'The thing came abruptly and unannounced; a demon, rat-like, scurrying from pits remote and unimaginable, a hellish panting and stifled grunting, and then from that opening beneath the chimney a burst of multitudinous and leprous life - a loathsome night-spawned flood of organic corruption more devastatingly hideous than the blackest conjurations of mortal madness and morbidity.' Only the expansive imagination of H. P. Lovecraft could conceive the delicious and spine-tingling horrors you will find within the pages of this unique collection. In addition to such classics as 'The Picture in the House', 'The Music of Erich Zann' and 'The Rats in the Walls', this volume contains some fascinating rarities: examples of Lovecraft's earliest weird fiction and material unpublished during his lifetime. H. P. Lovecraft's creation of the Cthulhu Mythos has influenced many modern authors, and still remains at the forefront of supernatural literature. 254pp in paperback.

Add a strikingly bold designer colourful label to your written correspondence with the bold graphic design of Marimekko. They feature stylised Africans on labels for example SPECIAL DELIVERY to decorate a gift, small green, yellow flowers and seeds and leaves with trademark black and white etching style, dark reds and pinks and olive greens in delicious richly coloured borders. In all there are 30 sheets of all-purpose all size labels, from tiny dots to 2" square labels, our favourite of which is the stylised pale green elephant with then a tiger shaped animal super imposed and a flamingo yellow bird on top of that. Some are teeny weeny and hard to remove, but there are hundreds here and at great value. Boxed.

'On the day there were seven of Bill's boys all masked up and they snatched what in modern cash would be around eight million quid. They boxed in the PO van with two cars, took off with about 30 mail bags before the alarm went off, and stashed the money at a pre-arranged drop. It was as smooth as can be. There was hell to pay. Churchill was Prime Minister and was furious...' This was the unsolved 1952 'daylight' robbery. The last King of Gangland gives the final word on his war with the Krays. Eddie Richardson is the last brand-name gangster, one of the few survivors from a vanished world of violent criminality. The Richardson brothers Eddie and Charlie, and their famous 'Torture Gang' made money, while their rivals Ronnie and Reggie Kray made fatal mischief. They fought each other, but Eddie also had to contend with his older brother - 'Charlie was evil.' Now his brother is dead, Eddie is free to tell the story of a vicious family feud and a life lived on the frontiers of the law. Eddie's comrade-in-arms was 'Mad' Frankie Fraser. Eddie reflects on his journey from the scrapyards of South London to the glitz and glamour of West End nightclubs, to the flesh and tease of Soho, through the door of No.10 to the perils of espionage and international intrigue, and finally as an inmate of a high-security prison, but with a personal fridge well stocked with gourmet food. 292pp, paperback, photos.

'From beak to tail feather and from flipper to fin, this is a book that will long be known, read and savoured.' - James W. Muller of the International Churchill Society. One of Winston Churchill's key characteristics was his fascination with the animal kingdom, and he was a bold rider whether in the realm of sport, politics or war. Born prematurely on 30th November 1874 in his grandfather's magnificent residence Blenheim Palace, the nucleus of the estate was teeming with animals, domestic and wild, the former to be cherished and the latter killed. The young Winston unhesitatingly adopted hunting, shooting and fishing while doting on the horses, hounds and other furred or feathered friends, and he fished well into old age. In this intriguing book we meet his pet cats, poodles, budgerigars and golden orfe, via horses, swans, parrots and butterflies to his own lion, leopard and white kangaroos kept at London Zoo. Churchill even tried to acquire a duck-billed platypus. He identified with animals signing boyhood letters home 'The Pussy Cat' and deliberately personifying the British bulldog as wartime Prime Minister. This charming book is based on original sources but follows the pattern of ancient bestiaries, A to Z beginning with Albatross. The chief proponent of the Government of India Bill, the Secretary of State Sir Samuel Hoare was an old enemy of Churchill's who would win the vote. So Churchill suggested that the victory would be to him what killing the albatross had been to Coleridge's Ancient Mariner. Next entry is Alligators and the next three paragraphs in this extraordinary range of biographical material, this time informing us that Churchill approved of London Zoo's plan to swap two Père David's deer for a pair of Chinese alligators and another reference to his amusing remark to the diarist Harold Nicolson about Britain's appeasement policy in 1938. With all manner of fabulous beasts, rare photographs throughout the text, extensive notes, a timeline of Churchill's life and beautiful endpaper colour image of his spectacular library. 320pp.

'There is something in painting which cannot be explained, and that something is essential.' - Renoir (1841-1919). Born in Limoges, Pierre-Auguste Renoir learned to paint porcelain as a young apprentice in 1854 and by the 1870s he had moved to Montmartre, possibly the happiest time in his creative biography where he found his plein-air subjects, his models and even his new family. He sold his first painting at the unsuccessful sale that he, Monet, Sisley and Berthe Morisot organised in the Hotel Drouot in 1875. Some of his finest paintings were of the little, neglected garden by the studio that he rented. At the Impressionist Exhibition of the 1870s Renoir mainly presented portraits and once married depicted his wife in such paintings as The Luncheon of the Boating Party in a fanciful, fashionable hat holding a Pekinese in her hands. Here are his many nudes, dancing figures, Parisian life, Les Parapluis, Girl with Cat, couples, horse riders, Odalisque and harem figures in all their sensual beauty, female dancers, reclining nudes, bathers and washerwomen. Pocket sized softback, approximately 100 full page colour plates, index and biographical text. 140pp.

A companion to For My One True Love code 90817, we adore the cartoons of Purple Ronnie with his simple line art characters with the most expressive faces, here presented in book form with over 100 examples with brightly coloured pages and coloured in characters. Here is your ultimate birthday kit - a whopping great cake, a soppy and heartfelt birthday card, a party with mates and family, a fancy new look-a-million-dollars outfit, the night before your birthday can be a tricky sleep. You start to think of presents when you should be counting sheep! I baked two birthday cakes to cope with all your candles cos if we lit one per year that's more than one cake can handle! We love the polite way to unwrap presents and the best way to unwrap presents - really messily -and how to try to look happy when you open a present even if it's a bit rubbish. It's sure to be spectacular a guaranteed big hit, this birthday will be wonderful cos you're the star of it! Time for cake and fizz and giggles and a well-deserved rest with our favourite cartoonist the inimitable Purple Ronnie. Sit up and smile and remember fun times. Colour cartoons.

Set in Scotland in 1751, Kidnapped remains one of the most exciting adventure stories ever written. It tells of how young David Balfour, orphaned, and betrayed by his uncle Ebenezer who should have been his guardian, falls in with Alan Breck, the unscrupulous but heroic champion of the Jacobite Cause. Shipwreck, murder and escape through the Highlands are only a few of the ingredients of this wonderful book. 240pp. Paperback.

Introduction and Notes by Robert Hampson, Royal Holloway College, University of London. Nostromo is the only man capable of the decisive action needed to save the silver of the San Tome mine and secure independence for Sulaco, Occidental province of the Latin American state of Costaguana. Is his integrity as unassailable as everyone believes, or will his ideals, like those which have inspired the struggling state itself, buckle under economic and political pressures? Nostromo is an extraordinary illustration of the impact of foreign commercial exploits on a young developing nation, and the problems of reconciling individual identity with a social role. Conrad peoples his imaginary Latin American state with a multi-national cast of fully-rounded characters to achieve striking realism and create a novel that he called 'my largest canvas'. 416 page paperback.

Continues the story of the high-spirited and rebellious American girl, Katy Carr, and her family, who first appeared in What Katy Did. What Katy Did at School is a compelling tale of the intrigues of life at the New England girls' boarding school which Katy attends. Her trials, adventures and scrapes are all interwoven with a sense of fun and gently ironic good humour. What Katy Did Next describes a tour by Katy in Europe as she evolves from the child of earlier books into a spirited young woman, and brings to a satisfying close this delightful trilogy. 352pp. Paperback.

When Princess Irene and her nursemaid stay out too late one night and are chased home by goblins, a young miner boy called Curdie comes to their rescue. So begins a fantastic adventure in which Irene and Curdie must try to stop a goblin invasion, helped by Irene's mysterious great-great-grandmother. This much-loved tale was a personal favourite of C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien. This edition includes the sequel, The Princess and Curdie. B/w illus. Wordsworth paperback, 331pp.