The Real McCoy (Hardback)

A Dictionary of Peculiar English

Peter Chadlington

365 (Paperback)

Great Stories from History for Every Day of the Year

Bruce Carrick

W.B. Marsh

Whether it is major political events like the USA’s annexation of Texas (1 March) or incredible discoveries like that of Tutankhamun’s tomb (26 November), every event in history happened – of course – on one of 365 days. Pore through history day-by-day with 365 and become engrossed in this lovingly constructed wealth of historical anecdotes. 365: Your Date with History is a fantastically browsable historical encyclopaedia, mapping the highs and lows of human existence day-by-day throughout the year. Each day is accompanied by historical facts and sometimes brief, often more lengthy, stories from a dizzying array of subjects. Written accessibly and with plenty of personality, 365 will be a have-around-the-house favourite for years.

W.B. Marsh was born in New York, and now lives in London. On his birthday – 26 October – the legendary ‘Gunfight at the OK Corral’ took place at Tombstone, Arizona, in 1881.
Bruce Carrick has worked in book publishing for many years in New York and London. On his birthday in 1897 Marcel Proust had a duel with fellow writer Jean Lorrain.

Love at First Site (Paperback)

Marc Zakian

Susan Broom

The Z-Z of Great Britain (Hardback)

Dixe Wills

A unique travelogue of the hidden Britain of the letter Z.

The Lives and Times of the Great Composers (Paperback)

Michael Steen

'A glorious plum-pudding of a book, to be consulted, with pleasure and profit, over and over again' Sir Jeremy Isaacs 

Michael Steen's 'Great Composers' was originally published in 2003. A lifetime's work and almost 1000 pages long, it has since become 'the' reference point and key read on the biographical backgrounds to classical music's biggest names.

Authoritative and hugely detailed – but nonetheless a joy to read – this new edition will expand its readership further and capitalise on a newfound popular interest in classical music.

Steen's book helps you explore the story of Bach, the respectable burgher much of whose vast output was composed amidst petty turf disputes in Lutheran Leipzig; or the ugly, argumentative Beethoven in French-occupied Vienna, obsessed by his laundry; or Mozart, the over-exploited infant prodigy whose untimely death was shrouded in rumour.

Read about Verdi, who composed against the background of the Italian Risorgimento; or about the family life of the Wagners; and, Brahms, who rose from the slums of Hamburg to become a devotee of beer and coffee in fin-de-siecle Vienna, a cultural capital bent on destroying Mahler…and much, much more.

Michael Steen was born in Dublin, studied at the Royal College of Music, was organ scholar at Oriel College, Oxford and is currently chairman of the Royal College of Music Society.

The Intellectual (Paperback)

Steve Fuller

Kuhn Vs Popper (Paperback)

The Struggle for the Soul of Science

Steve Fuller

The Science of Doctor Who (Hardback)

Paul Parsons

The Z to Z of Great Britain (Paperback)

Dixe Wills

A unique travelogue of the hidden Britain of the letter Z.

I Hate the Office (Hardback)

Malcolm Burgess