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Agents of S.U.I.T.: Wild Ghost Chase: A Laugh-Out-Loud Comic Book Adventure! (Agents of S.U.I.T., 3)1 × £9.00 -
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Great Britain
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Wars of the Roses: The People, Places and Battlefields of the Yorkists and Lancastrians
The Wars of the Roses, which saw England and Wales ravaged by warfare for three decades and dynasties rise and fall, decimated the nobility of an entire generation, and saw the rise of the merchant class, the decline of medieval feudalism and opened the country to the enlightened ideals of the Renaissance. Such has been its lasting effects the red and white rose of the Tudors is still a national symbol. This book is an exploration of the buildings, monuments, towns and battlefields of that turbulent era across both England and Wales – places that can still be visited and experienced today. The stories of the great battles of St Albans, Stoke Field, Wakefield, Townton, Barnet, Tewksbury and, of course, Bosworth, are told along with beautiful photographs to help guide the reader round these important sites, as well as the dozens of smaller engagements where the supporters of the Houses of York and Lancaster fought and died. Here are castles and manor houses galore, all of which played their part in this protracted struggle for the throne of England, such as Richard of York’s imposing powerbase of Lulow Castle and the magnificent Tudor stronghold of Bamburg. These are compared with the scant remains of Fotheringhay Castle, the birthplace of Richard III – the man whose remains were so dramatically uncovered in Leicester – and Micklegate Bar, York, was where Richard’s head was placed on a spike. We see the Clocktower of St Albans and ‘Gabriel’ the bell that was rung in 1455 alerting of the Yorkist advance, as well as the Tower of London where Henry VI met his death and the possible burial place of the two princes. These, and scores of other places, monuments, plaques, buildings and battlegrounds, represent not only a journey across England and Wales, but a journey back in time to the bloody conflict that was the War of the Roses.Read more
£20.00£23.80 -
The RAF’s Armourers: Safely Making Aircraft Dangerous Since the First World War
It is said that one of the earliest trades in the world is that of the Armourer. Historically, it is a profession dated slightly after prostitution, but well before banking! Since the birth of the Royal Flying Corps in 1912 through to the modern Royal Air Force, the role of the Armourer has been pivotal. Not for nothing did the founder of the RAF, Lord Trenchard, once declare: The Armourer – without him there is no need for an air force.’ In the years since the need for RAF Armourers was first recognised, it has been a role that has evolved with the times. What has remained constant, however, is the fact that it is still a fascinating and potentially dangerous trade with many different branches and specialisms. In this book the authors, one of whom, Tony Lamsdale, is himself a former RAF Armourer, reveal the previously untold story of how the trade has adapted to the most modern of military machines, the aircraft. The authors look at the shared history of the Armourer and the RAF through the eyes of those who served. These veterans’ stories span decades, and their first-hand accounts and insights into conflict and peace-time operations demonstrate the qualities and characteristics that make Armourers unique. The book starts with a brief history of the Armourer, then before capturing the adventures and exploits of RAF Armourers from the Second World War and on into the Cold War. The dangerous duties of the Armourers on deployment in such places as the Falklands, Iran, Iraq or Afghanistan are all explored. There is also the question of having to learn of bomb dumps, the use of small arms and the unique world of the Armourer with its own peculiar language and the camaraderie of the crew room. With each chapter brought to life through personal anecdotes and shared experiences, this book provides an insight into an utterly essential role which has remained largely hidden – until now.Read more
£20.30£26.60 -
The Laws of Alfred: The Domboc and the Making of Anglo-Saxon Law (Studies in Legal History)
Alfred the Great’s domboc (‘book of laws’) is the longest and most ambitious legal text of the Anglo-Saxon period. Alfred places his own laws, dealing with everything from sanctuary to feuding to the theft of bees, between a lengthy translation of legal passages from the Bible and the legislation of the West-Saxon King Ine (r. 688–726), which rival his own in length and scope. This book is the first critical edition of the domboc published in over a century, as well as a new translation. Five introductory chapters offer fresh insights into the laws of Alfred and Ine, considering their backgrounds, their relationship to early medieval legal culture, their manuscript evidence and their reception in later centuries. Rather than a haphazard accumulation of ordinances, the domboc is shown to issue from deep reflection on the nature of law itself, whose effects would permanently alter the development of early English legislation.Read more
£21.80 -
Boom Cities: Architect Planners and the Politics of Radical Urban Renewal in 1960s Britain
Boom Cities is the first published history of the profound transformations of British city centres in the 1960s.It has often been said that urban planners did more damage to Britain’s cities than even the Luftwaffe had managed, and this study details the rise and fall of modernist urban planning, revealing its origins and the dissolution of the cross-party consensus, before the ideological smearing that has ever since characterized the high-rise towers, dizzying ring roads, and concrete precincts that were left behind.
The rebuilding of British city centres during the 1960s drastically affected the built form of urban Britain, including places ranging from traditional cathedral cities through to the decaying towns of the industrial revolution. Boom Cities uncovers both the planning philosophy, and the political, cultural, and legislative background that created the conditions for these processes to occur across the country.
Boom Cities reveals the role of architect-planners in these transformations. The volume also provides an unconventional account of the end of modernist approaches to the built environment, showing it from the perspective of planning and policy elites, rather than through the emergence of public opposition to planning.
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£22.60 -
The Great Tapestry of Scotland
The Great Tapestry of Scotland is an outstanding celebration of thousands of years of Scottish history and achievement, from the end of the last Ice Age to Dolly the Sheep and Andy Murry’s Wimbledon victory of 2013. More than 1000 stitchers spent a total of 55,000 sewing hours on the 160 panels that make up this extraordinary work of art.
This book shows in full colour all the finished panels of the tapestry – one of the biggest community arts projects ever to take place in Scotland – together with descriptive and explanatory material on each panel and lists of all the stitchers involved.
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£25.50£28.50The Great Tapestry of Scotland
£25.50£28.50 -
Soldiers and Civilians, Transport and Provisions: Early Modern Military Logistics and Supply Systems During the British Civil Wars, 1638-1653: 108 (Century of the Soldier)
Until now historical works have neglected to fully consider the events of the British Civil Wars with respect to the logistics and supply systems. As such, this book evaluates and challenges these narratives of the wars by tackling historical debates through the lens of these logistics and supply systems at an operational level. How the military logistics and supply systems of the period functioned is revealed, including what methods of supply were used, what decisions and events these systems impacted, and how these related to strategic and tactical outcomes of the wars.The book investigates the facets of land, coastal, and riverine transportation, the supply of manpower to the armies, and the supply of food, clothing, and shelter to multiple forces across various conflicts throughout the British Civil Wars. With an application of a broad range of both civilian and military sources, this research employs archival and manuscript materials from national and local archives across the British Isles, contemporary tracts, letters, books, and pamphlets, as well as secondary literature from a variety of historical fields–from military history, economic and social studies, as well as reconstructive archaeology. As a result, the study outlines regional disparity in military logistics systems due to reliance on pre-existing civilian structures and methods–which had not been developed with a military purpose in mind and resulted in substantial logistical and supply differences that consequently, and heavily, favored one faction over another.
Many questions that have bedevilled previous historiography–and some that remain contentious even today–are likewise explored through this new perspective. This includes, but is not limited to, countering the simple narrative that Royalist armies were terribly supplied in comparison to Parliament, placing the Royalists’ Gloucester campaign in its correct strategic context, highlighting Catholic recruitment to Cromwell’s forces in Ireland, and providing a reasonable and informed explanation for Prince Rupert’s decision to fight at Marston Moor–all through the lens of logistics and supply. It emphasizes the absolute necessity of interactions between civil and military authority across multiple levels to supply early modern forces, providing a more nuanced history of civilian and military interactions than the popular view of soldiers imposing their will on a suffering population.
The book’s analysis of logistics and supply during the British Civil Wars, a focus not undertaken in such detail so far for the period, will provide a compelling read for those with interests in the operational realities of warfare during the seventeenth century more broadly, and the British Civil Wars in particular.
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£25.80£33.30 -
Old English Legal Writings: 66 (Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library)
Archbishop Wulfstan of York (d. 1023) was a powerful clergyman and the most influential political thinker of pre-Conquest England. An advocate for the rights and privileges of the Church, he authored the laws of King Aethelred and King Cnut in prose that combined the rhetorical flourishes of a master homilist with the language of law. Some works forged a distinctive style by adding rhythm and alliteration drawn from Old English poetry. In the midst of Viking invasions and cultural upheaval, Wulfstan articulated a complementary relationship between secular and ecclesiastical law that shaped the political world of eleventh-century England. He also pushed the clergy to return to the ideals of their profession. Old English Legal Writings is the first publication to bring together Wulfstan’s works on law, church governance, and political reform. When read together, they reveal the scope and originality of his thought as it lays out the mutual obligations of the church, the state, and the common people. This volume presents new editions of the Old English texts alongside new English translations.Read more
£26.90 -
The Ritz London: The Cookbook
AS SEEN ON TV
As featured on ITV’s ‘Inside the Ritz’ series
‘When you look at the dishes in this book, the photographs – it’s beyond beautiful. You wouldn’t need to cook a thing. You could just flick through these pages – it is a proper feast for the eyes.’ - Graham Norton
‘As sumptuous as Williams’s exquisite cooking, this is a magnificent volume. And a fitting tribute to one of the world’s great restaurants. The recipes aren’t simple but this is one of those books to immerse yourself in. Five-star brilliance.’ – Tom Parker Bowles, Mail on Sunday
‘Less a classic cookbook than a contemporary guide to gracious living… Subdividing its contents into four seasons, each is introed with a classic cocktail, and there are contributions from The Ritz’s stellar staff. But really this is Williams’s show, a masterclass in munificence…’ – British GQ
‘A real tour de force … Definitely the stand-out recipe book of the year for me.’ – The Caterer
‘John Williams’s food at the Piccadilly institution is revered. Now it has brought out the cookbook so you can recreate the magic at home.’ – ES Magazine
‘Part technical recipe book, part memoir. There are Williams’s memories of growing up in South Shields, the son of a trawlerman, who accompanied his mother on shopping trips to the butcher and developed a precocious taste for tripe and Jersey Royals. As for the recipes, certain classics are within the range of the dinner-party cook (salt-baked celeriac, for instance, or venison Wellington).’ – Telegraph
‘A work of art, full of recipes exactly as they are made in the Ritz kitchen, beautifully photographed by John Carey. Marvel at the sheer amount of work and skill that goes into each dish, the processes and the perfectionism – and maybe start with the recipe for scones on page 112.’ – hot-dinners.com
‘… As an exemplar of classic and timeless dishes, it is an invaluable book that lets the reader peer behind the screen of one of the capital’s most enduring institutions. For Williams’ anecdote on the eating habits of the late Margaret Thatcher, it is worth the cover price alone.’ – Big Hospitality
‘Distinctive cookbook… This upscale offering is wholly in keeping with its subject: elegant, carefully studied, and more aspirational than practical.’ – Publishers Weekly
The Ritz: The Quintessential Cookbook is the first book to celebrate recipes of the dishes served today, at lunch and at dinner. The book features 100 delicious recipes, such as Roast scallops bergamot & avocado, Saddle of lamb belle époque and Grand Marnier Soufflé, and is divided into the four seasons: spring, summer, autumn and winter.
The recipes reflect the glorious opulence and celebratory ambience of The Ritz; seasonal dishes of fish, shellfish, meat, poultry and game. Desserts include pastries, mousses, ice creams and spectacular, perfectly-risen soufflés. There are recipes that are simple and others for the more ambitious cook, plus helpful tips to guide you at home.
Along the way, John Williams shares his culinary philosophy and expertise. For any cook who has wondered how they do it at The Ritz, this book will provide the answers. There will be plenty of entertaining tales about the hotel and unique glimpses of London’s finest kitchen beneath ground.
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£28.50£38.00The Ritz London: The Cookbook
£28.50£38.00 -
The Sea Kingdoms: The History of Celtic Britain and Ireland
A journey from Shetland to Cornwall reveals – gloriously – the nature and history of the Celts.
‘I have travelled south from Stornoway through all the Hebrides to Ulster, to Galloway, to the Isle of Man, southern and western Ireland. I can report that there is such a place as Celtic Britain, that it shares a common culture, an intimately related history and strikingly similar geography. The story of Celtic Britain can be found in these places.’
The Sea Kingdoms is a narrative history based on a journey from Shetland, down the west coast of Scotland taking in the Isle of Man and the Outer Hebrides, across to Ireland, back to Anglesey and the west Welsh coast, back to Ireland again and finally Cornwall. The heart of the book is the journey from which Moffat strays into the oral histories, legends and known events of the Celts and their past. Its narrative soaked in legend and myth and sensuality, tragedy and gore. In Moffat’s masterful hands,all these apparently disparate stories, fragments of history and myth come together to give the most powerful representation yet of the race who have repeatedly changed history as we know it.
Ranging between pre-history and the present, with much inbetween – The Sea Kingdoms tells the story of a people, stretched down 1,000 miles of coastline that has to be Britain’s richest and most ancient. It also tells the story of the sea itself, which has more than anything shaped the Celtic character.
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£28.50 -
Elizabeth’s Navy: Seventy Years of the Postwar Royal Navy
With over 260 images, this is a highly illustrated history of the ships and operations of the Royal Navy during the reign of the late Queen Elizabeth II.
During the 70 years spanned by the reign of the late Queen Elizabeth II, the Royal Navy changed out of all recognition. Its status as a superpower navy with worldwide bases and operations has been eclipsed, but it remains a powerful force because of its potency if not its size. Maritime history author Paul Brown takes us through each decade in turn, outlining the key events and developments, and charting the changes to the size, structure and capabilities of the Navy.
Fully illustrated with over 260 colour and black and white images, this book also provides a stunning visual record of the ships and operations that featured most prominently in each decade.
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£34.10£42.80 -
James Gillray: A Revolution in Satire
A lavishly illustrated biography of James Gillray, inventor of the art of political caricature
James Gillray (1756–1815) was late Georgian Britain’s funniest, most inventive, and most celebrated graphic satirist and continues to influence cartoonists today. His exceptional drawing, matched by his flair for clever dialogue and amusing titles, won him unprecedented fame; his sophisticated designs often parodied artists such as William Hogarth, Joshua Reynolds, and Henry Fuseli, while he borrowed and wittily redeployed celebrated passages from William Shakespeare and John Milton to send up politicians in an age―as now―where society was fast changing, anxieties abounded, truth was sometimes scarce, and public opinion mattered.
Tim Clayton’s definitive biography explores Gillray’s life and work through his friends, publishers―the most important being women―and collaborators, aiming to identify those involved in inventing satirical prints and the people who bought them. Clayton thoughtfully explores the tensions between artistic independence, financial necessity, and the conflicting demands of patrons and self-appointed censors in a time of political and social turmoil.
Distributed for the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British ArtRead more
£34.80£47.50James Gillray: A Revolution in Satire
£34.80£47.50 -
Islam in Britain, 1558-1685
This book examines the impact of Islam on Britain between 1558 and 1685. Professor Matar provides a perspective on the transformation of British thought and society by demonstrating how influential Islam was in the formation of early modern British culture. Christian-Muslim interaction was not, as is often thought, primarily adversarial; rather, there was extensive cultural, intellectual and missionary engagement with Islam in Britain. The author documents conversion both to and from Islam, and surveys reactions to these conversions. He examines the impact of the Qur’an and Sufism, not to mention coffee, on British culture, and cites extensive interaction of Britons with Islam through travel, in London coffee houses, in church, among converts to and from Islam, in sermons and in plays. Finally, he focuses on the theological portrait of Muslims in conversionist and eschatological writings.Read more
£36.10Islam in Britain, 1558-1685
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Introduction to English Legal History
Fully revised and updated, this classic text provides the authoritative introduction to the history of the English common law. The book traces the development of the principal features of English legal institutions and doctrines from Anglo-Saxon times to the present and, combined with Baker and Milsom’s Sources of Legal History, offers invaluable insights into the development of the common law of persons, obligations, and property, and also of criminal and public law. It is an essential reference point for all lawyers, historians and students seeking to understand the evolution of English law over a millennium.The book provides an introduction to the main characteristics, institutions, and doctrines of English law over the longer term – particularly the evolution of the common law before the extensive statutory changes and regulatory regimes of the last two centuries. It explores how legal change was brought about in the common law and how judges and lawyers managed to square evolution with respect for inherited wisdom.
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£42.70 -
Imperial Persuaders: Images of Africa and Asia in British Advertising (Studies in Imperialism)
The first book to provide an historical survey of images of black people in advertising during the colonial period. Analyses the various conflicting, and changing ideologies of colonialism and racism in British advertising. Reveals the historical and production context of many well known advertising icons, as well as the specific commercial interests that various companies’ images projected. Provides a chronological understanding of changing colonial ideologies in relation to advertising, while each chapter explores images produced to sell specific products, such as soap, cocoa, tea and tobacco. — .Read more
£48.00 -
An Empire of Laws: Legal Pluralism in British Colonial Policy (Yale Law Library Series in Legal History and Reference)
A compelling reexamination of how Britain used law to shape its empire
For many years, Britain tried to impose its own laws on the peoples it conquered, and English common law usually followed the Union Jack. But the common law became less common after Britain emerged from the Seven Years’ War (1754–63) as the world’s most powerful empire. At that point, imperial policymakers adopted a strategy of legal pluralism: some colonies remained under English law, while others, including parts of India and former French territories in North America, retained much of their previous legal regimes.
As legal historian Christian R. Burset argues, determining how much English law a colony received depended on what kind of colony Britain wanted to create. Policymakers thought English law could turn any territory into an anglicized, commercial colony; legal pluralism, in contrast, would ensure a colony’s economic and political subordination. Britain’s turn to legal pluralism thus reflected the victory of a new vision of empire―authoritarian, extractive, and tolerant―over more assimilationist and egalitarian alternatives. Among other implications, this helps explain American colonists’ reverence for the common law: it expressed and preserved their equal status in the empire. This book, the first empire-wide overview of law as an instrument of policy in the eighteenth-century British Empire, offers an imaginative rethinking of the relationship between tolerance and empire.Read more
£52.30 -
The Royal Navy in the Cold War Years, 1966-1990: Retreat and Revival
The Royal Navy in the Cold War Years, 1966-1990: Retreat and Revival is the first book to cover this subject in depth for more than thirty years. With unique access to primary, archival sources, Edward Hampshire offers important and fascinating insights into the naval dimension of the Cold War.During the period covered by this new book the Royal Navy faced some of its greatest challenges, both at sea confronting the increasingly capable and impressive Soviet Navy, and on shore when it faced policy crises that threatened the survival of much of the fleet. During this remarkable period, the Navy had rarely been so focused on a single theater of war-the Eastern Atlantic-but also rarely so politically vulnerable.
The author sets out to analyze shadowing operations and confrontations at sea with Soviet ships and submarines; the Navy’s role in the enormous NATO and Warsaw Pact naval exercises that acted out potential war scenarios; individual operations from the Falklands and the 1990-91 Gulf War to the Beira and Armilla patrols; the development of advanced naval technologies to counter Soviet capabilities; policy-making controversies as the three services fought for resources-including the controversial 1981 Nott defense review; and what life was like in the Cold War navy for ratings and officers. The book, the first to cover this subject in depth for more than thirty years, will make use of the full range of archival sources that have been publicly available over the last two decades, but of which little use has been made by historians.
This work is destined to become a definitive naval history of the period. It also provides a fascinating and gripping narrative of a navy under threat from many directions but which survived and eventually prospered, winning a remarkable victory in the far South Atlantic more than seven thousand from its expected battleground in the North Atlantic. Written for a wide audience, this book will appeal to professional and enthusiast alike.
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£53.00 -
Transport and the Industrial City: Manchester and the Canal Age, 1750-1850
This book presents the first scholarly study of the contribution of canals to Britain’s industrial revolution. Although the achievements of canal engineers remain central to popular understandings of industrialisation, historians have been surprisingly reticent to analyse the full scope of the connections between canals, transport and the first industrial revolution. Focusing on Manchester, Britain’s major centre of both industrial and transport innovation, it shows that canals were at the heart of the self-styled Cottonopolis. Not only did canals move the key commodities of Manchester’s industrial revolution -coal, corn, and cotton – but canal banks also provided the key sites for the factories that made Manchester the ‘shock city’ of the early Victorian age. This book will become essential reading for historians and students interested in the industrial revolution, transport, and the unique history of Manchester, the world’s first industrial city.Read more
£57.80£66.50 -
Gambling in Britain in the Long Eighteenth Century
English society in the eighteenth century was allegedly marked by a ‘gambling mania’, such was the prevalence and intensity of different forms of ‘gaming’. Gambling in Britain in the Long Eighteenth Century subjects this notion to systematic scrutiny, exploring the growth and prevalence of different forms of gambling across Britain and throughout British society in this period, as well as attitudes towards it. Drawing on a vast range of new, empirical evidence, Bob Harris seeks to understand gambling, its growth, and significance within the context of wider trends and impulses in society. This book asks what light gambling practices and habits shed back onto society and the values, hopes, and expectations that informed the lives of those involved. This is a book, therefore, as much about the character of British society in the long eighteenth century as it is about gambling itself.Read more
£67.70 -
The Queen’s Diamonds
This book is the first authorised account of the history of the finest diamond jewellery in the world. It tells the story of the magnificent royal inheritance of diamonds from the time of Queen Adelaide in the 1830s to the present day. Illustrated with a wide range of archive material as well as extensive new photography of the jewels, this fully researched publication includes stones of international importance as well as pieces of great historic significance, and will be a standard work of reference on diamond jewellery for many years to come.Read more
£83.80£118.80The Queen’s Diamonds
£83.80£118.80
