First ever critical study of Tolkien`s little-known essay, which reveals how language invention shaped the creation of Middle-earth & beyond, to George R R Martin`s Game of Thrones. J.R.R. Tolkien`s linguistic invention was a fundamental part of his artistic output, to the extent that later on in life he attributed the existence of his mythology to the desire to give his languages a home & peoples to speak them. As Tolkien puts it in `A Secret Vice`, `the making of language & mythology are related functions”. In the 1930s, Tolkien composed & delivered two lectures, in which he explored these two key elements of his sub-creative methodology. The second of these, the seminal Andrew Lang Lecture for 1938-9, ` On Fairy-Stories`, which he delivered at the University of St Andrews in Scotl&, is well known. But many years before, in 1931, Tolkien gave a talk to a literary society entitled `A Hobby for the Home`, where he unveiled for the first time to a listening public the art that he had both himself encountered & been involved with since his earliest childhood: `the construction of imaginary languages in full or outline for amusement`. This talk would be edited by Christopher Tolkien for inclusion as `A Secret Vice` in The Monsters & the Critics & Other Essays & serves as the principal exposition of Tolkien`s art of inventing languages. This new critical edition, which

Includes:: previously unpublished notes & drafts by Tolkien connected with the essay, including his ` Essay on Phonetic Symbolism`, goes some way towards re-opening the debate on the importance of linguistic invention in Tolkien`s mythology & the role of imaginary languages in fantasy literature.

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The United Kingdom`s domestic counter-intelligence & security agency, most commonly known as MI5, was founded in 1909 by Sir Vernon Kell KBE. Kell (`K` within the agency) not only founded MI5 but was also its Director for 31 years, the longest tenure of any head of a British government department during the twentieth century. Kell was also fluent in six foreign languages, making him arguably the most gifted linguist ever to head a Western intelligence agency. A Secret Well Kept was written by Kell`s wife, Constance, in the 1950s, & the manuscript has been a treasured family possession ever since. Constance`s story is endlessly fascinating: she tells of their life in China during the Boxer Rebellion, the formation of MI5 in 1909, the key characters, events & spy cases of Kell`s career, & his important work achieved for the country during two world wars. A modern-day preface from Kell`s great-granddaughter, introduction by Stewart Binns & notes from Dr Chris Northcott add historical context to this delightful & unparalleled insight into the personal life of an extremely powerful & important man. ...

Previously published as Woman of State `A stunning debut novel from a top TV producer. It could not be more timely.`
- Gavin
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A young secular writer`s journey along ancient religious pilgrimage routes in Spain, Japan & Ukraine leads to a surprise family reconciliation in this literary memoir Gideon Lewis-Kraus arrived in free-spirited Berlin from San Francisco as a young writer in search of a place to enjoy life to the fullest, & to forget the pain his father, a gay rabbi, had caused his family when he came out in middle age & emotionally abandoned his sons. But Berlin offers only unfocused dissipation, frustration & anxiety; to find what he is looking for (though he`s not quite sure what it is), Gideon undertakes three separate ancient pilgrimages, travelling hundreds of miles: the thous&-year old Camino de Santiago in Spain with a friend, a solo circuit of eighty-eight Buddhist temples on the Japanese island of Shikoku, & finally, with his father & brother, a migration to the tomb of a famous Hassidic mystic in the Ukraine. It is on this last pilgrimage that Gideon reconnects with his father, & discovers that the most difficult & meaningful quest of all was the journey of his heart.A beautifully written, throught-provoking, & very moving meditation on what gives our lives a sense of purpose, & how we travel between past & present in search of hope for our future. ” Beautiful, often very funny...a story that is both searching & purposeful, one that forces the reader, like the pilgrim, to value the journey as much as the destination.” New Yorker ” If David Foster Wallace had written Eat, Pray, Love it might have come close to approximating the adventures of Gideon Lewis-Kraus” Gary Shteyngart ” Gideon Lewis-Kraus has written a very honest, very smart, very moving book about being young & rootless & even wayward. With great compassion & zeal he gets at the question: why search the world to solve the riddle of your own heart?” Dave Eggers Gideon Lewis-Kraus has written for numerous US publications, including Harper`s, The Believer, The New York Times Book Review, Los Angeles Times Book Review, Slate & others. A 2007-08 Fulbright scholarship brought him to Berlin, a hotbed of contemporary restlessness where he conceived this book. He now lives in New York, but continues to find himself frequently on the road to other places. ...

When Lieutenant James Holman sailed to Russia in 1822, intent on crossing Siberia on his way to circumnavigate a globe still largely uncharted, the authorities of the Tsar arrested him on suspicion of espionage. Their scepticism was understandable: James Holman was completely blind. Holman returned to London & wrote a bestselling book about his abortive trip. But the wanderlust remained: as he put it, ” In my case, the deprivation of sight has been succeeded by an increased desire for locomotion.” In 1827 he set off again, this time for Africa. He would not return until 1832, having visited India, the Far East & Australia en route, & indulged in seemingly suicidal adventures such as stalking rogue elephants in Ceylon & helping blaze a road through uncharted New South Wales. For Holman it was the raw intensity of such experiences that kept depression at bay: he travelled in order to regain the sensation of feeling fully alive. Jason Roberts has used Holman`s own writings as well as myriad other contemporary sources to weave a spellbinding narrative about this fascinating character. Full of suspense & humour, & vivid in its re-creation of a world experienced through the non-visual senses, A SENSE OF THE WORLD is a marvellous blend of travel, biography & history, & a great tribute to a man of rare spirit. ...

Topographic coverage of mainland Spain at 1:50, 000 in the MTN50 (Mapa Topográfico Nacional) series from the Centro Nacional de Información Geografica, the country’s civilian survey organization. The maps have contours at 20m intervals, enhanced by relief shading, plus colouring and/or graphics to show different types of terrain, vegetation or land use. Boundaries of national parks & other protected areas are marked. In addition to all the usual information featured on topographic mapping at this scale, detailed presentation of the road & rail networks, rural tracks & paths, etc, the maps also show campsites & mountain refuges. On more recent editions some GRs, the official long-distance hiking routes, are also marked (although not as clearly as on hiking maps from other publishers). Each map covers 29.5x 18.5 km (with adjustments in the border or coastal areas). The maps have a 1-km UTM grid, plus margin ticks for latitude & longitude at 1` intervals. Map legend is in Spanish only.HOW TO CHOOSE THE RIGHT 50K MAP: all the titles in CNIG’s 200K Provincial Road Maps series at 1:200, 000 are overprinted with the grid for the 1:50, 000 maps & can be used to see the area covered by each 50K title. TO SEE THE LIST OF TITLES IN THIS SERIES PLEASE CLICK ON THE SERIES LINK.PLEASE NOTE
- MAP TITLES: the grids shown on our website serve both the civilian & the military 1:50, 000 topographic series. Although the areas covered by maps in both series are identical (apart from some border or coastal sheets), occasionally map titles differ – only one title is shown on the grid, usually the military one. In Galicia, the Basque country & in the Catalan speaking areas the tendency now is to use local place names rather than the often better known Castilian ones. Where possible, both versions are included in our titles. Map titles listed on our website are based on information received by us at the time of publication, but sometimes maps arrive showing a completely different title! As long as the map number is as ordered, the correct map has been supplied.
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For millennia, we have tried to explain ourselves using the raven as a symbol. It occupies a unique place in British history & has left an indelible mark on our cultural landscape. The raven`s hulking black shape has come to represent many things: death, all-seeing power, the underworld, & a wildness that remains deep within us. Legend has it that the fate of the nation rests upon the raven, & should the resident birds ever leave the Tower of London then the entire kingdom will fall. While so much of our wildlife is vanishing, ravens are returning to their former habitats after centuries of exile, moving back from their outposts at the very edge of the country, to the city streets from which they once scavenged the bodies of the dead. In A Shadow Above, Joe Shute follows ravens across their new hunting grounds, examining our complicated & challenging relationship with these birds. He meets people who live alongside the raven in conflict & peace, unpicks their fierce intelligence, & ponders what the raven`s successful return might come to symbolise for humans in the dark times we now inhabit. ...

A Shadow Falls takes its rightful place in Nick Brandt’s ongoing photographic project to memorialize the vanishing natural grandeur of East Africa & to portray a mythic Africa struggling against tragic forces. Majestic images of wildlife & regal visions of wide screen panoramas capture both a verdant & parched world. Fifty eight recent images are reproduced here in oversized tritone plates, whilst Brandt offers a personal account of his experiences photographing in Africa. Art critic Vicki Goldberg places Brandt’s iconic work in the history of the medium, & philosopher Peter Singer explains why Brandt’s photographs speak to an increasing human moral conscience. ...

Andrew Beatty lived with his family for two & a half years in a village in East Java. When he arrived, he was entranced by a strange & sensual way of life, an unusual tolerance of diversity. Mysticism, Islamic piety & animism coexisted peacefully; the ancient traditions of the shadow play, of spirit beliefs & were-tigers seemed set to endure. Java appeared a model for our strife-ridden world, a recipe for multiculturalism. But a harsh & puritanical Islamism, fed by modern uncertainties, was driving young women to wear the veil & young men to renounce the old rituals. The mosque loudspeakers grew strident, cultural boundaries sharpened. As a wave of witch-killings shook the countryside, Beatty & his family began to feel like vulnerable outsiders. Set among Java's rice fields & volcanoes, this is the story of how one of the biggest issues of our time plays out in ordinary lives. ...

In 1915, the Turkish government systematically organised the wholesale slaughter of a complete race, the Armenians. Under the cover of World War I, through the secret organisation of unofficial gangs of Kurds, released prisoners, German officers & Turks who had lost their lands in the war against the Balkans, over 1 million Armenians were murdered, starved, raped & left to die. Following the War, as the Nationalist movement began to rise up from the ashes of the Ottoman Empire, the allies tried to persecute the perpetrators of the genocide, in a series of trials where the term `crimes against humanity` was first used, Turkey was allowed to hide its recent history. It has remained hidden ever since. As the nation attempts to enter the European Union, the question of 1915 has become ever more important with the arrest of writers such as Orhan Pamuk, & the introduction of Turkey into the EU. ...