As far back as stories go, pioneers have reached for the skies. In the last two hundred years, they have mastered the air and made the modern world possible. Today they are bringing outer space within our reach. They're inventors and toymakers, amateurs and adventurers, visionaries, dreamers and, yes, crackpots. Some have called them irresponsible, even dangerous. But Richard Branson has met many of them. He has worked with them, funded them, and flown with them. He admires them, and trusts them, and thinks they and their kind are our future. In this book Richard Branson looks at the history of flight through the stories and people who have inspired him throughout his life. In these pages you will find tales of miraculous rescues; of records made and broken; of surprising feats of endurance and survival, including some of his own adventures, as well as developments in the future of air (and space) travel. It is a story of pioneers, and of course it includes the world famous Montgolfiers and the Wright brothers, but he also wants to describe some of the lesser-known trailblazers. People like Tony Jannus, who in 1914 created the first scheduled commercial flight in the world, flying his passengers over the waters of Tampa Bay at an altitude of just fifty feet! The 'bird man' Leo Valentin, who in the 1950's jumped from 9000 feet with wooden wings attached to his shoulders. And Branson's friend Steve Fossett, who dedicated his life to breaking records and having adventures. This is their story. It is also, in a small way, his own.

A solid grounding in musical techniques of the 17th and 18th centuries is essential to a complete understanding of Baroque music. This work is a comprehensive survey of the topic, covering every issue of significance to today's performers. The text features numerous musical examples, authoritative citations, scholarly interpretations and syntheses, and the author's own conclusions.

Contains over 1,000 useful sentences and phrases for travel or everyday living abroad: food, shopping, medical aid, courtesy, hotels, travel, and other situations. Gives the English phrase, the foreign equivalent, and a transliteration that can be read right off. Also includes many supplementary lists, signs, and aids. All words are indexed.

Selected from 19th-century reprints of medieval manuscripts, 355 full-color illustrations depict a wide range of subjects — from birds, florals, animals, and geometrics to letters of the alphabet embellished with flowers and sinuous vines, mythical beasts, musicians, whimsical figures emerging from flowers, knights in battle, and much more.

Striking collection of designs, rendered from textile and wallpaper motifs, vases, and other authentic sources, includes images of lovely florals once etched into glassware and pitchers, garlands of flowers in square and circular configurations, wildlife that adorned decorative bowls and platters, and much more. A convenient source of superb illustrations. 231 black-and-white illustrations.

A superb treasury of decorative wrought iron, this well-illustrated volume presents an informative survey of the ancient craft's practice throughout England. Its history can be traced simply by admiring the crisp black-and-white illustrations of gates, railings, screens, and other elaborately rendered works. 241 black-and-white illustrations.

Three of the author's most popular works — widely admired for their satiric wit, subtlety, and perfection of style — brilliantly re-create the provincial world of the early-19th-century English countryside, focusing, respectively, on husband-hunting mothers and daughters, the humbling of proud lovers, and the return of a once-rejected lover.

With just a few hours of diligent study, this concise and practical book will enable students to analyze sentences in all 3 languages. Alphabets, numerals, verb parts, and tenses are given for each language, along with English equivalents, pronunciations, and explanations for forming compound words. Technical terms, arbitrary rules, and old classifications into declensions and conjugations are excluded.

Lush prose and penetrating psychological insight infuse Conrad's first novel with the qualities that have made him one of the most popular and most studied writers in English literature. The novel chronicles the tragic decline of a Dutch merchant isolated in 19th-century Borneo, the machinations of his bitter Malayan wife, and the loss of his much loved daughter.

Learn how Christmas is celebrated around the world by coloring 30 pictures of young carolers in Great Britain, Mexican children playing under a pin ata, a Swedish girl wearing a traditional crown of candles, Greek children parading with drums and triangles, an Australian family picnicking on a beach, and more.

Charming set of 9 x 12 watercolor prints filled with whimsical scenes featuring stuffed toys in playful poses: a panda and bunny having a spot of tea, a teddy bear and kitten astride a hobby horse, a natty nautical teddy propped up against a chestful of toys, and 3 more.

World War I posters used to promote the American war effort are today highly prized collectibles. This card collection reproduces 24 of those works, among them James Montgomery Flagg's classic depiction of Uncle Sam proclaiming I Want YOU for U.S. Army.

This complete collection of Marlowe's poetry includes his translations of Ovid's Elegies and the First Book from Lucan's Civil Hero. The celebrated Hero and Leander, left unfinished at Marlowe's death, is also featured (the poem was later completed by George Chapman), as is the poet's most famous creation, The Passionate Shepherd to His Love.

Set against a backdrop of frozen canals in a winter wonderland, the year's most exciting event in a little Dutch village is about to take place. But will Hans Brinker and his sister Gretel, with their hand-carved wooden skates, be able to compete against their well-trained young friends who own fine steel blades?

This is a reprint of a 1974 work published by Richard Sadler (Chalfont St. Giles, Buckinghamshire). It depicts European headgear through the ages using 800 of the author's black-and-white sketches based on paintings, sculptures, and illustrations. Covering nearly 2000 years from Danish caps of 70 BC.

Delightful learning aid contains 15 scenes of home, school, farm, beach, park, classroom, and other common environments — with more than 500 objects labeled in Russian. Complete list of Russian words and English translations included at back of book. Fun-filled, effective way for students of Russian to build and strengthen their vocabulary skills.

Contains over 1,000 useful sentences and phrases for travel or everyday living abroad: food, shopping, medical aid, courtesy, hotels, travel, and other situations. Gives the English phrase, the foreign equivalent, and a transliteration that can be read right off. Also includes many supplementary lists, signs, and aids. All words are indexed.

Superb collection of 55 lovely plates, reproduced from rare, early editions, includes a rich selection of fairy tale images by one of England's leading illustrators of the early 20th century. Includes scenes from Irish Fairy Tales, English Fairy Tales, Hansel and Gretel, Snowdrop and Other Tales, Little Brother & Little Sister, and more.

Featuring 19 of the finest works in the American short-story tradition, this compilation includes: The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe, Bartleby by Herman Melville, To Build a Fire by Jack London, Bernice Bobs Her Hair by F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Killers by Ernest Hemingway, plus stories by Hawthorne, Twain, Cather, and others.

What does a self-portrait tell us about the artist? Readers are invited to find out in this unique addition to Dover's popular Art Library Series. Drawings in pen, ink, and charcoal, as well as etchings and engravings, encompass 44 splendid self-portraits. Subjects range from such 15th-century artists as Gentile Bellini, Leonardo da Vinci, and Albrecht Durer to a host of 19th-century masters: James Whistler, Auguste Rodin, Vincent van Gogh, Berthe Morisot, Aubrey Beardsley, and many more. Among the other artists depicted here are the avid self-portraitist Rembrandt van Rijn, in one of his trademark hats, along with Peter Paul Rubens, Francisco de Goya, William Blake, and Camille Pissarro. Artists, art historians and art lovers will enjoy discovering the emotions, character traits, and nuances of personality revealed in these masterly self-portraits.