The Bibliophile staff were fooled into thinking that Annie had brought them each a box of chocolates! So attractive is the cover of this keepsake box that it actually looks like delicious white organic chocolate being shaved from a Green & Black's delight. Pull the chocolate brown satin tie and find equally delicious colourful designs on the 30 sheets of quality writing paper. One is a chocolate torte with bright red strawberries on top, another the white chocolate, another crumbled pieces up close and finger lickin' good and the fourth design cubes of chocolate, melted in a bowl with a wooden spoon, tempting you. Colourful design on one side and of course blank for writing your letters on the reverse. 30 sheets of writing paper and 30 bright white envelopes. Keepsake box measures 16.8 x 4 x 23cm.

The British have had an affair with Bugatti sports cars for decades, and perhaps Prescott Hill-Climb in Gloucestershire is the place where that relationship has reached its highlights. Prescott is about people, home to classic Bugatti metal, and also to Edwardian and 1920s-30s mechanical magic of vintage sporting character and their clan of owners. With whirring crankshafts, popping valves, howling superchargers, wailing induction, and the magic of magnetos, in this volume we find a vintage home for classic car obsession. This collection of photographic images set in the wonderful natural amphitheatre of the Cotswolds celebrates in over 200 photographs much of the master works of Molshein captured in action and at rest. Here is a Brescia Bugatti, two 1926 Bugattis showing off the essential Ettore design language, a rare twin-cam supercharged Type 50 B ready to pounce in a striking royal blue, the Club's Chairman in his Type 37 Chassis 37282, rare archive shots for example of the Scuderia Lemon Burton and one of the Bugaires in May 1955, the rare Geodetic Type, glazed coupé hard top, and club members named and photographed beside their gleaming short and longer wheel base nimble Bugattis, from behind the wheel, under the hood and outside the clubhouse. Page after page of big glamorous colour photographs, happy smiling drivers, and great vintage. Nice book. Great cars. 192 very large pages in landscape format.
Click YouTube icon to see this book come to life on video.

Irish troops had fought for Louis XIV in the 1670s and took part in most of the major conflicts of the time including the Wars of the 1670s, the Nine Years War, the War of the Spanish Succession, the War of the Austrian Succession, the 1745 Jacobite Rebellion and in the Americas. Their many battles included Neerwinden, Steenkirke, Blenheim, Oudenarde, Ramillies and Malplaquet; Fontenoy, Culloden and York Town. They served alongside the French Army until the French Revolution. They fought in French service initially under Charles II but then in exile as James II lost his throne. The links between the regiments and the characters that form the core of the story are outlined and discussed and the Irish Brigade went on from becoming just another 'foreign' regiment to an elite formation. Ironically, while supporting the Jacobite cause, their link with the French enemy helped solidify the position of the English crown. They were sent to France under Lord Mountcashel in 1689. With the fall of Limerick in 1691, Patrick Sarsfield led the second 'flight' of 'Wild Geese' to the continent to fight in a war for the French, against the Grand Alliance of Europe, in the vain hope that their loyalty might warrant French support in a return to Ireland under a Stuart king. D. P. Graham explains the origins of the brigade and its regiments, the personalities who led them and formed their reputation, and the circumstances of their final dissolution in the aftermath of the French Revolution. 472pp.

Crack those cryptic clues! Verbophiles can work their way through double straight clues, double meaning clues, word exchange clues, homophone clues and anagrams. Here are all the clever crossword clues beloved of crossword compilers explained by solver Kevin Skinner in easy steps. Once you recognise the type of cryptic clue used, you are half way to finding the answer. Work your way through example crosswords provided and hone your new-found skills. The explanations show how the answers are arrived at so that next time you come across a clue of the same type, you will be able to tease out the answer for yourself and beat the compilers at their own game. First published in 1993, we have the facsimile reprint paperback, 160pp.

Avid jigsaw puzzlers will love buying one of these for each of their puzzles on the go to safely store them while in progress. Simply begin your puzzle on the big quality green felt mat which measures 107cm x 75cm. Printed on it in white are gridline sizes for your 500, 1000, 1500 or 2000 piece jigsaws to a maximum of 103cm x 68cm and still with a border. Included is a sturdy bright red cardboard cylinder which you simply slot together, put on the mat and roll the mat around it. Affix the straps and your puzzle is ready to continue another time. Velcro straps, red plastic lid included.

Christina Rossetti is widely regarded as the most considerable woman poet in England before the 20th century. No reading of 19th century poetry can be complete without attention to this prolific and popular poet. Rossetti's inner life dominates her poetry, exploring loss and unattainable hope. Her divine poems have a freshness and toughness of thought, while many of her love poems are erotic, and as often express love for women as for men. The varied threads of Rossetti's concerns are drawn together in what is perhaps her greatest poem, the strange and ambiguous Goblin Market. Paperback, 304pp.

A companion to 91574 Black Swan Class Sloops, this volume is devoted to a ship best known for her demise, one of three sisters sunk in a matter of hours by a single U-boat in 1914. When first designed, Cressy and her sister ships were highly original, representing a novel concept that anticipated the battlecruiser and pointed the way to a line of sequentially improved armoured cruiser classes. As such they warrant more attention than is usually accorded them, and this volume details many of their interesting features and innovations. Including spectacular large gatefolds, here are the detailed original builders' technical plans, annotated and labelled drawn in multi-coloured inks and showcasing such features as a 24 inch electric light projector, the arrangement of submerged torpedo room, belt armour, fore and aft bridges, the lower deck as fitted and arranged of wood and corticene decks, the arrangement of ventilation, magazine cooling arrangements and the ship?s profile. The very gentle sheer of the Upper and Main Decks can be seen, as can the form of the 'cruiser' stern. The lower part of the hull is dominated by the propellors and rudder. The space on the Protective Deck was used for storage, with the captain's living space on the Upper Deck. The text and plans are copyright of the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, in spectacular 2020 first edition publication by Pen & Sword. 128 very large pages, colour diagrams and plans throughout.
Click YouTube icon to see this book come to life on video.

Widely regarded as the Rolls Royce of Second World War convey escorts, heavily armed and superbly equipped for their role, the Black Swan Class of sloops and their modified derivatives were among the most effective anti-submarine ships of the Battle in the Atlantic. The design was gradually improved, and this book uses plans of four selected ships to chart that development in detail. They comprise of the original group Black Swan as built, and Flamingo as Modified post-war, and of the Modified Class Starling, the single most successful U-boat hunter of the war, shown as in 1943, and Amethyst, as refitted in 1950 after her clash with Chinese Communists on the Yangtze. The technical details of British warships were recorded in a set of plans produced by the builders on completion of every ship. Known as the 'As Fitted' general arrangements, these drawings documented the exact appearance and fitting of the ship as it entered service. They were very large, more than 12 feet long for capital ships, highly detailed, annotated and labelled and drawn with exquisite skill, often in multi-coloured inks and washes. Intended to provide a permanent reference for the Admiralty and the dockyards, they represent the Acme of the draughtsman's art. Today these plans form part of the incomparable collection at the National Maritime Museum at Greenwich which uses the latest scanning technology to make digital copies of the highest quality. This book is one of a series based entirely on these draughts depicting famous warships - complete sets in full colour with many close up and enlargements and extensive captions. The companion to code 91573 Armoured Cruiser Cressy. 128 very large pages including a spectacular gatefold, colour. A Pen & Sword lavish publication.
Click YouTube icon to see this book come to life on video.

Wargaming with a difference, designed for 2-4 players aged 12 to adult, the game will take approximately 45 minutes on a board which when opened measures 25.5cm square. The game takes players to the very heart of what it would have been like to be a Commanding Officer in the trenches of Flanders. At every move you must make decisions that will determine the fate of the men you command. Your troops must face bombardment from the enemy's artillery, tanks and airplanes. How many men will you risk on a particular course of action? A game of strategy, the 54 playing cards are tastefully designed in colour featuring barbed wire, machine guns, infantry, Flying Circus, tanks, zeppelin balloons etc. 40 troop pieces, eight player pieces in primary colours, three dice and one Rules set. Box measures 25.5cm square.

If you are a general knowledge genius or just a fan of the hugely popular Qi BBC comedy panel quiz show, this Best Of edition features the best questions from the original Qi and QiXL Board Games as well as the Qi Travel Game of 'Quite Interesting' facts for you and your fellow players to discover. A hit since it began in 2008, Qi is arguably the hardest panel game show and is built on the philosophy that everything in the world is quite interesting provided it?s looked at in the right way. Here are quirky facts for up to six players to take part in this hilariously fun board game featuring a host of challenging questions. Get the question right and you get to keep the card; get it wrong and you could face the dreaded klaxon, lose a card and go backwards on the board. Designed for 3-6 players aged 12 to adult, the big box measuring 27cm square contains one colourful board of primary-coloured squares, a digital timer, three dice, three playing pieces, four question booklets and one set of Rules.