Written by scholars for a general audience, each title in the 'Masters of Art' series has illustrations accompanied by commentaries discussing each individual work.

«In this long-awaited first volume of a planned trilogy, the most acclaimed and revered living Nobel laureate begins to tell us the story of his life. Like all his work, «Living to Tell the Tale» is a magnificent piece of writing. It spans Gabriel Garcia Marquez's life from his birth in 1927 through the start of his career as a writer to the moment in the 1950s when he proposed to the woman who would become his wife. It has the shape, the quality, and the vividness of a conversation with the reader--a tale of people, places, and events as they occur to him: the colorful stories of his eccentric family members; the great influence of his mother and maternal grandfather; his consuming career in journalism, and the friends and mentors who encouraged him; the myths and mysteries of his beloved Colombia; personal details, undisclosed until now, that would appear later, transmuted and transposed, in his fiction; and, above all, his fervent desire to become a writer. And, as in his fiction, the narrator here is an inspired observer of the physical world, able to make clear the emotions and passions that lie at the heart of a life--in this instance, his own. «Living to Tell the Tale» is a radiant, powerful, and beguiling memoir that gives us the formation of Gabriel Garcia Marquez as a writer and as a man.»

Illustrated survey with expert on Tiffany glass as its guide. Topics include traditional and stained glass items; Tiffany revival; varieties of glass and tools; soldering; cutting glass; design; window ornaments; lead cane lampshades; copper foil techniques. For crafters at every level of experience. 252 black-and-white illustrations. 8 full-color illustrations. Bibliography. Index.

The Master of Ballantrae features some of Robert Louis Stevenson's best writing. The tale opens in the old Scottish castle of Durrisdeer, the ancestral home of the Durrie clan, and then moves to India, France, and the American Adirondacks. The Master of Ballantrae draws readers into a fast-paced adventure that encompasses sea voyages and encounters with pirates. Unabridged republication of a standard edition.

«Becky is back in her third Shopaholic adventure, a hilarious tale of mothers and daughters, mothers and sons, and one blushing bride who can't say no to saying «I do.» Life has been good for Becky Bloomwood — she's become the top personal shopper at Barneys; she and Luke are living happily in Manhattan's West Village; and her new neighbor is a fashion designer. When Luke proposes, bridal registries dance in Becky's head. The problem is, Becky's overjoyed mother has been waiting forever to host a backyard wedding, with the bride resplendent in Mum's frilly old gown, while Luke's high-society mother is insisting on a glamorous, all-expenses-paid affair at the Plaza.»

The Golden Bowl, Henry James' last completed novel, is a story of the union of European class and American money. American millionaire and widower Adam Verver lives with his daughter Maggie in Europe, where they spend their time collecting object d'art and enjoying each other's company. Maggie becomes engaged to the aristocratic but penniless Amerigo, ignorant of the fact that Amerigo had previously had an affair with her best friend Charlotte. Through the continuing machinations of Fanny Assingham, Maggie's father marries Charlotte, and the stage is set for the ensuing drama to unfold. With Maggie and her father spending a great deal of time together after both are married, it is not long before the spouses have rekindled their previous affair. It is the ugliness of deceit that wounds more than the adultery itself, and as the plot proceeds, we watch as the various characters gradually suspect, then become convinced of the truth.

May, Christine, Heed, Junior, Vida — even L: all women obsessed with Bill Cosey. The wealthy owner of the famous Cosey’s Hotel and Resort, he shapes their yearnings for father, husband, lover, guardian, and friend, yearnings that dominate the lives of these women long after his death. Yet while he is either the void in, or the center of, their stories, he himself is driven by secret forces — a troubled past and a spellbinding woman named Celestial. This audacious exploration into the nature of love — its appetite, its sublime possession, its dread — is rich in characters, striking scenes, and a profound understanding of how alive the past can be. A major addition to the canon of one of the world’s literary masters.

This exhibition of 64 exquisite drawings and watercolors is comprised of works by Victorian artists, primarily from England, and examines methods and motivations behind drawings and paintings of this era. Victorian Visions reflects the wide range of styles found in this collection. Some of the pieces are careful portraits of recognizable individuals, while others are fleeting sensory images or idealized impressions of people and landscapes. The exhibition includes a unique combination of works that were completed for sale, and studies for larger oil paintings. Artists in this exhibition include Sir Edward Burne-Jones, Sir William Morris, William Burges, Dante Gabriel Rosetti, and Sir Edward Poynter. Victorian Visions has been shown in Cardiff (Wales) and Finlands Helsinki City Art Museum.

Georgian and Regency architecture spans the years from 1714 until 1830, a period that bequeathed a rich heritage of buildings to the British landscape. From great country houses and churches to the formal city squares of Edinburgh and the graceful crescents of Bath, Georgian structures are distinguished by the elegance and harmony of their design. Georgian and Regency Architecture contains over two hundred illustrations, a chapter on the development of the concept of town planning, and biographical details of the outstanding architects of the time — from Adam and Hawkesmoor to Palladio and Wyatville. This title is part of a trilogy of books published by Chaucer press, lavishly portraying three hundred years of architecture, from the Georgian and Regency period through the Victorian and Edwardian era to the modern day.

From the biggest notions of carefully styled rooms to the smallest comforts and delights of accessorizing a home with your favorite things, Inside Log Homes offers suggestions, understanding, and inspiration regarding the intensely personal and expressive world of log-cabin living. Author Cindy Thiede peeks through doors into hundreds of uniquely styled and personally appointed spaces. Sometimes comfortably familiar, other times surprising and unexpected, each room may plant the seed of possibility for your own emerging vision of home and hearth. Cindy Thiede has spent twenty years photographing and writing about log-home architecture in the United States. Additional titles by Ms. Thiede include Hands-On Log Homes: Cabins Built on Dreams, The Log Home Book: Design, Past and Present, American Log Homes.

Kenzie and Gennaro are private investigators in the blue-collar neighborhoods and ghettos of South Boston-they know it as only natives can. Working out of an old church belfry, Kenzie and Gennaro take on a seemingly simple assignment for a prominent politician: to uncover the whereabouts of Jenna Angeline, a black cleaning woman who has allegedly stolen confidential state documents. Finding Jenna, however, is easy compared to staying alive once they've got her. The investigation escalates, implicating members of Jenna's family and rival gang leaders while uncovering extortion, assassination, and child prostitution extending from bombed-out ghetto streets to the highest levels of government. A Drink Before the War, the first in Lehane's acclaimed series with Boston detectives Patrick Kenzie and Angie Gennaro, is a remarkable debut that is at once a pulsating crime thriller and a mirror of our world, one in which the worst human horrors are found closest to home, and the most vicious obscenities are committed in the name of love.

A collection of some of the best, wittiest and most unusual excerpts from 16th- and 17th-century writing. Shakespeare's England brings to life the variety, the energy and the harsh reality of England at this time. Providing a portrait of the age, it includes extracts from a wide variety of writers, taken from books, plays, poems, letters, diaries and pamphlets by and about Shakespeare's contemporaries. These include: William Harrison and Fynes Moryson (providing descriptions of England), Nicholas Breton (on country life), Isabella Whitney and Thomas Dekker (on London life), Nashe (on struggling writers), Stubbes (with a Puritan view of Elizabethan enjoyments), Harsnet and Burton (on witches and spirits), John Donne (meditations on prayer and death), King James I (on tobacco) and Shakespeare himself.

William Shakespeare grew up in a small town in England during the Elizabethan era. As a young man his father's business suffered financial difficulties, and Shakespeare was unable to continue his Latin studies and was forced to help his father support his brother and sister. After he married and had three children he worked hard to support his extended family. Feeling unfulfilled, he decided to seek his fortune in London. In this beautifully illustrated book, learn how Shakespeare persevered through plagues, limited education, and family tragedy to become one of the most revered playwrights and poets in history, whose works continue to entertain audiences more than 400 years after his birth.

On Mars, the harsh climate could make any colonist turn to drugs to escape a dead-end existence — especially when the drug is Can-D, which translates its users into the idyllic world of a Barbie-esque character named Perky Pat. When the mysterious Palmer Eldritch arrives with a new drug called Chew-Z, he offers a more addictive experience, one that might bring the user closer to God. But in a world where everyone is tripping, no promises can be taken at face value. This 1965 book is one of Philip K. Dick's enduring classics, at once a deep character study, a dark mystery, and a tightrope walk along the edge of reality and illusion. A visionary, Hugo Award — winning author, Philip K. Dick was inducted posthumously into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame. His stories have been made into such blockbuster films as Blade Runner, Total Recall, and Minority Report, and he was the first science fiction writer to be included in the Library of America series.

«At the heart of this panoramic, multidimensional narrative is the compelling struggle of a young woman to lift her body and soul out of the gutter. Faber leads us back to 1870s London, where Sugar, a nineteen-year-old whore in the brothel of the terrifying Mrs. Castaway, yearns for escape to a better life. Her ascent through the strata of Victorian society offers us intimacy with a host of lovable, maddening, unforgettable characters. They begin with William Rackham, an egotistical perfume magnate whose ambition is fueled by his lust for Sugar, and whose patronage brings her into proximity to his extended family and milieu: his unhinged, childlike wife, Agnes, who manages to overcome her chronic hysteria to make her appearances during «the Season»; his mysteriously hidden-away daughter, Sophie, left to the care of minions; his pious brother, Henry, foiled in his devotional calling by a persistently less-than-chaste love for the Widow Fox, whose efforts on behalf of The Rescue Society lead Henry into ever-more disturbing confrontations with flesh; all this overseen by assorted preening socialites, drunken journalists, untrustworthy servants, vile guttersnipes, and whores of all stripes and persuasions. Twenty years in its conception, research, and writing, «The Crimson Petal and the White» is teeming with life, rich in texture and incident, with characters breathtakingly real. In a class by itself, it's a big, juicy, must-read of a novel that will delight, enthrall, provoke, and entertain young and old, male and female.»

As kitty gift books go, this is the best, funniest, most inspiring of them all, according to the Village Voice and tens of thousands of dedicated readers. Now out on the prowl with a new cover that's the cat's meow, it's ready to inspire a second wave of cats and their owners to relax into a catnap. Author and illustrator Alice M. Brock (of Arlo Guthrie's Alice's Restaurant fame) counsels cat owners to approach the cat quietly with palms up and open. Beginning at the rear, the masseur works all the way around the cat using a vigorous kneading motion, then rubs, presses, twists, and tugs the cat into a state of complete relaxation. We are assured that a well-massaged cat may remain in a state of prolonged calm for some time. Brock's instructions are accompanied by charming illustrations sure to inspire a mischievous chuckle in both friends and foes of felines everywhere.

«Welcome back to a Wonderland that is as astonishingly new as it is joyously familiar. Helen Oxenbury, one of the world’s most acclaimed illustrators, brings her special brand of magic to the Lewis Carroll classic in a handsome volume boasting more illustrations than any other edition — called a «masterpiece» by Parents’ Choice. Her Wonderland is exuberant, contemporary, and lovingly created, with all the warmth, depth of emotion, humor, and acute observations of people and animals for which the artist’s work is so highly regarded. An elegant, textured cover with flaps makes this a beautiful gift book.»

From Doris Lessing, Winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, one of her finest collections of short stories. Doris Lessing is unrivalled in her ability to capture the truth from the complexities of relationships and the stories in this wonderful collection have lost none of their original power. Two marriages, both middle class, liberal and 'rather literary', share a shocking flaw, a secret 'cancer'. A young, beautiful woman from a working class family is courted by a very eligible, very upmarket man. An ageing actress falls in love for the first time but can only express her feelings through her stage performances because her happily married lover is unobtainable. A dedicated, lifelong rationalist is tempted, after the death of his father, by the comforts of religious belief. In this magnificent collection of stories, which spans four decades, Doris Lessing's unique gift for observation, her wit, her compassion and remarkable ability to illuminate the complexities of human life are all remarkably displayed.

Twenty selections include humorous, touching tales about life in the shtetl, lovingly translated from the Yiddish with all the warmth and spirit of the originals. Features Progress in Kasrilevke, Summer Romances, Birth, There's No Dead, Someone to Envy, Three Widows, Homesick, On America, A Home Away from Home, and more.