In the beginning, there was nothing but endless flatness. Then came the Carpet... That's the old story everyone knows and loves. But now the Carpet is home to many different tribes and peoples, and there's a new story in the making. The story of Fray, sweeping a trail of destruction across the Carpet. The story of power-hungry mouls — and of two brothers who set out on an adventure to end all adventures when their village is flattened.It's a story that will come to a terrible end — if someone doesn't do something about it. If everyone doesn't do something about it... First published in 1971, this hilarious and wise novel marked the debut of the phenomenal Sir Terry Pratchett. Years later, Sir Terry revised the work, and this special, collectable, edition includes the updated text, his original color and black-and-white illustrations, and an exclusive story — a forerunner to The Carpet People created by the seventeen-year-old nascent writer who would become one of the world's most beloved storytellers.

On September 28, 1983, the discovery of a previously unknown tale by Wilhelm Grimm was reported on the front page of The New York Times. After more than 150 years, the Times noted, Hansel and Gretel, Snow-White, Rumpelstiltskin, and Cinderella will be joined by another Grimm fairy-tale character. The story of dear Mili was preserved in a letter Wilhelm Grimm wrote to a little girl in 1816, a letter that remained in her family's possession for over a century and a half. It tells of a mother who sends her daughter into the forest to save her from a terrible war. The child comes upon the hut of an old man, who gives her shelter, and she repays his kindness by serving him faithfully for what she thinks are three days. Actually, thirty years have passed, but Mili has remained safe, and with the old man's blessing there is still time for a tender reunion with her mother. As for the pictures that interpret Dear Mili — hailed by School Library Journal as gorgeous — they were a milestone in Maurice Sendak's career, the work of a master at the height of his powers.

This is a beautifully illustrated look inside the fascinating world of creepy-crawlies, with stunning three-dimensional pop-ups. Larger-than-life bugs spring from the pages, peek out from behind flaps and hide under tabs, inviting young entomologists to marvel at the mind-boggling variety of arthropod life. What reader can resist is a chance to look inside a cockroach's body to see how it works or open a wasps' nest to see what's inside? Useful information (why does the world need bees?) and scientific trivia (which beetles are strongest and fastest?) pack every page, while exquisite art and dramatic pop-ups bring the world of bugs to life. This is an ideal gift for nature lovers of all ages.

From one of our most beloved authors, a fascinating excursion into the history behind the place we call home — now richly illustrated with more than two hundred images in full color Bill Bryson and his family live in a Victorian parsonage in a part of England where nothing of any great significance has happened since the Romans decamped. But, struck one day by the thought that history mostly is masses of people doing ordinary things, he began to consider how very little he knew about the ordinary things in life — most of them found inside his front door. At Home is the bestselling story of Bryson's room-by-room journey around his house, a history of the world written without leaving home. The bathroom provides the occasion for the history of hygiene; the bedroom for an account of sex, death, and sleep; the kitchen for a discussion of nutrition and the spice trade. From architecture to electricity, from food preservation to epidemics, from the telephone to the Eiffel Tower, from crinolines to toilets — and the brilliant, creative, and often eccentric minds behind them — Bryson demonstrates that whatever happens in the world ends up in our houses, in the paint and the pipes and the pillows and every item of furniture. In this handsome new edition of At Home, Bryson's sparkling prose is enhanced by some two hundred carefully curated full-color images. Selected from a wide array of sources, these illustrations vividly bring his fascinating and entertaining domestic adventure to visual life. Bryson has one of the liveliest, most inquisitive minds on the planet, and he is a master at turning the seemingly mundane into an occasion for the most diverting exposition imaginable. When you've finished this book, you'll see your house — and your daily life — in a new and revelatory light.

J.M. Barrie's 1904 play Peter Pan and Wendy (and its subsequent variations) about the adventures of a boy who won't grow up and his adventures with Tinker Bell and the Darling children has challenged and delighted illustrators for over a century. Every major children's illustrator seems to have done a version of it, and when one considers the visual possibilities of the story — children flying over London, crocodiles, pirates, mermaids, and a Newfoundland dog as a nanny — it's easy to see why. We have long wanted to publish this story, and in Roy Best's 1931 The Picture Story Book of Peter Pan we've found our Peter. It isn't often that and illustrator can sustain emotional and visual impact through nearly 100 pages, but Best manages it. These illustrations, though over 80 years old, seem preternaturally modern in their coloring and style. This Peter Pan is vibrant, more Disney than Arthur Rackham, but nothing is cheap or commercial. Barrie's tale is given its full due both visually and in the text, adapted from Barrie's play.

“I could not believe that I had never heard of this book. It felt as important as Anne Frank’s Diary, only published nearly a hundred years before. . . . The book blew [my] mind: the epic range, the details, the adventure, the horror, and the humanity. . . . I hope my film can play a part in drawing attention to this important book of courage. Solomon’s bravery and life deserve nothing less.” —Steve McQueen, director of 12 Years a Slave, from the Foreword Perhaps the best written of all the slave narratives, Twelve Years a Slave is a harrowing memoir about one of the darkest periods in American history. It recounts how Solomon Northup, born a free man in New York, was lured to Washington, D.C., in 1841 with the promise of fast money, then drugged and beaten and sold into slavery. He spent the next twelve years of his life in captivity on a Louisiana cotton plantation. After his rescue, Northup published this exceptionally vivid and detailed account of slave life. It became an immediate bestseller and today is recognized for its unusual insight and eloquence as one of the very few portraits of American slavery produced by someone as educated as Solomon Northup, or by someone with the dual perspective of having been both a free man and a slave.

This little girl really wants a pet. But what kind should she get? After all, lions have a habit of snacking between meals and boa constrictors are a little too friendly... Lauren Child's story of a small girl's search for the perfect pet is sure to delight grown-ups and children alike.

Eight ancient legends of Ireland, told for younger children by an acclaimed Irish writer and reviewer. The stories are all linked by themes of magic and enchantment, and are perfectly matched by Irish illustrator Olwyn Whelan's brightly coloured and decorative paintings. The stories included are: Butterfly Girl; The Children of Lir; Labhra with the horse's Ears; The Enchanted Birds; Cu Chulainn and Emer; The Enchanted Deer; The Land Under the Waves; Oisin in Tir na nOg.

The Moscow Kremlin is the heart of the Russian state, a fortress whose blood-red walls have witnessed more than eight hundred years of political drama and extraordinary violence. It has been the seat of a priestly monarchy, a worldly church and the Soviet Union; it has served as a crossroads for diplomacy, trade, and espionage; it has survived earthquakes, devastating fires, and at least three revolutions. Its very name is a byword for enduring power. From Ivan the Terrible to Vladimir Putin, generations of Russian leaders have sought to use the Kremlin to legitimize their vision of statehood. Drawing on a dazzling array of sources from hitherto unseen archives and rare collections, renowned historian Catherine Merridale traces the full history of this enigmatic fortress. The Kremlin has inspired innumerable myths, but no invented tales could be more dramatic than the operatic successions and savage betrayals that took place within its vast compound of palaces and cathedrals. Today, its sumptuous golden crosses and huge electric red stars blaze side by side as the Kremlin fulfills its centuries-old role, linking the country's recent history to its distant past and proclaiming the eternal continuity of the Russian state. More than an absorbing history of Russia's most famous landmark, Red Fortress uses the Kremlin as a unique lens, bringing into focus the evolution of Russia's culture and the meaning of its politics.

Illustrated edition of the complete text captures the spirit of the Jazz Age bringing this Great American Novel to life.

When Francis Reboul asks Sam Levitt to take a job in Marseille it's impossible to resist, in this book by the author of A Year in Provence. The second book in Mayle's crime novel series (following The Vintage Caper) has Sam representing Reboul, as competition over Marseille's valuable waterfront becomes more hotly disputed-and finding himself right in the middle, with intrigue and danger following closely behind.

A spy thriller, a love story and a chilling look at a resurgent superpower... At the dawn of the new millennium, Finn, an MI6 spy, and Anna, a colonel of the KGB, have been sent to spy on each other. Instead they find a love that becomes to only truth they can trust. A source deep within the Kremlin tells Finn of a plan, hatched in the depths of the Cold War, to dismantle the edifice of the communist state and to bring about the rise of a new imperium within Russia: a plan to control the whole of Europe. Finn's masters in London are blinded by the new wealth pouring out of Russia and he must leave the Service and work in secrecy to uncover the deadly threat it poses to the freedom of every one of us.

Corduroy Mansions, Pimlico is an oasis of old-fashioned civilisation, its inhabitants considerate and peace-loving. But beneath the polite exterior seismic change is stirring. Barbara Ragg makes an eye-popping discovery about her stolid Scottish suitor's past, while Oedipus Snark — newly appointed and tirelessly self-interested Government Minister — has a close encounter in Switzerland that leaves him a new man all together. Then plucky canine Freddie de la Hay goes missing, and his owner, widower William French, is so shaken by an unexpected declaration of love that he seriously considers making a disappearance himself. Goodhearted, well-intentioned but often to be found barking up the wrong tree, the residents of Corduroy Mansions remain a thoroughly entertaining example to us all.

Edward Steichen (1879-1973) is unquestionably one of the most prolific, influential, and indeed controversial names in the history of photography. He was admired by many for his achievements as a fine-art photographer, while impressing countless others with the force of his commercial accomplishments. The influence of his legendary exhibition, The Family of Man, is still felt.This volume traces Steichen s career trajectory from his Pictoralist beginnings to his time with Conde Nast through his directorship of photography at the Museum of Modern Art. Hundreds of his photographs are reproduced in stunning four-color to reveal the complexities and nuances of these black-and-white images. Essays from a range of scholars explore his most important subjects and weigh his legacy. Contributors include A. D. Coleman, Joanna T. Steichen, and Ronald Gedrim. With a full bibliography and chronology, this is the most complete and wide-ranging volume on Steichen ever published.

For decades, people have enjoyed losing themselves in the stories of classic literary characters, including wondering about the fate of Marianne in the clutches of Mr. Willoughby. The novels of Jane Austen remain as popular, relevant, and enjoyable for the modern reader as they were for their contemporary readership, continuing to sell in the thousands. Elegantly packaged, with a textured, cloth-effect jackets, this novel will remain a must-read for generations to come.

'There is no happiness in love, except at the end of an English novel'. Anthony Trollope It's the early 1980s. In American colleges, the wised-up kids are inhaling Derrida and listening to Talking Heads. But Madeleine Hanna, dutiful English major, is writing her senior thesis on Jane Austen and George Eliot, purveyors of the marriage plot that lies at the heart of the greatest English novels. As Madeleine studies the age-old motivations of the human heart, real life, in the form of two very different suitors, intervenes. Leonard Bankhead — charismatic loner and college Darwinist — suddenly turns up in a seminar, and soon Madeleine finds herself in a highly charged relationship with him. At the same time, her old friend Mitchell Grammaticus — who's been reading Christian mysticism and generally acting strange — resurfaces, obsessed with the idea that Madeleine is destined to be his wife. Over the next year, as the members of the triangle in this spellbinding novel graduate from college and enter the real world, events force them to reevaluate everything they have learned. Leonard and Madeleine move to a biology laboratory on Cape Cod, but can't escape the secret responsible for Leonard's seemingly inexhaustible energy and plunging moods. And Mitchell, traveling around the world to get Madeleine out of his mind, finds himself face-to-face with ultimate questions about the meaning of life, the existence of God, and the true nature of love. Are the great love stories of the nineteenth century dead? Or can there be a new story, written for today and alive to the realities of feminism, sexual freedom, prenups, and divorce? With devastating wit and an abiding understanding of and affection for his characters, Jeffrey Eugenides revives the motivating energies of the novel, while creating a story so contemporary and fresh that it reads like the intimate journal of our own lives.

Lost in the forest with nothing to eat, two children find a mysterious gingerbread house. Discover the classic nursery story and two more in this beautiful book. Stories Included: Hansel Gretel, Sleeping Beauty, Kate Crackernuts.

Foolish Jack gets a big surprise when he sells the family cow for some magic beans! Discover the classic nursery story and three more in this beautiful book. Stories Included: Jack and the Beanstalk, The Wolf and the Seven Little Kids, The Hare and the Tortoise, The Three Sillies.

When a little mermaid falls in love with a human prince she faces a terrible choice. Discover the classic nursery story and two more in this beautiful book. Stories Included: The Little Mermaid, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, The Sun and the Wind.

«Oh, Grandma, what big eyes you have!» said Little Read Riding Hood. Discover the classic nursery story and three more in this beautiful book. Stories Included: Little Read Riding Hood, Puss in Boots, Three Wishes, The Musicians of Bremen.»