Sir Joseph Hooker is remembered as an eminent Victorian botanist & one of Charles Darwin`s closest collaborators. Many gardeners & lovers of rhododendrons know of his plant collecting expedition in the Himalayas, but few are aware of his participation in Sir James Clark Ross`s epic voyage to Antarctica in 1839-43, of his to Syria & Lebanon in 1860, to the Atlas Mountains in Morocco in 1871, & to the Rockies & California in 1877. At some risk to his own safety & health he discovered many new species of plants introduced a number of attractive flowers into British gardens. Hooker was also an amateur artist who obsessively sketched landscape, flora &, occasionally, people & buildings. Ray Desmond has written a fascinating biography of a remarkable man. ...

Sir Robert Hunter (1844
- 1913) is one of three figures regarded as the principal founders of the National Trust. It was he who
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Sir Scallywag is back & mightier than ever! King Colin is in need of our 6-year-old-hero Sir Scallywag`s help again. This time he has set his sights on a Golden Sausage that will make him live for ever. Unfortunately it is guarded by hundreds of angry trolls. There`s only one boy for the job
- enter Sir Scallywag! As hilarious as ever, this will have children & parents roaring with laughter!
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When King Colin`s golden pants go missing, he calls for Sir Scallywag, the bravest knight in the l&. But.. . Sir Scallywag is only 6 years old & with an evil giant to pursue, it`s nearly mission impossible! Luckily, it`s a story of David & Goliath. With his trusted steed Doofus at his side, Sir Scallywag proves that even the unlikeliest hero can be the bravest knight of all. ...

” Sir Vidia`s Shadow” is a book that chronicles bestselling author Paul Theroux`s long friendship with writer V.S Naipaul from its beginning to untimely end with both funny & moving moments & stark honesty. ” Both unputdownable & utterly engaging”. (Jonathan Raban, ” The Times Literary Supplement”). ”I started reading Theroux ” Sir Vidia`s Shadow”, the story of his friendship with V.S. Naipaul over thirty years & five continents. I couldn`t, as they say, put it down. I don`t know of a more revealing study of the peculiar nature of friendship between professional writers, an unstable compound of empathy, solidarity & rivalry”. (David Lodge, ” Guardian” Books of the Year). ” Thoroughly compelling. We can call it a memoir, or a biographical sketch, but it has more in it
- more candour, more intensity, more angry puzzlement
- than we would normally expect from either of these genres”. (” Sunday Telegraph”). ” The portrait of Naipaul that emerged is uproariously believable...most people are damaged human beings. What distinguishes writers is that can turn their damage into something life-enhancing. That is what ” Sir Vidia`s Shadow” resplendently does”. (John Carey, ” Sunday Times”). American travel writer Paul Theroux is known for the rich descriptions of people & places that is often streaked with his distinctive sense of irony; his other non-fiction titles, ” Riding the Iron Rooster”, ” The Happy Isles of Oceania”, ” Sunrise with Seamonsters”, ” The Kingdom by the Sea”, ” The Tao of Travel”, ” Ghost Train to the Eastern Star”, ” The Old Patagonian Express”, ” The Great Railway Bazaar”, ” Dark Star Safari”, ” Fresh-air Fiend”, ” The Pillars of Hercules”, & his novels & collections of short stories, including the James Tait Black Memorial Prize winner ” The Mosquito Coast” are available from Penguin.

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New Yorkers Michael, a famous writer, & Lizzie, a journalist, travel to Italy with their friends from Maine
- Finn; his wife,
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Siracusa on an indexed street plan at 1:8, 000 from Litografia Artistica Cartografica in their Globalmap imprint, with an enlargement presenting the medieval lanes of the island of Ortigia in greater detail & clarity at 1:4, 000. 39 monuments within the city itself plus 15 on Ortigia are highlighted. A separate inset extends the coverage to Belvedere. Litografia Artistica Cartografica (LAC) are Italy’s leading publishers of street plans with an extensive range of titles. Where appropriate, the plans include an enlargement showing the historic centre in greater detail. On each plan monuments including historic buildings & churches, archaeological sites, cultural or educational institutions, & important municipal buildings or facilities are numbered & listed next to the plan. Unless indicated to the contrary in the individual description, one way streets are not marked. Street index is on the reverse. ...

Siracusa Province at 1:150, 000 in a series of handy size provincial road maps from Litografia Artistica Cartografica (LAC) with more minor local roads & country tracks than can be found on most regional maps from other publishers. This title is now available in a digitally produced edition.LAC’s provincial series is gradually being changed to a new style of digitally derived cartography, so presentation of adjoining titles may vary. All the maps have hill shading to represent the general relief with spot heights for selected peaks, & show a few more local roads & rough tracks than the other road map series. Intermediate road distances are indicated. Regional, provincial & communal borders are marked, & railways, funiculars, airports, sea ferry links & campsites are shown. The legend is in Italian only. The new, digitally produced editions are indexed & have enhanced, more finely drawn cartography: the hill-shading is less bold, motorway service areas are marked, natural parks are highlighted & an expanded range of symbols indicates various landmarks & sites, e.g. antiquities, churches, etc. Two styles of the new cartography are produced, differing only in the colour of the predominant background shading: grey or yellow/green. Some of the new editions include geographical coordinates for the map corners. The index of localities is on the reverse. To see all the titles in this series please click on the series link. ...

Siracusa Province in a series of handy size road maps from Litografia Artistica Cartografica (LAC) with more minor local roads & tracks than can be found on most regional maps. The series is gradually being changed to a new style of digitally derived cartography, so presentation of adjoining titles may vary. All the maps have hill shading to represent the general relief with spot heights for selected peaks, & show a few more local roads & rough tracks than the other road map series. Intermediate road distances are indicated. Regional, provincial & communal borders are marked, & railways, funiculars, airports, sea ferry links & campsites are shown. The legend is in Italian only. The new, digitally produced editions are indexed & have enhanced, more finely drawn cartography: the hill-shading is less bold, motorway service areas are marked, natural parks are highlighted & an expanded range of symbols indicates various landmarks & sites, e.g. antiquities, churches, etc. Two styles of the new cartography are produced, differing only in the colour of the predominant background shading: grey or yellow/green. Some of the new editions include geographical coordinates for the map corners. The index of localities is on the reverse. This title is now published with digital cartography. ...

Siracusa on an indexed street plan at 1:8, 000 from Litografia Artistica Cartografica in their Globalmap imprint, with an enlargement presenting the medieval lanes of the island of Ortigia in greater detail & clarity at 1:4, 000. 39 monuments within the city itself plus 15 on Ortigia are highlighted. A separate inset extends the coverage to Belvedere. Litografia Artistica Cartografica (LAC) are Italy ...