It reveals life`s (often avoidable) daily perils such as the woman who poisoned her dinner guests, then died, having forgotten she`d used the same saucepan just days before to boil arsenic for the purpose of eradicating vermin (1830), & a drunk carter in charge of a ton of gunpowder on his horse-drawn cart, found careering through wet, slippery streets, while also carrying a number of ” Lucifer” matches (1875). Scandal & gossip also highlight social mores of the times
- stories include opening Empress Maria Theresa`s body to find death ”due to a great quantity of fat & viscous matter, Her Majesty having accustomed herself never to spit” (1781), a marriage between a corpse & his living Spiritualist bride (1856), & the formation of the ” No-Nose Club” for people with no noses due to syphilis (1873). The author has also (possibly) discovered the man to blame for the adding of service charges to bills (1768), as well as (possibly) the most pretentious, pseudo-intellectual description of Tennyson`s death: ” Soft beams of light played upon the features of the dying poet like a halo of Rembrandt`s” (1892).
...

The phenomenal growth of graphic novels & manga & the explosion of comics on the internet & other platforms have given their creators unprecedented freedom to innovate. Many can enjoy widespread acclaim in the art world, literary circles & through their multimedia adaptations. Comics Art takes an international approach by tracing lines of influence around the world to give historical contexts & contemporary perspectives for this huge current interest in the medium. Richly illustrated with many images taken from original artwork & rare artefacts, Comics Art gives a fascinating, accessible guide to some of the special properties of sequential art, such as panels, page layouts, speech balloons & wordless or `silent` narration. It addresses concerns about how comics perpetuate stereotypes & support the status quo, while assessing their growing significance, notably through autobiography & reportage, as vehicles for provocative voices often silenced in other media. Comics Art also explores the diversity of styles, media & approaches now possible in the medium & exciting developments in digital comics & in comics conceived for galleries & installations. ...

It may come as a surprise that comics offer much more than meets the eye. Of course we all have happy memories of favourite childhood reading (Beano, Dandy, Eagle, Mad, Viz
- the list is endless). But how aware are we that there is something inherently anarchic about comics? A huge variety have been produced over the centuries by British creators. It is a strong tradition that continues today. Some of the biggest names in comics
- Alan Moore (Watchmen, V for Vendetta), Neil Gaiman (Sandman), Mark Millar (Kick-Ass) & Grant Morrison (Batman: Arkham Asylum)
- are featured in this visually stimulating book (which accompanies a major exhibition at the British Library). But there are many, many more. & it is the diversity of content & form, as well as comics` ongoing relevance, which is a main focus. The seditious aspects of the comics tradition
- adult, underground & `alternative` material
- is highlighted, alongside the superheroes who still dominate the scene. There is anarchy everywhere that you look!




...

In her debut book, Mi Comida Latina, Marcella Kriebel created a new type of cookbook. It combined vivid watercolors with the culinary traditions of Mexico, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, & Puerto Rico. Now, Marcella returns with a new collection of recipes that span the country of Cuba from coast to coast. Travel the island & discover the Cuban take on classic dishes like empanadas as well as unique Cuban recipes like Bacán (plantain & crab steamed in banana leaves) Calaú (traditional greens stew), & Pastelitos de Guayaba (puff pastries with guava paste). Learn about the country’s food culture & ingredients through interviews & local stories, then complete the experience with an authentic Cuban cocktail or a post-meal café con leche. ...

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.
...

A few years ago, the author went to live in Horden, a mining village on the bleak east coast of Durham. Horden had been the biggest colliery in Britain, & among the men who had worked there were Hudson's great-grandfather & grandfather. The pit is now closed, & remains alive only in the memories of its old people. In search of his forebears, Hudson listened to the tales of how it once was, of the hardships & traditions of the miner's life, & of the struggles & triumphs of trade unionism. He also heard tales of his ancestors, although these tales flicker & fluctuate; the only certainty is the pit. In this book, Hudson portrays a world that has gone for ever, & offers an angry indictment of what has taken its place. The author won the Thomas Cook Award & the Somerset Maugham Award for Our Grandmothers' Drums. ...

One of the Europe`s most celebrated rivers, the Seine stretches from the fertile plains of Burgundy to the English Channel at Le Havre. Starting at its source near Dijon, writer & engraver Robert Gibbings follows the river`s 400-mile course as it develops from a tranquil stream into the mighty waterway that links Rouen to the sea. The journey takes different forms: on foot, in a tiny boat `hardly more than a coracle`, on a barge, & on a boat used for transporting books. Throughout this leisurely voyage during one summer Gibbings records his impressions, visual & verbal, of places & people as well as explaining how the river has played a vital role in French history. In part an evocation of the Seine`s changing landscapes & rural beauty, this is also an account of towns & cities-Troyes, Rouen, Paris-and their relationship with the river. Looking at writers & painters as well as historic figures who have left their mark on the Seine, Gibbings presents an affectionate picture of this great river & the people who live & work on its banks. Discussing the vineyards of Champagne, the paintings of Sisley & Utrillo, the rituals of Parisian cafe life, the author conveys an irresistible enthusiasm not just for boats & river life, but for all things French. First published in 1953, Coming Down the Seine is illustrated with more than fifty of Gibbings` delightful engravings. ...

Sefton Goldberg: mid-thirties, English teacher at Wrottesley Poly in the West Midlands; small, sweaty, lustful, defiantly unappreciative of beer, nature & organised games; gnawingly aware of being an urban Jew islanded in a sea of country-loving Anglo-Saxons. Obsessed by failure
- morbidly, in his own case, gloatingly, in that of his contemporaries
- so much so that he plans to write a bestseller on the subject. In the meantime he is uncomfortably aware of advancing years & atrophying achievement, & no amount of lofty rationalisation can disguise the triumph of friends & colleagues, not only from Cambridge days but even within the despised walls of the Poly itself, or sweeten the bitter pill of another`s success... From the winner of the Man Booker Prize 2010.

...

It is a story about Case Vecchie, the most notable cooking school in Sicily, the foods it produces & the loyal staff. It



...

Andy Fanshawe begins & ends this book on a winter climb in the Alps. Between come two contrasting & successful expeditions, to Chogolisa & to Menlungtse. In the summer of 1986 & newly appointed National Officer of the British Mountaineering Council, he led a five-man team on the first traverse of the twin summits of Chogolisa & Bride Peak, at 7654 metres one of the most elegant of the summits rising above the Baltoro Glacier on the route to K2. He describes the world of the Karakoram & revels in the challenge of new climbing as well as in the mountaineering history that is all around them. It is the summer of disaster on K2. But for them the weather is kind & they reach their summit on its razor-edge ridge. The traverse is accomplished. Tragedy only strikes later, in a mirror image of the death of Hermann Buhl, when the three Scottish members of the team go on to attempt Broad peak. Coming to terms with the death of a friend in the mountains is something Andy Fanshawe has to attempt again for himself before his next expedition, this time to Menlungtse, a hard unclimbed peak of 7180 metres just over the Tibetan border in the Rolwaling Himalaya. In the expedition organized by Chris Bonington the climbing would be serious, but the media are mainly interested in the incidental yeti-hunting. With Alan Hinkes, Andy Fanshawe reaches the 7023-metre summit of Menlungtse West. Reaching summits & knowing when to give up on them, leads to some closing reflections as he retreats from Makalu, but he ends his climbing odyssey with a successful winter ascent of the North Face of the Eiger. ...