These unique fascinating discs bring you original performances from original piano rolls in full digital sound. These are not acoustic or electric recordings re-mastered, but actual performances recorded for mechanical reproducing pianos (Ampico, Duo-Art and Welte Mignon) by the great composers and interpreters between 1904 and 1935. The recordings were made recently on a new concert-grand piano. Cortot, Paderewski, Zeisler, Friedman, Paderewski, Rubenstein, De Pachmann, Godowsky, Novaes, Gabrilowitsch, D?Albert. CD 1: 1. Etude in Cm Op.25 No.12 - Ocean, 2. Ballade in Ab Op.47, 3. Piano Sonata No.2 Op.35 in Bbm (3rd Mmt) - Funeral March, 4. Waltz in Db Op.64 No. 1 - Minute, 5. Scherzo in C#m Op.39, 6. Bacarolle in F#m Op.60, 7. Nocturne in F# Op.15 No.2, 8. Nocturne in Bm Op.32 No.1, 9. Mazurka in Am Op.67 No.4, 10. Ballad in G Minor Opus, 23, 11. Prelude in C Op.57 Nos. 1, 4, 10, 21 and 24, 12. Waltz in F Op.34 No.3, 13. Berceuse in Db Op.57. CD 2: 1. Waltz in E flat Op.18 - Grande Valse Brillante, 2. Mazurka in A flat Op50 No 2, 3. Scherzo in Bbm Op.31, 4. Nocturne in Db Op.27 No.2, 5. Etude in Gb Op. 10 No. 5 - Black Key, 6. Fantasy Impromptu in C. Minor, Opus, 66, 7. Prelude In B flat Op 28 No 15 Raindrop, 8. Ballade in F Op.38 No.2, 9. Mazurka in C Op.56 No.2, 10. Nocturne in Eb Op.9 No.2, 11. Nocturne in Cm Op.48 No.1, 12. Nocturne in B Op.9 No.3, 13. Impromptu in F# 0p.36, 14. Nocturne in C#m Op.27 No.1. Total running time: CD 1 - 67:47 CD2 - 72:13. The piano rolls date from 1906 to 1928. Two CDs.

England is surrounded by a fringe of mud and pearls - tidal flats and marshes, holiday parks and petrochemical works, jagged cliffs and silver beaches. It has the isles of Canvey, Sheppey, Foulness, Wight and Dogs. Mersea, Wallasea, Two Tree and Rat. And the wild and rockier places of Lundy, the Scillies, Hilbre, the Farnes. Then there's the deserted wartime forts, oil platforms, lost lands of Doggerland and Lyonesse and off-shore wind turbines. These islands and their inhabitants not only cast varied lights on the mainland, they also possess their own peculiar stories, from the Barbary slavers who once occupied Lundy, to the ex-major who seized a wartime fort in the North Sea and declared himself Prince of Sealand. Ian Crofton embarks on a personal journey to a number of the islands encircling England, exploring some that were once places of refuge or holiness, and others that have become locations for prisons, rubbish dumps and military installations. He shows the ways in which England's islands have been formed and how they are constantly changing and his book is filled with excellent natural description, comic encounters, history and culture and he is the most engaging travelling companion. 286pp, 16 pages of colour photos, maps.

From the clever witty and popular Lawless series, this is first-rate Victorian crime fiction. It is 1863, and as a reluctant Inspector of Vice, Campbell Lawless undertakes a reckoning of London's houses of ill repute, a shadowy netherworld of frayed glamour and double standards, mesmerising and unspeakable by turns. From the erotic booksellers of Holywell Street to the alleys of Haymarket, he discovers backstreet cast-offs and casualties of the society bordellos, and becomes fascinated by a musician who has established a foundation for fallen women. But his inquiries draw the attention of powerful men who can be merciless in defending their reputations. Lawless must unlock the heart of a clandestine network before he too is silenced. With cast of characters in addition to the doxies, dollymops, fourpennies, zuches, jawbreakers, lushy betts, dirty salls, pineapple jacks, pimps, socialites, lords, dukes and parliamentarians. 360pp, paperback.

One of 1500 numbered copies of the first edition (unsigned), our review copy was an early number 167 which may make this Canongate November 2021 edition collectable in the future. Care-bent King Lear is dead, driven mad and betrayed. His three daughters too, broken in battle. But someone has survived - Lear's queen. Exiled to a nunnery years ago, written out of history, her name forgotten, now she can tell her story. Though her grief and rage may threaten to crack the earth open, she knows she must seek answers. Why was she sent away in shame and disgrace? What has happened to Kent, her oldest friend and ally? And what will become of her now, in this place of women? To find peace she must reckon with her past and make a terrible choice, one upon which her destiny, and that of the entire abbey rests. 'I am the queen of two crowns, banished fifteen years, the famed and gilded woman, bad-luck baleful girl, mother of three small animals, now gone. I am fifty five years old. I am Lear's wife. I am here.' A seductive, gorgeous and fresh perspective on an age-old tale, this novel won the Observer Best Debut Novelist of 2021. A beautifully lyrical novel, 328pp with decorated page edges. SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR.

"The swoon-worthy romance of Jane Austen meets the suspense of Charlotte Brontë." - Joy Callaway. In Regency England, one letter will alter a young woman's fate when it summons her to Briarton Park, an ancient place that holds the secrets of her past and the keys to her future. Cassandra Hale grew up knowing little about her parentage, but her world shifts when a shocking deathbed confession reveals a two year old letter from Mr. Clark, the master of Briarton Park, which hints about her family's identity. Stung by betrayal, Cassandra travels to the village of Anston only to learn that Mr. Clark has passed away. James Warrington is a widower and the new master of Briarton Park, where he lives with his two young daughters, his sister and his mother-in-law. When Cassandra appears at his doorstep with a letter from the previous owner, and then proceeds to assist his family in an unexpected way, he is honour-bound to help uncover the answers she seeks. The more time Cassandra spends in Anston, the more she begins to suspect not everything, or everyone, is as they seem. The danger surrounding her intensifies and she must use her wit and intuition to navigate the treacherous landscapes between reality and rumour, loyalty and deception if she is to find the place her heart can finally call home. The first in the Houses of Yorkshire series. 326pp, paperback.

It is 1938 and in the final days of the British Empire in a bungalow high up in the green hills above the plains of Ceylon live the Ferguson family - Bella, a precocious eight year old and her father Henry, owner of Pitlochry, a tea plantation, and her mother Virginia. The story centres around the Pavilion in the Clouds, nestled in idyllic grounds carved out of the wilderness. But all is not as serene as it seems. Bella is suspicious of her governess Miss White's intentions and her intuition sparks off her mother's imagination. After an unfortunate series of events, a confrontation results in a gunshot ringing out through the valley. Years later Bella, now living back in Scotland at university in St Andrews, is faced once again with her past. Will she at last find out what happened between her Father and Miss White? And will the guilt she has lived with all these years be reconciled by a long over-due apology? '...This house would be shrouded with cool mist, like thin, attenuated rain, and in this way would be invisible from the plains far below.' A lyrical and enchanting tale. 224pp.

England 1348 and a gentlewoman flees an odious arranged marriage, a Scots proctor sets out for Avignon, and a young ploughman in search of freedom is on his way to volunteer with a company of archers. All come together on the road to Calais. Coming in their direction from across the Channel is the Black Death, the plague that will wipe out half of the population of Northern Europe. As the journey unfolds, overshadowed by the archers' past misdeeds and clerical warnings of the imminent end of the world, the wayfarers begin to confront the nature of their loves and desires. Fully imagined, James Meek is the bold creator of a world we can see, hear, smell and taste. A tremendous feat of language and empathy, this novel summons a medieval world that is at once uncannily plausible, utterly alien and eerily reflective of our own, a novel about love, class, faith, loss, gender and desire set against one of the biggest cataclysms of human history, and something we can relate to with the recent pandemic. 392pp, large paperback.

David Thomson is the film critics' critic, regularly hailed as one of the greats, and this stunning book expands the reach of his classic Dictionary of Film. Being a visual medium, film creates meaning through countless wordless moments, illustrated here in a series of stills from 74 different films, from 1887 with Edward Muybridge's groundbreaking sequence featuring two nude women to Robert Redford's All Is Lost of 2013. Some film moments are made by the dialogue, but "I'll have what she's having" (When Harry Met Sally, 1989) and "Round up the usual suspects" (Casablanca, 1942) would make no sense without the visual context. When Dietrich starred in Morocco (1930), wearing top hat and tails for her cabaret act and kissing a female audience member, she established a rich tradition of sexual ambiguity that extended far beyond her own transgressive roles, although according to Thomson, "Dietrich was never really a great actress". One shocking key moment in film history happened off-set, when Hattie McDaniel, the first black woman to win an Oscar, was relegated to a table in a corner at the awards ceremony for Gone With the Wind in 1939. Among great film endings, The Third Man (1949) stands out as Anna does the long walk down the tree-lined avenue and finally strides straight past Holly without a glance. At the end of John Wayne's The Searchers (1956), Ethan returns Debbie to her family and then turns back to the desert, perhaps having gone through too much to be domesticated again. Some performances are simply mesmerising, and although Moira Shearer was cast in the central role in The Red Shoes because she was an accomplished ballerina, it was her acting that raised the film to greatness. The shower scene in Psycho (1960) took a week to film and is full of visual traps for the viewer, while Blow-up, 1966, is about a photographer who looks at his stills and thinks he may have seen a murder. The illusory uncertainty of the image is in question, and Klute (1971) is yet another film about voyeurism and surveillance. The Shining, Blue Velvet, Burn After Reading all capture moments of shifting perceptions. 320pp, softback, colour and black and white photos on every double spread.
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Knitting is not an ancient technique, and the first known examples come from around the 8th century, now identified as 'nalbinding', a single technique practiced in Africa and Scandinavia. Prior to 1740, cotton was not generally available to knitters, and wool and silk were the fibres that were used. From beginner's basics to advanced techniques, this handbook with clear written instructions and helpful photographs is a complete resource from casting on through basic stitches, increasing and decreasing, reading patterns and fixing mistakes. Soon you will be mastering knitting in the round, Aran, Fair Isle, intarsia, lace knitting to pompoms and tassels, grafting and smocking on knitting, single shaker knitting and using sequins and more. Flexible square large softback, 160pp, packed with hundreds of colour photos.

A spectacular journey through space and time that shows the fundamentals of science in groundbreaking visuals, many with black or block colour backgrounds and colourful lines and squares in a superb graphic design book. Starting from the primary point of physical origin, the book moves through quarks, atoms, molecules and stars to planet building, organic chemistry, the emergence of life, sentience, and finally on to the human mind in its quest to understand the Universe through exploration and science. Spectacular visuals provide unexpected insights covering all the major areas - physics, cosmology, chemistry, earth science, biology, nano-science, medicine, engineering and computer technology with visually striking infographics to explain the universe around us. Taste, brain evolution, biosphere, bird migration, trees and forests, gills versus lungs, enzymes, water and aqueous chemistry, the solar system, metals and carbon and states of matter to Pi in a superb numbered grid graphic, this truly is a spectacular book to hold and behold. 256 large pages, colour illus.