Ireland has been home to successive groups of settlers and waves of immigration - Celts, Vikings, Normans, Elizabethan-English adventurers, Anglo-Scots settlers, Cromwellians, Huguenots, Palatines and others. It has imported huge ideas, none bigger than Christianity which it then re-exported to Europe after the fall of the Roman Empire. In the Tudor era it became the first colony of the developing English Empire. Its fraught and sometimes brutal relationship with England has dominated its modern history. This tangled relationship between Ireland and the English Crown is a key part of the story as are nationalism, religious allegiances and Ireland's internal conflicts. Killeen argues that religion was decisive in all this - Ireland remained substantially Catholic, setting it at odds with the larger Ireland culturally, religiously and politically. But its own culture and identity have stayed strong, most obviously in literature with a magnificent tradition of writing from the Book of Kells to the modern masters Joyce, Yeats, Beckett and Heaney. Killeen locates Ireland in a European and Atlantic world and explores the nation's remarkable contribution throughout the world through its literature, diaspora, music and its genius for popular politics. 332pp, paperback.

Pale pink shell feather-like leaves almost float off the surface of this stunning vegan leather travel journal from Christian Lacroix. Gorgeous printed leaves in blush pinks float on a midnight blue textured cover with stitched edges with an added touch of sophistication and luxury through design detail. 4.5" x 8" Foil Stamped Logo, Pen loop, card slit, and 2 pockets, 80 lay flat lined pages. Match with the CHRISTIAN LACROIX WAKAME PASSPORT HOLDER code 93081.

'An Archipelago of Myths and Mysteries, Phantoms and Fakes', this is a splendidly wistful book of intelligent musings on everything from religion to astronomy, alchemy to the occult. In this new edition, beautifully illustrated with original full colour maps, are two dozen islands once believed to be real, but no longer found on modern maps. These Phantom islands are the product of imagination, deception, and human error from the well-known story of Atlantis to more obscure tales from around the globe of fraudulent islands, sunken islands, the Auroras, the Terra Nova Isles, the island of Buss, Sarah Ann Island, Lemuria, Kibu, the Isles of the Blessed , Hawaiki and more. 256 compact pages, a beautifully designed paperback.

The actual founding of Madrid occurred during the rule of Muhammad I, Emir of Córdoba, who ruled 852-886, and together with the fortifications around Toledo controlled one of the most important metropolis, Al Andalus, the Muslim-controlled area of the Iberian Peninsula. When the Caliphate dissolved at the beginning of the 11th century, Madrid was almost entirely obliterated. Now there only remains a 400ft long and 8ft wide section of defensive wall from the 9th century which was discovered in 1950. The volume devotes itself in detail to the capital and reveals a suspense-packed relationship to the Prado, one of the world's most important museums. For the first time not only is its excellent collection of paintings examined, but also the phenomenon as a whole and its complex relationship to Madrid and its history. This superbly illustrated Ullmann publication, with text in both German and English in parallel, looks at the origins of the city, the Castilian small town Madrid 1085-1561, the residence of the Habsburgs 1561-1700, the spectacular Prado Art Museum, the Bourbons 1700-1808, the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía and the royal castles around Madrid. Extraordinary artworks like executions, Picasso's Woman in Blue, patinated bronze sculptures, details of famous paintings like Goya's The Execution on Principe Pio Hill with a detail of the dead man in a pool of blood, marbles and treasures and tapestries. See Cuatro Torres Business Area with its four modern high rise blocks on the Castellana, the main entrance to the Retiro Park, Madrid's 'green lung', gardens and fountains, the royal palace, the Plaza Mayor, the Plaza de España, the Caixaforum Art Centre with its vertical garden of greenery and the gift from Egypt of a temple from Aswan, here are the main streets like the Gran Via with the spectacular architecture of the Cine Callao in an Art Deco style. Enjoy the major buildings and monuments and opera houses and theatres, gilded churches, organ galleries and spectacular altars, newspaper articles. The text is jammed with hundreds of colour photographs and reproductions of paintings, artworks and collectables. 382 very large pages. Colour.
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To search for van Gogh means to retrace his actual physical path to the mental states that inspired his art. It means to take our understanding of art and geography and apply at what we know of Vincent's feelings and musings on life, art, books and authors, or found in the vast collection of letters 820 in all, 658 of which were addressed to his brother Theo, dating between 1872 and 1890. For months two talented photographers retraced van Gogh's path on foot, or by train, following him from Holland to England, and on to Belgium and France. They wanted to use the magic of photography to re-create what Vincent had imagined on canvas, and in this special book, the two are set by side-by-side. One of the photographers died in 2015, and today it would no longer be possible to photograph these places as they did for the book. "I have a larger picture of the village church and effect in which the building appears to be violet-hued against the sky of simple, deep blue colour, pure cobalt. The stained-glass windows appear as ultramarine blotches. The roof is violet, and partly orange in the foreground, some green plants in bloom and sand with the pink flow of sunshine in it." These are van Gogh's own words of his church at Auvers; his painting is reproduced and on the facing page in a colour photograph of the church on a sunny day. Enjoy his visions of the moon and the stars and the nebula, his chair, bed and nightstand, the Bridge of the Englishman, self portraits of the artist as a young man, the Rue de la Gallette and windmills, a room with a view of Paris in the heart of Montmartre, prostitutes and brothels and houses and people and of course, chrome yellow and sunflower orange. Art historian Gloria Fossi examines van Gogh's personal and artistic journey, combining a deep knowledge of place and art with what is known of his feelings in an art volume the like of which we have never seen before. 240 very large pages with colour, reproductions, colour photos, maps, and archive images.
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With detailed itineraries, fast facts, photos and maps, no airport screening or long waits, take the luxury of the train on these 30 memorable train trips from every inhabited continent with travel writer Tim Richards. His curated selection covers the full range of rail options from the humble commuter train to long-distance night trains with sleeper berths and dining cars, and all journeys are blessed with great scenery. We travel the Glacier Express from San Moritz to Zermatt, the Caledonian Sleeper from London to Glasgow, through Belgrade and Montenegro, Venice and Istanbul, Budapest and Oslo, Cape Town and over to Asia on the Trans-Siberian railway, and trains in Japan, India, Bangkok and Vietnam. In Australia, the USA and Canada, South America and Mexico to more unusual and eclectic choices like the Welsh Highland Railway from Porthmadog to Caernarfon, the Settle to Carlisle railway, the Grand Canyon railway, or to Hong Kong, Beijing in China and the Hanoi to Beijing night train. Famous luxury trains such as the Venice Simplon-Orient-Express (see page 21) and Rovos Rail's Pride of Africa (see page 45), pull a lot of focus with their storied pasts, beautiful interiors, spectacular food, impressive routes and dizzyingly expensive fares. However not every train journey worth taking has a high price tag. The author also outlines his guide to suburban trains, tourist railways, long distance and sleeper trains and rail cruises, gives tips for riding trains like booking. Plus a map of the world pointing out all 30 journeys and coloured maps throughout the text and full page glamorous colour photographs. 182 page quality softback. 21.8 x 24.6cm.
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Sub-titled 'The Cowardice of Captain Stinson', here is 'a terrific, rollicking adventure.' - Simon Garfield. The emigrant ship William and Mary departed from Liverpool with 208 British, Irish and Dutch emigrants in early 1853, captained by young American Timothy Stinson. The vessel was sailing for New Orleans when the ship wrecked in the Bahamas in mysterious circumstances. Instead of grounding the ship on a nearby shore, or building rafts for the passengers, Stinson and the majority of his crew sneaked away in lifeboats - murdering at least two of the emigrants with a hatchet as they did so. They reported the ship sunk with all on board lost, but the passengers kept the ship afloat, and two days later were rescued by heroic wreckers as the ship went down. Now over 160 years on, the tale of the travellers murdered in Bahamian waters and the hundreds who escaped thanks to kindly wreckers can finally be told. Stinson is no longer getting away with murder. We read about Susannah Diamond, the English 19 year old hoping for a new life in St. Louis with her family, husband, toddler and unborn child, and Izaak Roorda, one of a group of 87 Dutch emigrants seeking to settle in Wisconsin, who found the lifeboat more perilous than the sinking ship. Roorda recalls, 'Barely had I returned to the great ship than I and many passengers took to the pumps: fear, anxiety and shock drove each of us instinctively to look for a means to save ourselves...wailing and groaning filled the air...others climbed into the masts; it is impossible to form an image of our terrible and hopeless situation, the cabin filled with people and when an enormous creaking sound was heard in the ship below, we thought the whole vessel would sink immediately into the depths.' 162pp, photos and woodcuts.

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.

Sewage systems to sculpture, chocolate to coal, free trade to electoral emancipation, the book is a personal exploration of why and how village utopias came about, what they tell us about the past, and how they still resonate with us today. 20 years ago Jacqueline Yallop began her working life leading guided walks at a small village high in the fells of the North Pennines. Built by philanthropic employers for families working the lead mines, the isolated settlement was one of a network of 'model' villages which sprang up across Britain during the 18th and 19th centuries. Here she visits and revisits some of these utopian experiments to understand the social, political and cultural contexts from which they emerged. From Scotland's New Lanark Mills to the imposing market square at Tremadog in Wales and the Arts and Crafts cottages of Port Sunlight, she walks the avenues and terraces and considers what remains of the ideals which made these villages so fashionable. Mixing social and political history, art and architecture, travelogue, biography, aesthetics and philosophy with memoir and on-the-ground observation, her years of experience as a novelist brings Yallop's scholarly research to life in her energetic account of the complex and contradictory factors which changed the British landscape. 218pp, archive photos.

French Riviera resorts such as Cannes, The Blue Train which whisked passengers from Paris to the Côte d'Azur overnight, smart Swiss ski resorts like St Moritz, the Venice Lido, Egypt, signified a glamorous and cosmopolitan world populated by a social elite. The railway revolution of the 19th century had triggered a tourism revolution as day-trippers flooded rapidly to developing British seaside resorts such as Blackpool, Scarborough and Margate. The upper classes set their sights on something more exclusive and refined, more picturesque and usually much further away. They expected hotels offering every conceivable home comfort where the entertainment was cherry picked from the best of Paris cabaret and London's West End and where the sporting facilities were unrivalled. The illustrated weekly magazine The Bystander published glamorous Art Deco style advertisements 'Bathing in transparent, warm, blue sea, slicing your drive round an olive plantation, eating ripe figs off the branches, playing lawn tennis in the shade of eucalyptus trees, drinking Bronxes made with tangerine juice instead of the synthetic product of bottled oranges.' The luxurious spas of Mittel-Europe and the golf courses of France became the playground of the idle wealthy. Until foreign travel became more accessible, the picturesque towns and smart hotels catered only to an elite mix of royalty, celebrities and high society. This is where the great and the glamorous could relax, mingle, see and be seen - where rules could be broken and routines forgotten. Drawing from the Mary Evans Picture Library's archives and contributions from Galleria L'Image, Lucinda Gosling takes us on a tour of the exclusive holiday destinations from Monte Carlo and Maidenhead to Biarritz and San Moritz, Baden-Baden to Deauville and the Northern French Coast 'a jewel of a little place' where racing, gambling, polo, tennis, cocktails, yachting and bathing delights are incapsulated in one picture on page 66. Another shows a couple taking a civilised cup of tea under a striped awning of their beach capanna in a Venice Lido in 1935 and there are tourists featured in Gladys Peto's trademark colourful frocks among ancient ruins showing fashions in the winter sun of Heliopolis. Like a very high-end travel brochure, the book is also a mix of gossip and glamour, faces and places and evocative vintage travel posters, brochures, fashion spreads and more. Escapism at its best. All stock shelf worn.160pp in large softback, colour.
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