Daedalus Books

In this novelistic romp that is by turns hilarious and brilliant, John Barth spoofs his own place in the pantheon of contemporary fiction and the generation of writers who have followed his literary trailblazing. Coming Soon!!! is the tale of two writers: an older, retiring novelist setting out to write his last work and a young, aspiring writer of hypertext intent on toppling his master. In the heat of their rivalry, the writers navigate, and sometimes stumble over, the cultural fault lines between print and electronic fiction, mentor and mentee, postmodernism and modernism.

Harry Silver is a TV producer in London whose work life is going much better than his home life. His ex-wife still bears a grudge, his new wife is not to be trusted, and he is alienated from his son and stepdaughter. Thank goodness he has Mum, whose long marriage to his father is Harry's impossible ideal. Of course, his own pursuit of a seductive Japanese woman doesn't help matters....MAN AND WIFE is the sequel to the author's best-selling MAN AND BOY (2001).

There's no place like home. Unfortunately Marcus Didius Falco is a thousand miles north, stuck in the Roman outpost of Londinium. And just when he's about to pack up his family, assorted relatives, and friend Petronius to return to Rome, a dead body turns up, head down, in a well behind a local drinking establishment. The victim is Verovolcus, a nobleman known to Falco and, more important, a close friend of the king. Suddenly Falco has a murder case to solve before he can get out of town.

War has broken out again on Terry Pratchett's Discworld and, to no one's surprise, it is started by the small, insufferably arrogant, ferociously patriotic duchy of Borogravia, which prides itself on its ability to beat up on its neighbors even for the tiniest imagined slight. But the country is rapidly running out of young men to carry on the fight, so Sergeant Jackrum is inclined not to notice when Polly Perks dons her brother's clothes, stuffs a pair of socks down her pants, and enlists in the hopes of finding her missing brother. With no training, «Oliver» Perks is sent off with a regiment that includes a vampire (off the blood), a werewolf, and an Igor — very handy for stitching legs and such back on.

In 1804, at the dawn of the French Empire, there were no more than a handful of Spanish paintings in public collections in France. During the course of the 19th century, however, French collectors and museums assembled substantial holdings of works by such Spanish masters as Velázquez, El Greco, Zurbarán, Murillo, and Goya. At the same time, French writers and artists — among them Delacroix, Géricault, Courbet, Millet, Bonnat, Degas, and especially, Manet — came to understand, appreciate, and emulate Spanish painting of the Golden Age. Illustrated with 349 black and white and 380 color photographs and reproductions, this book vividly demonstrates how direct contact with Spanish painting led to the taste for Realism in the 1860s, and provided a foundation for modern art. Also included in this volume are works by American artists like Whistler, Cassatt, Eakins, Chase, and Sargent that clearly reflect the pervasive influence of and taste for Spanish painting.

Sisters Clyde and Wendy Watson bring back Father Fox for the first time since «Father Fox's Pennyrhymes», which was nominated for a National Book Award when it appeared more than 30 years ago. This time the boisterous, loving patriarch is leading his family's Christmas celebrations: «Here I am, old Father Fox / With sweets in my pockets and holes in my socks / Bringing a basket brimful of cheer / a toy for each day until Christmas is here.» The detailed, homey illustrations in this book for youngsters up to 7 suggest a rural yuletide of any year, and a number of scenes focus on the mystery and fellowship of the season.

This work is an elegant account of Julian Barnes' search for gastronomic precision. It is a quest that leaves him seduced by Jane Grigson, infuriated by Nigel slater and reassured by Mrs Beeton's Victorian virtues. For anyone who has ever been defeated by a cookbook.

Rooted in the medieval ballad tradition and recounted to the author by a Spanish goatherd, The Three-Cornered Hat relates a madcap series of romantic misadventures. The basis of Manuel de Falla's popular ballet of the same name, it appears here with Captain Poison, a witty «taming-of-the-shrew» tale that reverses the sexual roles. Presented in the original Spanish with an excellent new English translation, an informative introduction to Stanley Appelbaum and his work, and footnotes by the author.

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 catalogues of the Paris Salons at the turn of the 19th to the 20th century provide a unique archive of illustrations of the decorative arts at a pivotal time in their development, the five previous volumes covering Jewellery, Furniture, Ceramics and Glass, and Objets d'Art. The fabric designers of the Art Nouveau style who exhibited at the Paris Salons produced a remarkable oeuvre in printed and woven fabric, silk, lace, embroidery and tapestry. Bookbinding was, and still is, a well-established French tradition, and bibliophiles commissioned unique bindings from artist-designers who, at the same time, were also creating and exhibiting non-bound leather goods — handbags, blotters, upholstery. This volume is probably the most important in the series. Because of wear and tear, practically none of the approximate 1,200 textile and leatherware pieces illustrated have survived outside museum collections or appeared at auction, unlike the items covered by the earlier volumes.

In the imaginary South American republic of Costaguana, Charles Gould's San Tomé silver mine is besieged by rebels, in this 1904 novel by the author of Heart of Darkness and Lord Jim. Gould recruits the allegedly incorruptible hero Nostromo to oppose the marauders, but Nostromo's own mistakes may have disastrous repercussions. Conrad's novel portrays in shocking detail the corrupting influence of money, the devious effects of greed, and the lure of silver and its power over men — destroying some and revealing the strengths of others.

With her shopping excesses (somewhat) in check and her career as a TV financial guru thriving, in this second book in the Shopaholic adventures, Becky's biggest problem seems to be tearing her entrepreneur boyfriend Luke away from work for a romantic country weekend. And worse, figuring out how to «pack light». But packing takes on a whole new meaning when Luke announces he's moving to New York for business and he wants Becky to go with him. Before you can say «Prada sample sale», Becky has landed in the Big Apple, and it's only a matter of time before she becomes an American TV celebrity, and she and Luke are the toast of Gotham society.

This work is a historical account of the production, distribution, and consumption of pornography in Great Britain from the early 19th century to the turn of the 20th century. It examines how pornography changed over time as a cultural and symbolic object in British society, and asks: What was considered pornographic? Who looked at pornography and read it? What sorts of messages did this medium transmit to both men and women? What was its thematic content, who controlled it, and how did these messages affect sexual and social dynamics? In contrast to recent ahistorical feminist assertions that pornography necessarily teaches men how to oppress women, this work views the use of pornography through the lens of historical and social change. In a careful analysis, it shows the cultural complexities of the medium and links Victorian pornography to other areas such as language, science, consumerism, and politics.

Detailed with loving accuracy in the photography of Melba Levick and in the lucid prose of Karen Dardick, Estate Gardens of California showcases fifteen magnificent estate gardens that are uniquely, exuberantly Californian. Included within are the classically inspired, 654-acre gardens of Filoli near San Francisco, a property of the National Trust for Historic Preservation-an estate with grounds of such alluring beauty that many times the cameras of Hollywood have come here to film; the Huntington Library Gardens in San Marino, one of the most important botanical gardens in the world; and the opulent and strange but wildly popular Lotusland in Montecito, a fantasy world of exquisite beauty created by Madam Ganna Walska with famed designer Lockwood de Forest. Other gardens featured are in Pebble Beach, Newport Beach, Beverly Hills, the Napa and Sonoma Valleys, and Rancho Palos Verdes. It is the plant palette of almost endless possibilities that makes California's great gardens so breathtaking. In Estate Gardens a rare and privileged glimpse of these possibilities is given. Cohen Estate, Newport Beach (owner of Four Seasons Hotel, Los Angeles) Collins Estate, Beverly Hills Hacienda Mar Monte, Pebble Beach Descanso Gardens, La Canada (open to public) Filoli, Woodside (open to public) Lotusland, Montecito (open to public) Rancho Los Alamitos, Long Beach (open to public) Stathatos Estate, San Marino Beaulieu Residence, Napa Valley (private residence of owner of Beaulieu winery) Villa Fiore, Dry Creek Valley, Sonoma County Huntington Library, San Marino (open to public) Val Verde, Montecito (open for limited public viewing) Villa Narcissa, Rancho Palos Verdes Virginia Robinson Estate and Gardens, Beverly Hills (open for limited public viewing) Alden Estate, Santa Monica Canyon.

Perhaps the greatest of all English artists, Thomas Gainsborough (1727–1788) was born in the small town of Sudbury on the river Stour in Suffolk. His house is now both a museum and a research center for Gainsborough studies. It holds an outstanding collection of paintings, drawings, prints, books, and memorabilia relating to the artist and his time. This book presents both the highlights of this collection, which has not hitherto been published, and significant new research and insights relating to Gainsborough’s art, character, and career. Works in the collection include fine examples by Gainsborough himself at all stages of his career, along with paintings and engravings by the artist’s mentors, Francis Hayman and Hubert-Francois Gravelot, and by his followers, notably his nephew Gainsborough Dupont and Thomas Rowlandson, and by other East Anglian artists, including John Constable. Hugh Belsey is curator of Gainsborough’s House. He has published widely on Gainsborough and other 18th-century artists, most recently Gainsborough: A Country Life.

Hollywood icon, German dissident, lover, war heroine, distant mother, and eventual recluse. These are just some of the sobriquets attached to Marlene Dietrich. Ean Wood seeks to show the true Marlene Dietrich, the girl from Berlin who would find herself at the centre of world events, a supporter of the Allied cause and movie icon, meeting, working with and loving some of the most powerful and influential men of the 20th century.

The theme of this collection is the excellence of Story, especially of the kind of story dear to C.S. Lewis — fantasy and science fiction, which he fostered in an age dominated by realistic fiction. Gathered here are nine essays that first appeared in Of Other Worlds, including On Stories and On Three Ways of Writing for Children, and eleven pieces not previously collected. Among the newcomers are reviews of works by J.R.R. Tolkien, Charles Williams, Rider Haggard, and George Orwell, a panegyric to Dorothy Sayers, and an essay. The Death of Words, which shows how common usage can distort and deprive language.

Renowned designer John Wheatman shares his decades of expertise working with apartment dwellers, country homesteaders, and city sophisticates. His design principles are based on the philosophy that a living space should be functional, comfortable, and life-enriching. From displaying personal collections to incorporating light and nature, the author shows readers how to make their homes reflect who they are. Color photographs are included throughout.

Virginia Woolf's intention to publish her short stories is carried out in this volume, posthumously collected by her husband, Leonard Woolf. Containing six of eight stories from Monday or Tuesday, seven that appeared in magazines, and five other stories, the book makes available Virginia Woolf's shorter works of fiction. Foreword by Leonard Woolf.

Have you ever wondered where rainbows come from, or why we don't fall off the earth? A young boy named Isaac Newton asked these same questions more than 300 years ago. His search for answers unlocked secrets that gave us the world we know today. Automobiles, television, lasers, and many things that are common-place today were made possible by ideas that began inside Isaac Newton's mind. Where others took the world around them at face value, Isaac always looked deeper. He constantly searched for answers to the question, 'Why?'. His questioning mind helped us to understand the universe. It helped him to grow from a sad, lonely boy into one of the most famous scientists of all time.

These seventeen stories first published in book form stunningly present the Celtic legends and myths of the Arthurian quest for the Grail.

In India, the sixth century B.C., there lived a great spiritual teacher. He was called Buddha, which means 'the enlightened one'. Born into a noble family, near the mountains of the Himalayas, he was named Siddhartha. Until he was 29 years old, he lived a life of undisturbed luxury. But his curiosity and compassion moved him to leave his palace. He wanted to understand the nature of human suffering. Siddhartha spent the next six years in prayer and fasting. Eventually, he experienced enlightenment. He understood how to let go of desire and the suffering that goes with it. As Buddha, he traveled widely and his followers spread his teachings throughout Asia. Today, Buddhism is one of the most widely practiced religions in the world.

Charles Robert Darwin, born in the spring of 1809, seemed to be an ordinary child in upper middle class England. Though educated at Cambridge University with the idea of joining the priesthood, Darwin's life took a whole new direction when he was offered an opportunity to participate in a government-sponsored, five-year voyage to South America and the Pacific to conduct surveys. His discoveries laid the groundwork for a theory that would change the world.

In the 13th century, young Marco Polo set out with his father and uncle for a strange new land. No other Europeans had ever traveled to China before, and Marco was excited and delighted by the many curious sights, delicious new flavors, and friendly people they encountered. Their adventure would keep them away from their home in Italy for 24 years — but when they finally returned, they introduced Europe to the wonders of the Far East. Because of Marco Polo, Europe would never be the same!