We enter a world of luxury, sex, power, danger and excitement, far away from the judging stares of grey old England. Sub-titled 'Ian Fleming's Jamaica', amid the lush beauty of the island's northern coast lies the true story of Fleming's iconic creation, James Bond. For two months every year from 1946 until his death 18 years later, Ian Fleming lived at Goldeneye, the house he built on a point of high land, overlooking a small white sandy beach on Jamaica's stunning northern coast. All the James Bond novels and stories were written there, and this book explores the huge influence the island had on his iconic post-war hero. For the writer the island was part retreat from the world, part tangible representation of his own values and part exotic fantasy. The book compares the real Jamaica of the 1950s during her dramatic build-up to independence with the island's fictional portrayal in the Bond books, shining a sometimes severe light on the dramatic end of the British Empire. The books evaluates the related impact of Fleming's circle of notable friends, the endless parties, sun, sand, wildlife, flowers, swimming and what a privileged upbringing and rich imagination could create. Beautifully written, pure escapism. 388pp, paperback with colour and other photos.

Subtitled 'From Kokedama to Terrariums and Water Gardens to Edibles', this book opens up a world beyond the modest kitchen-window Spider Plant. A basics section includes "Prune your way to happiness" and "Conquer your watering fears". Potting, cutting, trimming are all covered in a no-nonsense style with diagrams. "Fertilizer is a gateway drug", warns the author, and you should not succumb to coercive marketing techniques designed, as with humans, to get your plants hooked. The planting guide is divided into desert, temperate, tropical and aquatic. Among desert plants, a palm is graceful to look at and a good air purifier, but you need to be careful about their light needs. The spiky snake plant just wants to be left alone and is a good choice for bedrooms as it gives off oxygen at night. Ferns also present no care difficulties, though "they do like a bit of attention". Among tropical plants the Citrus with its colourful fruit lends an "Italian Riviera kind of vibe", while aquatic plants include Marimo or moss balls which sink or float in water, with the oldest recorded specimens over 100 years old. A chapter of Plant Projects includes methods of display and culture, including terrariums, water gardens, hanging and vertical gardens and the kitchen garden. The author gives instructions for creating a tropical terrarium in a bell jar, easily ordered online, and accompanied by photos of every stage. A Hanging Air Plant Globe or Underwater Landscape are attractive projects, and the Kitchen Garden section shows how you can grow garlic or carrots indoors. Finally there is Plant Style, with a "mid-century" look taking the stage as a large cheese plant overhangs your Scandinavian chair. A beautifully produced book, clear, concise, with colour photos on every double spread. 196pp.

Inspired by the scandalous real-life love story between America's richest man John Jacob 'Jack' Astor and Madeleine, a beautiful, intelligent and solidly upper class 17 year old, and the aftermath of their tragic honeymoon aboard the Titanic. Jack Astor was the richest man in the world, and Madeleine Talmage Force attracted his attention at the age of just 17, but the Astors were in a league apart. Jack's mother was the Mrs Astor, American royalty, and New York's most formidable socialite. Jack is dashing and industrious, a hero of the Spanish-American war, an inventor, and a canny businessman. Despite their 29 year age gap, and the scandal of Jack's recent divorce, Madeleine falls headlong in love and becomes the press's favourite target. On their extended honeymoon in Egypt, the newlyweds finally find a measure of peace from photographers and journalists. Madeleine feels truly alive for the first time and is happily pregnant. The couple plans to return home in the spring of 1912, aboard an opulent new ocean liner. When the ship hits an iceberg close to midnight on April 14th, there is no immediate panic. The swift, state-of-the-art RMS Titanic was thought unsinkable and as Jack helps Madeleine into a lifeboat, he assures her that he'll see her soon in New York. Four months later, at the Astors' Fifth Avenue mansion, a widowed Madeleine gives birth to their son. In the wake of the disaster, the press has elevated her to the status of virtuous, tragic heroine, but Madeleine's most important decision still lies ahead - whether to accept the role assigned to her or carve out her own remarkable path. Maddie needs to be strong and this fictionalised version is a totally immersive read, well written and glittering with all the glamour and detail of the etiquette, fashion and jewellery and behaviour of the time - and ultimately the terror and loss. 323pp, paperback, remainder mark.

Cameos and Intaglios are different in technique but have the same aim: to create a work of decorative art where the artist's skill in creating an image acts as a showcase for the beauty of the stone. With an intaglio, the picture is created by cutting into the stone and using what lies below to create the design; with a cameo, the design rises above the level of the stone as a relief. Almost 3000 years ago the Old Testament Book of Exodus describes a high priest's breastplate as having 12 engraved stones, and the Roman author Pliny devoted a book of his Natural History to gems and precious stones. Highly sophisticated cameos and intaglios are pictured from Egypt in the last centuries BCE. The Minoan and Mycenean civilisations had engraved gemstones, with a beautiful example being a bull hit by a spear from around 1500 BCE. Dexamenos is a named artist from 500 BCE and his intaglio of a heron in flight was found in the Crimea. In the medieval period gemstone carving was used on reliquaries and liturgical vessels. A Botticelli portrait from 1480 clearly shows a woman wearing an intaglio pendant, and intaglio became a collectors' speciality in the 17th and 18th centuries, continuing into the public buildings of the 19th century. 20 softback pages, 11 of which are cardboard pullouts opening up into two double spreads. Beautiful colour photos.

'A stone-cold Cold War classic' by one of the greatest fictional spymasters. A high-ranking scientist has been kidnapped, and a secret British intelligence agency has just recruited Deighton's iconic unnamed protagonist, later christened Harry Palmer, to find out why. His search begins in a grimy Soho club and brings him to the other side of the world. When he ends up amongst the Soviets in Beirut, what seemed a straightforward mission turns into something far more sinister. With its sardonic cool, working-class hero, this sensational debut was a bestseller and broke the mould of thriller writing and became the defining novel of 1960s London. Very different from the film, here is the gritty realism of a working class protagonist on a paltry salary in a spy agency that doesn't do much spying and assignments that are rather tedious except for the rather prescient stuff on brainwashing and industrial espionage. 240pp, paperback reprint in a nicely designed set.

HMS Vanguard was completed during WWII against all the odds of wartime shortages and strategic restrictions, and was used by the royal family for state visits in the fifties. This tribute to a great ship comes with extensive specifications and cross sections as well as fascinating archive photography. The Washington naval treaty of 1921 put a limit on the size and displacement of battleships for the UK, USA, France and Russia, but all the major powers enhanced their battleship programmes in the thirties. Britain initially adhered to the restrictions although the US utilised an escalator clause, and in 1937 Britain laid down five battleships of the George V class with 14" guns and radar. Dual purpose secondary guns intended as anti-aircraft artillery were found to be too heavy. Japan was now using 16" guns and in 1938 as war became inevitable Britain initiated a new class of ship with 9 x 16" guns and a displacement of 40,000 tons. The Lion and Temeraire were laid down but never completed, and the slightly improved Vanguard was the only ship to be laid down and launched by the end of the war because of the constant interruption of all longer-term shipbuilding plans. The innovation of a flat stern was new on a capital ship. When Princess Elizabeth launched HMS Vanguard it was the first use of her personal standard, though details of the event are shrouded in wartime secrecy. There are some superb photos of Vanguard's maiden voyage down the Clyde, together with full specifications on pullout pages with diagrams and cross-sections, not only of the ship itself but also the guns and other machinery. After the war the ship was adapted for the Royal tour to South Africa in 1947, and several fascinating archive photos show the cabins of the King, Queen and young princesses. HMS Vanguard was finally scrapped in 1960, and a series of photos documents the progress of the demolition. 128pp, archive photos, a few in colour, and numerous diagrams and cross-sections and a splendid double gatefold of layout and decks. 25 x 29.5cm.
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Dr John H. Watson writes in September 1917: 'Holmes and I sat in companiable silence for some time after we finished our excellent meal at Simpson's in the Strand. The Beef Wellington, named in honour of our greatest ever military man, was sublime.' On 22nd May 1859, Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle was born in Edinburgh, to Charles, a chronically addicted alcoholic, and Mary who was fond of books and a wonderful storyteller. He was later to tell a firm friend Bram Stoker that he produced and illustrated his first book of adventures at the age of six. March 1886 was significant as this is when he began writing 'A Study In Scarlet' which introduced the world to Sherlock Holmes and John Watson courtesy of Beeton's Christmas Annual. We may have been introduced to the magic of the greatest of English detectives by reading the books or seeing the hundreds of films and TV shows. Now this unique book offers a detailed itinerary or actually 'walking' Sherlock Holmes beginning of course at Baker Street. The series of walks takes in the well-known as well as the more obscure locations of London, plus a gallery of unforgettable characters, and each walk details location and the story in which it features. Associated literary and historical information, social interest and events in Conan Doyle's life are added. A chapter then explores Holmes' adventures in the rest of the UK and 45 black and white original photographs accompany the text. We walk along Northumberland Avenue, up the Strand, Fleet Street and on to St Paul's, Oxford and Regent Street, Piccadilly Circus and into the Haymarket, Holborn and Covent Garden, Westminster and Victoria, Trafalgar Square, Pall Mall and Mayfair and the City and the East End. There is a timeline of stories and notable actors who have played Holmes over the years. 141pp, many maps.

The deceptively simple lemon plays a zesty role in cooking and culture and here takes centre stage in this collaboration with The Gourmand, masters of the rich intersection of food and art. The lemon has been the star of Renaissance gardens that shaped the Medici dynasty, has the power to ward off scurvy, had a hand in invisible ink since 600 CE to pen covert messages, and are joyful yellow orbs ripe with intrigue and juicy tales. A favourite subject of art history's giants, the lemon captivates in the still lifes of Old Masters and inspired the breakthroughs of modern visionaries like Picasso, Matisse, and Warhol. Lemons also find themselves at the cutting edge of design in Philippe Starck's iconic Juicy Salif and the unassuming yet revolutionary Jif Lemon. Their presence extends to the decorative arts, gracing everything from Arts and Crafts wallpapers to mythological ceramics and even the famed Bloomsbury Group found lemons entangled in their literary love affairs. Accompanying these citrus-centric anecdotes and accessories are a foreword by chef and acclaimed food writer Simon Hopkinson and more than 60 lemon-infused recipes across global cuisines and for every occasion - including perfect poultry, decadent sauces, classic cocktails, and indulgent sorbets and desserts. 20 x 27.9cm, 272 pages. Glorious colour photography. Voted one of the best cookery titles of 2024 and already in reprint, new from Taschen whose way with words and book design "squeezes the best out of the kitchen staple".
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The United Kingdom's parliamentary seats have long been inherently dangerous and those who have held them over the centuries have risked physical injury from irate monarchs, vexed colleagues, disgruntled soldiers, angry mobs and aggrieved activists. They have endured imprisonment for their parliamentary activity, duels arising out of debate, brawls on the floor, forcible removals from the chamber, personal assaults on the streets. At least 21 parliamentarians have died as a result. There is a reason Guy Fawkes's attempt to blow up Westminster Palace in 1605 is remembered every 5th November. A savage attack on Sir John Coventry from an impertinent 1670 Commons allusion to the king's mistresses prompted a change to the penal code that endured over a century. Threats to seat holders have prompted the expansion of parliamentary privilege and changes to institutional procedure, legislation, public policy and popular opinion. Political controversies serve as a window into the development of the parliamentary system over the past 700 years. Also represented here are members of the two institutions absorbed into it (the pre-1707 Scottish and pre-1800 Irish Parliaments) and one devolved from it, Stormont. Together, they tell a fascinating tale. Read about the duel between cabinet colleagues George Canning and Viscount Castlereagh in 1809 and Lady Astor in 1930 pulling the coat tails of a colleague to prevent him from rising to speak and then shaking her fist at him in mock indignation. Equally hazardous could be the Sovereign's Speech at the Opening of Parliament. Under Elizabeth I, some MPs sought to squeeze themselves 'with great thrusting' into the crowded space behind the bar in the House of Lords. And in June 2012, Labour MP Austin Mitchell allowed a fishmonger to hit him in the face with a fresh cod! (To raise money for charity). 384pp, eight pages of riotous and riotously funny lampooning cartoons and contemporary images.

Regarded as the chronicler of Victorian England, Charles Dickens (1812-70) died with 32 years of Queen Victoria's reign still to go. His life overlapped with that of Jane Austen and the writers of Romanticism notably Robert Southey and William Wordsworth who were Poet Laureates from 1813-1843 and 1843-1850 respectively. The action of Great Expectations can be dated to 1807-26, while Little Dorrit was set when there were no railways. In many respects Dickens was most comfortable with dealing with these earlier days, describing reality and handling travel by coach with a better sensitivity to events and moods than travel by train. His concerns with capital, income, social opportunity and class are still pertinent today. In Nicholas Nickleby he writes: 'Cases of injustice, and oppression, and tyranny, a most extravagant bigotry, are in constant occurrence among us every day.' Beginning with an overview of the age of Dickens, prolific writer and historian professor Jeremy Black guides us through the biographies and writings of the great Charles Dickens to show how his work not only expressed his experience of Victorian England, but also defined it for generations to come. Then there is government from the Circumlocution Office to Britain as the supreme imperial power and also a valuable account of Dickens's relationship with America. He travelled extensively by train and crossed the Atlantic to the United States by steamer. Dickens describes a culture - popular, middle and élite - and at the same time creates one and Professor Black differentiates the two and shows how they interact. For example epidemics provide Dickens with opportunities to write about the diseased character of London circumstances, and encourage debate about over the causes of mortality like London's 'fermenting sewer' and the filthy Thames polluted by factories, sewage and steamships. Chapters also cover crime and the press, government, public order and pressure for change, culture, the 1800s through to the 1860s, Britain and the world and Dickens in retrospect among them. With John Snow's Map of Cholera Cases 1854, Charles Booth's Map of London Poverty 1889 and 16 pages of colour and contemporary etchings and illustrations including Whistler's The Pool and Black Lion Wharf. 284pp.