`I thoroughly endorse this book & I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did`
- From the foreword by Emerson Jackson Sr, Navajo
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” Meetings On The Edge” is a travel memoir by a once-frustrated journalist for the BBC, who took the plunge & abandoned a ten year career to follow her dream to become a mountaineer. This book explores the impact of a solitary journey as well as unexpected encounters with fascinating people along the way. The different natural environments mirror the demands of an evolving quest. The many lessons of nature`s classroom are against a background of adventure, discovery & considerable personal risk. Like all quests, the incidental insights & surprising events challenge the romantic idea of adventure. Stories from Alaska, the Pacific North West, the Himalaya & New Zealand`s Southern Alps are interwoven into the central adventure of traversing the French & Spanish Pyrenees alone. Tales to highlight include encountering a naked & all too aroused flasher far off the beaten track, a colourful relationship with Nepal`s most famous civilian, a film star, two weeks after the royal massacre, & summiting Denali, North America`s highest peak, while the expedition dwindled from 9 to just 4 due to life-threatening illness & mishap. But it was after a chance meeting with a wise Maori man & a solitary encounter with a 2000 year old Kauri tree in an ancient forest, that the author experiences an epiphany: that a restless, goal-driven life is not the most fulfilling. This book ends in the foothills of the Pyrenees, where the freedom she has experienced is in marked contrast to the security-conscious existence of those living there. The electric gates, fencing & hedgerows project a community in fear of those very open spaces which had broadened her horizons. ...

Stephen Venables, the acclaimed mountaineer & first Briton to scale Everest without oxygen, brings together climbers, walkers, historians & journalists to provide accounts of some of the most fantastic feats of human endurance. These fascinating tales are littered with intriguing facts about the planet ...

WINNER OF THE WOLFSON HISTORY PRIZE & THE DUFF COOPER PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION` Endlessly fascinating & enjoyable` Neil Mac Gregor`A marvellous book` David Attenborough` Full of delights` Tom Stoppard An extraordinary exploration of the medieval world
- the most beguiling history book of the year This is a book about why medieval manuscripts matter. Coming face to face with an important illuminated manuscript in the original is like meeting a very famous person. We may all pretend that a well-known celebrity is no different from anyone else, & yet there is an undeniable thrill in actually meeting & talking to a person of world stature. The idea for the book, which is entirely new, is to invite the reader into intimate conversations with twelve of the most famous manuscripts in existence & to explore with the author what they tell us about nearly a thousand years of medieval history
- & sometimes about the modern world too. Christopher de Hamel introduces us to kings, queens, saints, scribes, artists, librarians, thieves, dealers, collectors & the international community of manuscript scholars, showing us how he & his fellows piece together evidence to reach unexpected conclusions. He traces the elaborate journeys which these exceptionally precious artefacts have made through time & space, shows us how they have been copied, who has owned them or lusted after them (and how we can tell), how they have been embroiled in politics & scholarly disputes, how they have been regarded as objects of supreme beauty & luxury & as symbols of national identity. The book touches on religion, art, literature, music, science & the history of taste. Part travel book, part detective story, part conversation with the reader, Meetings with Remarkable Manuscripts conveys the fascination & excitement of encountering some of the greatest works of art in our culture which, in the originals, are to most people completely inaccessible. At the end, we have a slightly different perspective on history & how we come by knowledge. It is a most unusual book.

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This is a book about why medieval manuscripts matter. Coming face to face with an important illuminated manuscript in the original is like meeting a very famous person. We may all pretend that a well-known celebrity is no different from anyone else, & yet there is an undeniable thrill in actually meeting & talking to a person of world stature. The idea for the book, which is entirely new, is to invite the reader into intimate conversations with twelve of the most famous manuscripts in existence & to explore with the author what they tell us about nearly a thousand years of medieval history
- & sometimes about the modern world too. Christopher de Hamel introduces us to kings, queens, saints, scribes, artists, librarians, thieves, dealers, collectors & the international community of manuscript scholars, showing us how he & his fellows piece together evidence to reach unexpected conclusions. He traces the elaborate journeys which these exceptionally precious artefacts have made through time & space, shows us how they have been copied, who has owned them or lusted after them (and how we can tell), how they have been embroiled in politics & scholarly disputes, how they have been regarded as objects of supreme beauty & luxury & as symbols of national identity. The book touches on religion, art, literature, music, science & the history of taste. Part travel book, part detective story, part conversation with the reader, Meetings with Remarkable Manuscripts conveys the fascination & excitement of encountering some of the greatest works of art in our culture which, in the originals, are to most people completely inaccessible. At the end, we have a slightly different perspective on history & how we come by knowledge. It is a most unusual book.
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Meetings with Remarkable Muslims is a collection of personal reminiscences of friendships & chance encounters which have left an indelible mark on the author. Throwing a bridge across the divide, it shows how immeasurably richer our lives are for sharing & understanding different cultural traditions
- what a source of inspiration they can be. This diverse collection of writers draws together a world which stretches from Morocco in the West to India in the east. What shines through is a common humanity
- shared by both writers & subjects
- a need to earn, to love, to protect, to enjoy & to make sense of life.


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With this astonishong collection of tree portraits, Thomas Packenham has produced a new kind of tree book. The trees are grouped according to their characteristics; roughly half are ancient native trees in the UK, while the rest are exotic newcomers from Europe. ...

Topographical survey of Belgium at 1:20, 000 from Nationaal Geografisch Instituut / Institut Géographique National, the country’s national survey organization. Each 20K map covers one quarter of the corresponding 1:50, 000 map (with adjustments in the border & coastal areas). The maps provide all the information expected of topographic mapping at this scale & in addition have an unusually large amount of vegetation and/or land use information (different types of woodlands, gardens, orchards, heath, etc). The maps have a 1-km UTM grid, with margin ticks for latitude & longitude at intervals of 1`. Map legend & a glossary of terms used on the maps include English. Stanfords keeps as regular stock 20K maps for the World War I battlefields around the Ypres, Messines & Passchendaele, & for the area of the Battle of Waterloo. The 1:20, 000 survey covers the whole of Belgium & maps for other regions can be supplied as special orders. To see the list of titles in this series please click on the series link.PLEASE NOTE: the Long-Distance Footpaths Map of Belgium at 1:300, 000 which shows the division of Belgium into the 50K survey sheets can also be used to see in more detail coverage by the 20K maps. ...

This is a 40th anniversary edition of the children`s classic picture book, ” Meg & Mog”. Meg the witch & Mog her cat go off to a wild Hallowe`en party with all the other witches. The spell they cast goes off with a BANG! ” Meg & Mog” is the perfect story for sharing or reading alone, & children love exploring the colours, sounds & shapes. ...

There are surprises galore for Meg, Mog & Owl in these three classic Meg & Mog stories: ” Meg`s Eggs”, ” Meg at Sea” & ” Mog in the Fog”. As ever, Meg casts her spells with the best of intentions but always with hilarious results. Children will love exploring the colours, sounds & shapes in this bumper volume, perfect for sharing or reading alone. ...