Southwold is a nostalgic place where childhood memories are made from sunny holidays beside the sea, coloured beach huts lining the shore & the delicate pier straddling the waves of the North Sea. To some it is nothing short of an earthly paradise
- indeed it was Southwold that inspired William Morris to write his epic poem ” The Earthly Paradise”. ” Southwold
- An Earthly Paradise” is a collection of vividly written essays that take the reader through the evolution of the town from a mediaeval fishing community, prosperous enough to build a magnificent church, to its modern identity as a popular, yet unspoilt, holiday town. However its history is a troubled one. The sea, despite its changing moods has been the only constant in a past in which fire, famine & plague have devastated the town. A rich treasure of silver & silver gilt lies on the bottom of the coast of Southwold. It is a reminder of one of the fiercest fights in British history. The Battle of Sole Bay was fought against the Dutch in 1672 & the bloody confrontation is fully described & illustrated with contemporary paintings & drawings. The greatest genius of English literature, William Shakespeare heads an extraordinary cast of writers to have visited Southwold, including Algernon Swinburne, Thomas Hardy, Walter de la Mare, George Orwell, P. D. James & Esther Freud. J. M. W. Turner, one of Britain`s most celebrated artists, is known to have visited Southwold on many occasions & Geoffrey Munn has, for the first time, identified a number of drawings of Southwold by Turner. Whistler, Sickert, Wilson Steer, Spencer, & Damien Hirst have all followed in Turner`s footsteps. The text is lavishly illustrated with their work & all the 160 plates are in colour.

...

Southwold in 1927 in a fascinating series of reproductions of old Ordnance Survey plans in the Alan Godfrey Editions, ideal for anyone interested in the history of their neighbourhood or family. The map covers the small seaside resort of Southwold, with a population of around 4, 000 at the time of the survey. Features include the Pier, St Edmund`s church, South Green, East Green, St Edmund`s Green, North Green, Skilman`s Hill, bathing huts, Southwold Common, Southwold Railway & station, Grand Hotel, Buss Creek & Bridgefoot Marshes. On the reverse is a directory of Southwold in 1925. About the Alan Godfrey Editions of the 25” OS Series: Selected towns in Great Britain & Ireland are covered by maps showing the extent of urban development in the last decades of the 19th & early 20th century. The plans have been taken from the Ordnance Survey mapping & reprinted at about 15 inches to one mile (1:4, 340). On the reverse most maps have historical notes & many also include extracts from contemporary directories. Most maps cover about one mile (1.6kms) north/south, one & a half miles (2.4kms) across; adjoining sheets can be combined to provide wider coverage.FOR MORE INFORMATION & A COMPLETE LIST OF ALL AVAILABLE TITLES PLEASE CLICK ON THE SERIES LINK. ...

It is autumn, 1541. Following the uncovering of a plot against his throne in Yorkshire, King Henry VIII has set out on a spectacular Progress to the North to overawe his rebellious subjects there. Accompanied by a thousand soldiers, the cream of the nobility, & his fifth wife Catherine Howard, the King is to attend an extravagant submission of the local gentry at York. Already in the city are lawyer Matthew Shardlake & his assistant Jack Barak. As well as assisting with legal work processing petitions to the King, Shardlake has reluctantly undertaken a special mission
- to ensure the welfare of an important but dangerous conspirator being returned to London for interrogation. But the murder of a local glazier involves Shardlake in deeper mysteries, connected not only to the prisoner in York Castle but to the royal family itself. As the Great Progress arrives in the city, Shardlake & Barak stumble upon a cache of secret papers that holds danger for the King's throne, & a chain of events unfolds that will lead Shardlake facing the most terrifying fate of the age.
...

Photographer Christopher Herwig presents a curated collection of the most interesting & obscure Soviet bus stops. Travelling over 30, 000km, Herwig discovered & documented these architectural treasures from around Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Ukraine, Moldova, Armenia, Abkhazia, Georgia, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia & Belarus. ...

A follow-up to the hugely successful Soviet Bus Stops, with new photographs of bus stops in Russia, Crimea, Georgia & Ukraine. Christopher Herwig has an insatiable appetite for ‘ Soviet Bus Stops’. After the popular & critical success of his first book, Herwig has returned to the former Soviet Union to hunt for more. In this second volume, as well as discovering new stops in the remotest areas of Georgia & Ukraine, Herwig turns his camera to Russia itself. Following exhaustive research, he drove 15, 000 km from coast to coast across the largest country in the world, in pursuit of new examples of this singular architectural form. A foreword by renowned architecture & culture critic Owen Hatherley reveals new information on the origins of the Soviet bus stop. Examining the government policy that allowed these ‘small architectural forms’ to flourish, he explains how they reflected Soviet values, & how ultimately they remained – despite their incredible individuality – far-flung outposts of Soviet ideology. The diversity of architectural approaches is staggering: juxtaposed alongside a slew of audacious modern & brutal designs, there are bus stops shaped as trains, birds, light bulbs, rockets, castles, even a bus stop incorporating a statue of St George slaying the dragon. Essential companion to the first volume, this book provides a valuable document of these important & previously overlooked constructions. ...

This book is dedicated to the Soviet Space Dogs, who played a crucial part in the Soviet Space programme. These homeless dogs, plucked from the streets of Moscow, were selected because they fitted the programmes criteria: weighing no more than 7kg, measuring no more than 35cm in length, robust, photogenic & with a calm temperament. These characteristics enabled the dogs to withstand the extensive training that was needed to prepare them for suborbital, then for orbital space fights. On 3 November 1957, the dog Laika was the first Earth-born creature to enter space, making her instantly famous around the world. She did not return. Her death, a few hours after launching, transformed her into a legendary symbol of sacrifice. Two further strays, Belka & Strelka, were the first beings to make it back from space, & were swiftly immortalized in childrens books & cartoons. Images of the Space Dogs proliferated, reproduced on everyday goods across the Soviet Union: cigarette packets, tins of sweets, badges, stamps & postcards all bore their likeness. This book uses these unique items to illustrate the story (in fact & fiction) of how they became fairy-tale idols. Monuments now commemorate their pioneering role in conquering the final frontier: their heroism will never be forgotten. ...

Sowerby Bridge in 1905 in a fascinating series of reproductions of old Ordnance Survey plans in the Alan Godfrey Editions, ideal for anyone interested in the history of their neighbourhood or family. Two versions have been published for this area, extending from Warley Town eastward to King Cross & Queen`s Road, & from Gibbet Street southward to Sowerby Bridge. Features include Rochdale Canal & Calder & Hebble Navigation with Basin; Canal Mills, Wharf Street with Christ Church, Scar Bottom, Octagon Tower, Washer Lane Dye Works, Pye Nest, Thorn Tree area, King Cross, St Paul`s station, Gibraltar area, Dunkirk Mills, Cote Hill, St John`s church, Warley Town, Willow Hall Mills, Albert Woollen Mills, Bairstow, Warley House, Cliff Hill, tramways on the 1905 version, etc. The 1892 version

Includes:: 1889 directory extracts for Sowerby Bridge & Warley & is in colour, taken from the beautiful 1st Edition OS h&-coloured map. About the Alan Godfrey Editions of the 25” OS Series: Selected towns in Great Britain & Ireland are covered by maps showing the extent of urban development in the last decades of the 19th & early 20th century. The plans have been taken from the Ordnance Survey mapping & reprinted at about 15 inches to one mile (1:4, 340). On the reverse most maps have historical notes & many also include extracts from contemporary directories. Most maps cover about one mile (1.6kms) north/south, one & a half miles (2.4kms) across; adjoining sheets can be combined to provide wider coverage.FOR MORE INFORMATION & A COMPLETE LIST OF ALL AVAILABLE TITLES PLEASE CLICK ON THE SERIES LINK.

...

Large double-sided plan covering the region, from the Lenz military base in the south west to Wibsey Dib in the north east. One way streets & traffic lights are marked, with symbols indicating a range of features for the tourist & resident alike: railway lines with stations, shopping centres, petrol stations, various services & municipal buildings, schools, sports grounds, police stations, the tourist information office, hospitals etc. Neighbourhoods are clearly named & the colours distinguish built-up areas, industrial areas & green spaces. The street index, on the reverse,

Includes:: a list of the suburbs. The plan has a latitude/longitude grid at intervals of 1

...

Intricately crafted with timeless tradition, this carefully dyed sisal fiber & sweet grass catch all makes a stunning statement ...

Nothing could be more luxurious, pleasurable, or refreshing than pampering yourself in a sumptuous spa. The best ones are ...