The cruel Siege of Paris during the winter of 1870-1871, the Paris Commune and its bloody suppression in 1871 saw two of the most prominent painters of modern life remaining in the besieged capital - Edgar Degas and Edouard Manet. In the hour of danger, Manet behaved not like a bohemian or an escapist as did his friend Zola, but instead acted like an ordinary bourgeois patriot and volunteered for the National Guard and painted hardly anything during this time except for a winter landscape showing the village of Montrouge in December 1870, here shown in figure 3 under the effect of snow. Willibald Sauerlander focusses on this auspicious moment in the history of art. In the summer of 1874, Manet and Claude Monet, two outstanding painters of the nascent Impressionist movement, spent their holidays together in Argenteuil, on the Seine River. Their growing friendship is expressed in their artworks culminating in Manet's marvellous portrait of Monet painting complete with easel on a boat. The boat was the ideal site for Monet to execute his new plein air paintings as it enabled him to depict nature, water and the play of light. Similarly Argenteuil was the perfect place for Manet, the great painter of contemporary life, to observe Parisian society at leisure, social conventions and the boredom on vacationers, and his friend's eye for nature. This slim 80 page Getty Research Institute quality publication reproduces 37 plates, many in colour and including contemporary archive photographs such as Monet on the Water Lily bridge at Giverny and spread over two pages of the book his Water Lily Pond of 1900 in glorious blues and pinks and greens. Other notable reproductions are Manet's Velázquez in the Studio, studies of boats and the Iron Track bridge.

Brooklyn Bridge, a night view of St Patrick's Cathedral 1956, Jefferson Market Court House 1881, bold Art Deco colours by Bascove in the image of Pershing Square Bridge 1993 contrast with the delicacy of Fred Pansing's New York Harbour 1898 or the jollity of a summer?s day at Crystal Palace 1853. The 30 paintings created between 1825 and 1993 capture many aspects of New York City from the unveiling of the Statue of Liberty to a night scene on a street in the Bowery and the artists range from gifted amateurs to professional artists specialising in marine subjects, a muralist, and the celebrated American Impressionist Childe Hassam. Softback, 30 detachable quality postcards, all in colour.

In the South Transept of Westminster Abbey are interred the bodies of over 70 men and women, primarily writers, poets and playwrights, and many more are memorialised. Ever since the reburial of Geoffrey Chaucer in 1556, this space has become a sanctuary where some of the most revered figures of English letters are remembered and celebrated and is an attraction visited by thousands of tourists every year. Analysing almost a millennium of political and literary history, Thomas Prendergast examines the chaotic, fitful and frequently politically influenced process by which Britain has consecrated its poetry and poets, beginning with the deaths of Edward the Confessor and Thomas Becket, the various burials of Chaucer, the politicking of Alexander Pope, the absence of William Shakespeare to the present day. Are the notable absences more telling than those who rest here? To what do the many amendments to graves and memorials attest? Full of fascinating vignettes of the writers' lives, quotations and with a full rollcall of residents and memorials, plus floorplans and a great many b/w photos, drawing and other illus, this is a brilliantly crafted rumination on a British institution which would be the ideal read prior to a visit to Westminster Abbey. 235pp.

The Associate Royal Academician Frederick Walker is widely credited with having produced the first artist-designed advertisement in Britain, with his 1871 design for the Olympic Theatre's production of Wilkie Collins's 'The Woman in White', in which a ghostly shrouded female figure is seen from behind exiting the door. The impact of this poster was immense and it encouraged the belief that the medium could support real artistic expression. 19th century periodicals such as the Art Journal and the Magazine of Art printed essays that agonised over the extent to which posters could be regarded as fine art. Nothing characterised the commercial imperative of the poster more perfectly than the fate of Sir John Everett Millais's picture 'A Child's World', popularly known as 'Bubbles'. The painting and its copyright then found their way to the manufacturers of Pears Soap who used it as the basis of one of the 19th century's most successful advertising campaigns - Millais was initially furious but there was nothing he could do to prevent it. For many years The Royal Academy did not regard posters as a valid form of art until around 1910 when public attendance at the Summer Exhibition began to decline dramatically and again in WWI. Today The Royal Academy's Summer Exhibition is the largest event of its kind in the world and here for the first time archivist Mark Pomeroy brings together the wonderful collection of posters designed to publicise the exhibition in a unique record of a century of changing tastes in illustration, graphic design and typography. It features posters by Norman Adams, Edward Ardizzone, Edward Bawden, Elizabeth Blackadder, Peter Blake, Terry Frost, David Hockney, Allen Jones, Laura Knight, Eduardo Paolozzi, Carel Weight and many more, each given a full page in glorious colour to appreciate the detail of the artistry in this varied collection for all art lovers. 96pp.

Take a step out of the system and be encouraged and inspired by the artistic avant-garde with wise words on stealing, holding yourself back, probing pain, discovering you are not a creative genius, right things wrong space, wrong things right space, inventions, going to excess and intervention. Find ideas worth taking from Pablo Picasso, Bridget Riley, Marina Abramovic who encourages us to embrace unpleasant emotions and investigate taboo subjects. William Blake resists and reassess the norm. Andy Warhol joins a collective to spark ideas and share experiences. Marcel Duchamp and Rachel Whiteread take things out of context to find new value. Cindy Sherman creates an alter ego and Jeff Koons challenges the boundaries of good taste. And there are others who question whether it's good to disrupt a routine, turn an idea on its head, or challenge the norm in a book that will give you the confidence to take creative risks and experiment, free from self-doubt. 112pp, softback with big typography and nice design, and eight pages of colour plates from the artists at the back.

Founded in 1860 by Arthur Sanderson and initially providing only wall coverings, the manufacturer introduced paints and associated supplies in 1900, illustrated style guides in 1911, and printed fabrics at the end of the First World War when there were severe paper shortages. Sanderson manufactured woven fabrics from 1934 and after the Second World War introduced forward-looking modern styles. They mounted exhibitions in 1952, 54 and 56 attracting over 16,000 visitors in its ten-day run and with decorative schemes by Sir Hugh Casson, Professor of Interior Design at the RCA. They featured wallpapers and fabrics from Swedish, German and other manufacturers and employed hand block and screen printing for limited edition reproductions and avant-garde designs. Their presses, the most advanced in the country, provided flock, surface, flexographic and gravure papers, including faux wood and stone effects. New Triad collections were introduced in 1974 when in-house designers were fostered including Robert Holmes, Pat Etheridge (plate 63) and Davina Spring (plate 62 and 64). Following a short introduction, the entire book is composed of full page colour reproductions, some 65 in total. Each pattern is reproduced on the accompanying CD-ROM in 71 high resolution images of these beautiful patterns for any number of craft projects.

Finely drawn sketches, portraits and fantasies by one of the major theatre and opera, stage and costume designers of the 20th century, many of Lila De Nobili's colour artworks have never been previously published before this publication. Parisian cats have been celebrated by painters, writers and chansonniers since the 19th century when Steinlein created the poster for the cabaret Le Chat Noir. An important place among these artists is occupied by Lila De Nobili who moved to the French capital in 1945 and never left the 7th Arrondissement, its quintessential neighbourhood. She painted and designed stage sets for the Scala in Milan, the Opéra in Paris, Covent Garden in London and was sought by the most famous directors. She designed costumes for Maria Callas, Edith Piaf, Audrey Hepburn and Ingrid Bergman. Just after the events of May 1968, she devoted herself exclusively to painting and adopted her first cat Ulysse and the feline family soon grew. She never tired of sketching and drawing them, and painting them in watercolour and most of these intimate works full of insight and subtlety were gifted to a friend, herself a cat lover and thanks to this collection, now published in book form. Also included are fantasies and stories including Dominique, affectionate cards featuring her cats Mitzi and Rouki, a tabby and a pale ginger. Some of the cats are dressed as can-can dancers or Siamese cats as Pierrot, costume sketches for Red Riding Hood and Sleeping Beauty at Covent Garden, but best of all are the beautifully observed small cats looking curiously or snuggled under the covers inside a cardboard box and kittens looking for a home. Exquisitely coloured renderings, 144 landscape pages measuring 21.6 x 16.5cm.
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Utterly unique, press-out over 50 landmark buildings to transform your book into a work of art. Once the card buildings have been removed and constructed, you can fan out the book to create your own version of London to treasure and display. This book literally transforms the cityscape and features 50 seminal buildings, each with a compelling description covering key facts and history of its architecture, its address, the architects, date completed and height. To press around each building, hold the page steady with one hand and use the other to press gently on the delicate edges. Discard the excess card, smooth the edges with your fingers, and display. It begins with a red London bus, then the Houses of Parliament, the London Eye, Westminster Abbey, Nelson's Column, Liberty London, the French House Pub in Soho, James Smith Umbrellas, St Pancras Station and Hotel, the Charles Dickens Museum, Alexandra Palace - which opened in 1875 with seating for 14,000, a Palm Court, a 3,000-seater theatre and a Concert Hall for 3,500, museums, banqueting suites, refreshment rooms, Italian gardens and a vast, landscape park. The Natural History Museum, the Royal Albert Hall, Wembley Stadium, Hampton Court Palace, and quirky ones like the Reliance Arcade in Brixton or the explorer Sir Richard Burton's tomb where the visitor can peer down into an oriental world of flaking murals depicting the moon, stars and seraphim and a chequered floor of Carrara marble. It is 12 feet high, is in SW14 and was completed in 1890. Then we go right through to The Shard and The O2 and the traffic light tree at Canary Wharf and perhaps best of all Trinity Buoy Wharf and Lighthouse, the home of Bibliophile Books! Cutty Sark, St Pauls, Shakespeare's Globe, Tate Modern and the K2 Telephone Box, this is highly recommended. 110pp, colour.
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Shine a light on the design history of the famous Anglepoise lamp with its angled neck, now used by Pixar animation to bounce around and make us laugh. It is a hallmark of British design. In 1932 vehicle suspension engineer George Carwardine designed the spring, crank and lever mechanism that became the blueprint for the first Anglepoise lamp. Enchanting the world with its light-to-the-touch and anthropomorphic design, the unique and characterful form has adorned the work tables of everyone from James Bond who had one in his flat, writers to engineers to focus a pool of light on an individual's work or book. Chapters cover the Second World War and industry, the launch of the Anglepoise Model 1227 through advertising, the lamp?s development from the 1970s to the 2000s with collaborations with Paul Smith, Kenneth Grange and Margaret Howell, all beautifully depicted with dozens upon dozens of colour posters in this big picture book story. See the Type 80W3 wall light with three joints for flexibility by Sir Kenneth Grange and the set of the Abandoned Darkness campaign video, showcasing the lead lamp and the core and tendons then as now made of high-quality steel springs. A book that puts light just where you need it! Wonderfully nostalgic, beautiful quality and design, hundreds of colour and black and white images. 192pp, 19.5 x 25cm.
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Matisse's late collage, The Snail, is one of the most striking exhibits at Tate Modern, where its colourful roulade of shapes encapsulates the snail's slow movement. Other works from Matisse's late period include the Blue Nudes, whose simplified shapes are perfectly designed to express motion and vibrant life. This short introduction from the Tate Gallery starts with Matisse's early work and development from being a close follower of Cezanne to his position as a leading figure of early 20th century modernism. He was a printmaker and sculptor, but is best known as a painter. The dark palette of Matisse's early still lifes show the dominant influence of Cezanne, but in The Dinner Table of 1898 a figure breaks the stillness and looks forward to later work. The brash colour of the Fauves is seen in the iconic Woman with a Hat from 1905 and bright interiors such as The Pink Studio and Harmony in Red. At the same time as these groundbreaking works he produced the simplified dancing figures of Dance II, which anticipate the late collages in style. The restrained elegance of the 1913 Portrait of Madame Matisse demonstrates a change in palette from the earlier reds and bright blues to sombre shades of greenish grey, which nevertheless add to his stature as one of the 20th century's great colourists. Cubism is an intermittent influence, fired by his friendship with Picasso, and the 1935 canvas Large Reclining Nude, with huge limbs lying on a blue checked cloth, gestures towards Picasso's style, but Matisse could never quite be defined within any movement. 80pp, softback, colour reproductions.