This is the tragic story of the short-lived Iraqi monarchy. The first king of Iraq, Faisal I, was installed by the British in 1921. Faisal, who had led the Arab Revolt & fought alongside T.E. Lawrence, was a major player in the politics of the Middle East. He was also, most importantly, pro-British & thus `suitable` to lead an independent Iraq. His son & successor, Ghazi, a strong pan-Arab nationalist, felt very differently. He supported the first military coup in the Arab world & was said to hold German sympathies. Ghazi`s suspicious death in a car accident left his son, also named Faisal, King at the age of four. So Iraq was ruled by his uncle, Abdulillah, as regent until the boy came of age. Iraq`s artificially-imposed monarchy came to an abrupt & bloody end in July 1958 when Faisal II & Abdulillah, along with the Prime Minister, Nuri al Said, & many members of Faisal`s family, were gunned down & the country was declared a republic. ” Three Kings in Baghdad” is a unique & timely account of this portentous moment in Iraq`s history. ...

“ Three Letters From the Andes” is Patrick Leigh Fermor’s wonderful & very much personally accurate look at a trip to South America made over forty years ago. In 1971 Fermor accompanied five friends on a remarkable journey into the high Andes of Peru. His adventure took him from Cuzco to Urubamba, on to Puno & Juli on Lake Titicaca, down to Arequipa & finally back to Lima. The expedition was led by a writer & poet & the party included a Swiss international skier & jeweller, a social anthropologist from Provence & a Nottinghamshire farming squire
- all seasoned mountaineers. The other two participants
- the author himself & a botany-loving duke
- were complete novices. As the group travelled from Lima into increasingly remote parts of the country, Leigh Fermor captured their experiences in a series of letters to his wife. Whether recounting the thrill of crossing a glacier, the rigours of campsite life under a blanket of snow, their lively encounters with locals or the strangely moving sight of a lone condor circling in the sky, the author vividly conveys the excitement of discovery & the intense uniqueness of the l&.


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A remarkable collaboration
- that brings together giants of the picture book world
- to create a funny, anarchic & utterly

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Three Little Owls is a charming rhyming story by the Italian artist Emanuele Luzzati, & presented here in an English version by John Yeoman & with gorgeous new illustrations by Quentin Blake. Three irrepressible little owls take us on their journey round the world, from one Christmas Day to the next
- fishing, dancing, snoozing, & NOT behaving. Blake`s delightful drawings combine with this fantastical poetic treat to create a story that young & old will enjoy reading again & again.
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Wryly humorous & quintessentially British, Three Men & a Bradshaw collects the previously unpublished holiday journals of John Freeman, who travelled Britain with his brothers during the 1870s. Each year the trio would settle upon a destination, buy their tickets & set off
- armed, of course, with their trusty Bradshaw`s Descriptive Railway H&-book. John`s delightful records of their trips contain much that will resonate with the modern traveller, from the eccentricities of fellow passengers & locals to the tender mercies of the British climate. At the same time they offer insights into the experiences particular to a Victorian tourist, & are full of valuable local history on everywhere from Devon & Jersey to Scotland & Wales. Beautifully illustrated throughout with John`s original drawings, this is a fascinating & uniquely personal historical artefact, as well as an enchanting & frequently hilarious evocation of a distant but still wholly recognisable Britain.
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A comic masterpiece that has never been out of print since it was first published in 1889, Jerome K. Jerome`s Three Men in a Boat

Includes:: an introduction & notes by Jeremy Lewis in Penguin Classics. Martyrs to hypochondria & general seediness, J. & his friends George & Harris decide that a jaunt up the Thames would suit them to a `T`. But when they set off, they can hardly predict the troubles that lie ahead with tow-ropes, unreliable weather forecasts & tins of pineapple chunks
- not to mention the devastation left in the wake of J.`s small fox-terrier Montmorency. Three Men in a Boat was an instant success when it appeared in 1889, &, with its benign escapism, authorial discursions & wonderful evocation of the late-Victorian `clerking classes`, it hilariously captured the spirit of its age. In his introduction, Jeremy Lewis examines Jerome K. Jerome`s life & times, & the changing world of Victorian England he depicts
- from the rise of a new mass-culture of tabloids & bestselling novels to crazes for daytripping & bicycling. Jerome K. Jerome (1859-1927) was born in Walstall, Staffordshire, & educated at Marylebone Grammar School. He left school at fourteen to become a railway clerk, the first in a long line of jobs that included actor, teacher & journalist. His first book, On Stage & Off, a collection of humorous pieces about the theatre, was published in 1885, & was followed the year after with the more commercially-successful The Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow; but it was with Three Men in a Boat (1889) that Jerome achieved lasting fame. He later went on to become one of the founders of the humorous magazine, The Idler, & continued to write articles & plays. If you enjoyed Three Men in a Boat, you might like Stella Gibbons`s Cold Comfort Farm, also available in Penguin Classics.



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What could be more relaxing than a refreshing holiday on the river with your two best friends & faithful canine companion, Montmorency? However, as J. discovers, there is more to life on the waves than meets the eye
- including navigational challenges, culinary disasters, & heroic battles with swans, kettles & tins of pineapple. Jerome K. Jerome`s delightful novel has kept readers smiling for years & his prose has found a perfect partner in Vic Reeves`s glorious & witty illustrations. ILLUSTRATED WITH THIRTY ORIGINAL ILLUSTRATIONS BY COMEDIAN & ARTIST VIC REEVES
- EXCLUSIVE TO VINTAGE CLASSICS

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After planning the entire trip on the back of a beer mat, buying a 1958 decommissioned milk float on e Bay & charging its tired batteries, the team set off from Lowestoft to Land's End. On the way, they discovered that their float needed to charge for eight hours for every two hours it spent on the road. Relying on the milk of human kindness, they were at the mercy of strangers every night, sometimes even using other people's cookers just to keep the show on the road. En route, they were treated to tea & rock cakes by the Vice President of the WI, succeeded in blacking out a Cornish campsite whilst charging their float (now dubbed The Mighty One), stayed with the monks at Buckfast Abbey, where they undertook a vow of silence &, drove five hundred miles to Tintagel, the birth place of King Arthur, only to find it had closed -- all in the name of discovering lost Engl&. You may be thinking: why on earth don't these men drive a car like normal people? But this is no ordinary journey. This is an eccentric odyssey through the English countryside. Three Men in a Float is about all things English & the pleasure to be had if you are prepared to slow down, get out of your car & go off the beaten track. ...

The West Highland Way is Scotland`s first official Long Distance Route & runs near 100 miles from Milngavie to Fort William. It was nicknamed the ` Way Way` by a trio from Fife who set off to walk it in the year of the Millennium. This is not a guidebook but an account of their experiences, the highs & lows which any challenge presents of their marvellous, surprising, amusing & weird memories. They met many hundreds of people along the way but, naturally, those they recall were the more eccentric. Although the trio never managed another bigger trip together they realize how lucky, & wise, they had been to grab the chance when it came. There is remarkably pleasant rural walking at the start to reach the Highlands at Loch Lomond, fine woodland on its banks & later, the contrast of lonely, empty miles across Rannoch Moor, the Devil`s Staircase & the great pass of the Lairig Mor to finish. Encounters with other people are an important part of Long Distance Routes. Anyone who has walked the Way Way (or is planning to do so) will enjoy this story, bringing back plenty of similar memories of people & places, adventures & misadventures. The illustrations too give a wonderful idea of the rich variety of country traversed & well capture the atmosphere of this walk through Scotland`s fine landscapes. ...

A historical romance, The Three Musketeers tells the story of the early adventures of the young Gascon gentleman, D` Artagnan & his three friends from the regiment of the King`s Musketeers
- Athos, Porthos & Aramis. Under the watchful eye of their patron M. de Treville, the four defend the honour of the regiment against the guards of Cardinal Richelieu, & the honour of the queen against the machinations of the Cardinal himself as the power struggles of seventeenth century France are vividly played out in the background. But their most dangerous encounter is with the Cardinal`s spy, Milady, one of literature`s most memorable female villains, & Dumas employs all his fast-paced narrative skills to bring this enthralling novel to a breathtakingly gripping & dramatic conclusion.
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