In a beautiful translucent turquoise blue, this is the latest in our own collectable company designs with a quick reminder for our book hotline printed on. It has a super squeezy black rubber grip, ideal for older hands, and an attractive metal 'squiggle' clip. Black ink. One happy customer said "Bought some of these pens last year & they keep going walkies. I think my visitors like them too. I love the soft grip. I have arthritis & the soft grip makes these pens a joy to hold. I have bought other types, but keep coming back to these. Worth every penny,a great buy."

Sit back and pour yourself a drink. In this comprehensive handbook, the eager bartender will learn about herbs and spices, distillation, making liqueurs and infusions, cooking with infusions, and enjoying liqueurs. The book offers advice on creating drinks: first, take a spirit (whether that is vodka, gin, whisky or brandy - any distilled spirit), then add some fruit or other flavouring and you have an infusion. It notes that, if sugar is added to sweeten the spirit, this will be a liqueur. Soak in the array of recipes, from transforming vodka into amaretto using almond extract and making a coconut-flavoured rum by combining white rum with dried shredded coconut, to creating absinthe mixing wormwood leaves and spices with vodka. Thanks to the recipes, readers can treat themselves to liquid heaven (also known as chocolate in a glass) by combining chocolate, vanilla and vodka to make a liqueur - the book also suggests using condensed milk and white chocolate in vodka for a sweeter liqueur and introducing two Mars Bars to cream and vodka for a chocolate bar-inspired spirit. Learn that Limoncello may claim to be an ancient drink but it was invented in the 20th century and that, while lemons may grow widely around the Mediterranean and North Africa, they originate from China. Through this book, discover how the hairs on a nettle's leaves may have a vicious sting but the plant can be a natural ingredient in spirits to help with anaemia, osteoarthritis, various allergies and hay fever. Celebrate the power of passion fruit in vodka which can be called 'nectar of the gods' as ancients are believed to have referred to the fruit as such. There are bright images included in the book, with a shot of cocktail-making tools to help the learner, step-by-step photographs of how to make sugar syrup in a pan, and a woodcut from the Middle Ages showing an alchemist's laboratory used to show that distillation was an important art. Start distilling and crack out ice to spice up the drinks cabinet. Paperback, 8.3" x 10.6", colour images, 146pp.

Sub-titled 'History, Folklore and Victorian Pedantry' from the pages of 'Notes & Queries', a weekly magazine founded in London in 1849. It was a 'medium of inter-communication for literary men, artists, antiquaries, genealogists etc.' and its motto was 'when found, make a note of', a saying of Captain Cuttle, the hook-handed old salt of Dickens's Dombey & Son. Subscribers sent in notes on curious facts, others arcane queries to be answered, and the book anthologises the most interesting exchanges from the First Series 1849-55. Ordered by subject with judicious footnotes, there are delightfully pedantic remarks from daily life and amusements, the doings of fairies, revolting folk remedies, poetry good and bad, the oddities of natural history. Included is a selection of advertisements for the magazine such as products as Grosjean's Celebrated Trowsers and Rimmel's Toilet Vinegar (good for several purposes) and the Reverend Edmund Saul Dixon's treatise on 'Ornamental and Domestic Poultry'. There are church matters, law and order, wills and epitaphs, tales of the supernatural, popular zoology, superstitions, local customs. Under Language and Literature books and booksellers, words and their use and personal names; under Scientific Investigations technology and innovation of the time, medicine and physiology and physics problems. 'Every book that is worth reading, except, perhaps, a work of fiction, requires an Index; and the more books there are in the world the more requisite it becomes.' 'The discovery of drowned bodies by loading a loaf with mercury, and putting it afloat on a stream, or by carting it into the river, as the Indians do...' A German bookseller advertises his second-hand catalogue of 'Erotica Facetiae Satyrae, Curiosa, Sexuale Vavria' in various languages and Kerr and Strang Perfumers and Wig Makers advertise Perukes with 'Partings and crowns so natural as to defy detection'. 'Hairdressing a pitiful and unmanly employment' and the habit of profane swearing by the English are all up for discussion. No subject was too odd or obscure! 270 delightful pages, illus.

'Pioneers of alcohol-based comedy' - The Sunday Times, this pair of award-winning alcohol experts are also historians and write and perform together. Their motto is drink less, drink better, and their almanac is sub-titled 'Adventurous Drinks and Eccentric Tales for Every Day of the Year.' As Aristophanes once said 'Quick, bring me a beaker of wine, so that I may wet my mind and say something clever.' That's just one of 366 (29th February is free) entries in this eclectic, elbow-bending anthology of discerning drinks and fascinating and unusual facts. Other stories include a pair of whisky highballs for 'National Giraffe Day', a South African sparkling wine served at the inauguration of both Barack Obama and Nelson Mandela, an Alpine elixir inspired by a chap who eats aeroplanes, and a gin cocktail created in honour of someone who sewed monkey's testicles onto the face of a Frenchman. The pair know that alcohol is a fickle fellow that can flip from faithful friend to fearsome foe in the space of a few sips. The 1st January marks the fact that Bass (of the Pale Ale) Triangle registered the first ever trademark in 1876 and 2nd January the most famous bookseller Erika Roe unclasped her bra and ran on to the rugby pitch while England was playing Australia. The pair are drinking a pint of Naked Ladies from Twickenham Fine Ales, a brewery situated less than a mile from the stadium. The birth of Isaac Newton, the death of Sir Ernest Shackleton, the Gibson Flying V guitar patented (1958) is celebrated with a Gibson Martini. For each there is a little potted history plus of course the recipe, ingredients and how best to serve with garnishes, using a cocktail shaker, crushed ice, strainer etc. Firsts include steps on the Moon (communion wine used by Buzz Aldrin) and the first episode of Mad Men released in 2007 celebrating that Don Draper drank - a lot - with Hamm's Beer, an American cult classic, now owned by Coors. 272pp, stylish design.

Write a sweet and irresistible missive and top off your confectionery correspondence with the mini macaron stickers. Yielding 16 servings is a medley of mouth-watering macarons, a stationery set for those who love delicate and delectable treats. Ingredients are six writing sheet designs in pastel pink, gold with white dots, yellow with gold dots and rose pink, repeating four times each. There are four envelopes x4 in matching designs and one sticker sheet of 15 colourful cakes - or are macarons desserts? Multicoloured orange, chocolate brown, lime, and blue with hundreds and thousands on top.

Based on fairy tales and nursery rhymes, these finger puppets are designed to help children to enjoy the stories by acting them out. A CD telling all seven stories helps the enjoyment along, especially if adults have difficulty remembering the finer details. The characters are knitted with wool yarn on double-pointed needles, with embellishments added after felting in the washing machine to add a furry texture. An introduction includes basic construction hints for working with the double-pointed needles, accompanied by helpful step by step photos. After felting, the puppets are stuffed with fibrefill and embroidered with details such as facial features, and again the process is described with full photographic details. You are now ready to begin puppet-making, and first off is Goldilocks with the Three Bears. Full knitting instructions are provided for creating a lovely golden-haired Goldilocks with a blue dress, white apron and pink cheeks. The bears are sturdy dark brown creatures in different sizes to fit the story of the different sized bowls of porridge, with Daddy Bear having a red waistcoat incorporated into the knitting. Humpty Dumpty follows, then the story of the Three Little Pigs and the Big Bad Wolf, who seems rather a genial fellow with his big smile, though the two white fangs give the game away. A Gingerbread Man, Hansel and Gretel, Red Riding Hood and Mary with her Little Lamb complete the collection. Easy to follow instructions, softback, fully illustrated in colour, CD.

Gleaming rose gold clip and tip also with a rose gold finish, this quality, black ink ballpoint pen has a satisfyingly definite click on the top with a soft, padded stylus for use on your smart phone. The barrel is in blue with laser etching, Booksellers since 1978 www.bibliophilebooks.com 020 7474 2474. The weight and grip of the pen feels luxury.

120 puzzles from the Sphinx and ancient riddles to modern Sudoku with chapters including A Primeval Puzzle Prelude, Medieval Maths, Mysteries and Merriment, Parisian Perplexities, The Great Victorian Puzzlers, Word Puzzles, Logic, Weights, Measures and Speed, Psychological Puzzles and more. The idea of a hero being prepared to risk his life on his ability to solve riddles has been very powerful throughout history and literature - think The Hobbit - and another potentially fatal riddle format is seen in the plot of Puccini's opera Turandot, where the icy princess of the title sets her suitors three riddles in a thoroughly sadistic game. A mind-bending history written by the off-beat Beachcomber columnist for the Daily Express with his customary wit and obvious joy in discovery. 152pp, illus.

Great fun lightweight sturdy colourful foam sign with the word 'Genius' in lime green, 'at' in yellow at an angle and 'Work' in bright blue on a black background with plastic hanging hook and a further six stickers in a packet to secure your sign on your office or any door. Go on, make yourself better or flatter a friend with this fun bargain-priced work of art.

The frank and forthright wine critic is a renowned expert on organic and biodynamic techniques. Monty Waldin knows what he likes to drink, and knows how he likes it to be made, yet as his 40th birthday loomed, he found himself increasingly satisfied with just writing about wine. It was time he realised to put his money where his mouth is and produce bottles of his very own. Renting a vineyard in the foothills of the French Pyrenees, Monty has just 12 months to put his beliefs into practice and make a decent tasting organic wine. It could have ended in career suicide, and Monty faced that possibility with only a four-legged companion at his side, his ever-faithful dog, Harry. There in the notoriously unpredictable weather of the Pyrenees, as well as how equally unpredictable locals will react to having an English wine novice hanging around, Monty with his second-hand van purchased for just one euro which had only one gear and an aversion to roads began his adventure. It begins with a car crash which left Monty with a sort of back injury that his doctors ordered him to stay in bed with, just when he should begin digging. Published to accompany the major Channel Four TV series, whether you have dreamt of owning your own vineyard or just enjoy a glass or two of decent red, Monty is a wonderfully warm and witty companion who has clearly made lots of friends and learned all about chickens and geese and irrigation canals and has a lot to be proud of. With many sections of both colour and black and white photographs, 298pp.