angeles Polaroids, capturing the machines that deliver people and goods to different parts of the city each day. These vehicles are seen at the airport, at a truck stop, always in a parking bay, set classically against azure skies, frozen like statues in a Renaissance garden. Everything has equal status. Nothing transgresses the grid. The work is even, chrome and rust are its soul. Along with commentaries by David Greene and Holmes himself, Road Work includes lyrics by Chuck Berry and others, and extracts from a variety of road novelists and writers.
It’s easy to fall in love with the Hamptons. Charming towns, pristine beaches – and that luminous light cherished by locals and generations of beach lovers. While it’s famous for its magnificent mansions and coiffed hedges, there is so much more here to than meets the eye. Come find the hidden secrets of the Hamptons waiting to be discovered with 111 Places in the Hamptons That You Must Not Miss. Hang ten at a secret surfers’ beach. See the studio where artist Jackson Pollock painted his masterpieces. Get lost in a field of lavender. Visit a haunted lighthouse. Ride a horse along a secluded beach. Take a stroll in the graveyard where Picasso’s forgotten muse is buried. From wood-shingled windmills to hydrangea-rimmed roads. White, sandy beaches – to calm, bayside views. These places of nature, history, art, and delightful quirkiness are the very reasons why the East End of Long Island has become one of the most beloved travel destinations in the world.
An exciting new historical novel.
Every so often a long-lost manuscript from the dusty shelves of an obscure archive to challenge our entrenched views of former times, far-off places, exotic peoples. Such a lucky find by a pair of Bangkok-based expats forms the subject of this book, a work of historical fiction. Binding the tattered tapestry of fact with filaments of fiction, this book brings to life the dramatic events of a near forgotten place and time of battles, subterfuge, and broken alliances in a manner that rivals classic histories of the past.
Live From My Studio is the first book to showcase the Art of Edie Baskin. The pioneering, 2x Emmy-nominated photographer and art director, created the signature look of a show that would transform television, popular culture and influence the people and events that have shaped our lives for 50 years. Her iconic hand-colored portraits of the stars of rock, screen, stage and television were a signature of the show, broadcast to tens of millions of homes every week, reflecting the show’s wit, charm and mischief, captivating generations while reviving a long-lost art form.