Christian Dior: The Illustrated World of a Fashion Master is a stunning illustrated biography of legendary designer Christian Dior from internationally renowned fashion illustrator Megan Hess. Discover the key moments of Dior's fascinating life and iconic items from the fashion world that he created. Dior's love of flowers, creativity, femininity and good-luck charms were woven into everything he designed, and his New Look remains iconic to this day. Elegantly enclosed by a hardback cover and ribbon, Megan's beautiful illustrations follow Dior through three distinct chapters: the highs and lows of his early life, set against a backdrop of bohemian and wartime Paris; the couture house that he built into an empire in just ten years; and the incredible legacy he left behind for one of fashion's most influential brands. Christian Dior is a celebration of a man whose life was as remarkable as the clothes that he created, brought to life on the page by the expert hand of Megan Hess.

While often some of the most beautiful, opulent buildings in a town or city, a theatre is so much more than a space for the performance of a play. It is a cultural hub, a meeting place for people from all walks of life and, through the stories told there, brings people together in numerous ways. Indeed, theatres have been doing so for over two millennia. The theatre comes in many forms. From the more rigid and repeated (but no less attractive) designs of Greek and Roman theatres, the buildings that now house our shared cultural output boast some of the finest, most creative structures in the world. Huge and cathedral-like or modest, concrete and futuristic or neo-Renaissance, we are lucky that the physical constructions themselves recapture the ambition of the arts performed within. With chapters organised by continent and featuring theatres and opera houses - and any space for the performing arts - from the Americas, Africa, Asia, Europe and Australasia, Amazing Theatres of the World includes modern masterpieces and ancient remains, art deco delights and Baroque classics, taking in centuries of theatre building. Both the exterior and the interior of buildings are examined, as well as behind-the-scenes shots of dressing rooms and the mechanics of putting on a show. In so doing, we catch a glimpse of how the performing arts and their home has evolved over time. Illustrated with more than 190 photographs, Amazing Theatres of the World includes more than 150 of the most stunning theatres and opera houses.

Featuring a series of images, this title takes you on a tour of South-East England. It includes photographs of the South Downs, the Weald of Kent, the Thames and its estuary, and the White Cliffs of Dover, as well as castles, stately homes and gardens.

Go under the hood of Batman's iconic vehicle in this user's manual for the Batmobile. Ever since its first appearance in the pages of Detective Comics back in 1939, the Batmobile has captured the imaginations of fans around the world, becoming an essential component of the Dark Knight's crime-fighting arsenal. This user's manual reveals the secrets behind the most iconic versions of the Batmobile across decades of comics and films, giving readers a never-before-seen look at the most beloved vehicle in pop culture. Featuring detailed cutaways, schematics, blueprints, and more, this book is full of original art, giving fans the most detailed exploration of the Batmobile to date. A definitive volume, Batmobile Owner's Manual examines the vehicle's many iterations throughout Batman's history, from films such as Batman (1989), The Dark Knight Trilogy, and Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, to graphic novels including The Dark Knight Returns and the most current run of Batman comics. An immersive, must-have collectible, Batmobile Owner's Manual will reveal the technological wonders behind the most awe-inspiring, powerful, and feared vehicle in Gotham City.

Students needing to review and improve their note-naming and interval-naming skills will benefit greatly from these well-prepared Notespeller Books. Each book provides a variety of written activities that reinforce note reading concepts presented in the Lesson Books. Correlates page-by-page with the Lesson Books, but may also serve as an effective supplement to other piano methods.

Due to unprecedented population growth in cities around the world, together with the rising house prices, and lack of space, apartments now represent an indispensable form of housing. With the help of some interior design know-how you can transform apartments into unique habitable living space, combining contemporary looks with practical designs for day to day living. Interiors for Singles showcases a wide variety of design solutions, all adaptable to various typologies of accommodation - from tiny studios to spacious loft.

Traces the life and career of the great Czech composer, examines the influence of Bohemian music on Dvorak's works, and assesses his contributions to modern music.

From the stage of the Grand Ole Opry to concert halls around the world, and on television's "Hee Haw" and "Prime Time Country," Cousin Minnie Pearl entertained fans and friends with her stories about Grinder's Switch and her jokes. Now you can recall the best of them, such as . . .

• This week we decided we'd better take Brother up to Nashville and try to get him a job. So I took him to one of the places and the man said he'd give Brother a job. He said, "I can start you at thity dollars a week and in five years you'll get two hundred " Brother said, "That's fine. I'll be back in five years "
• Mr. Smith, a seventy-five-year-old multimillionaire, just married a young, beautiful eighteen-year-old girl. A friend asked, "How did you get an eighteen-year-old to marry you when you're seventy-five?" The man said, "I told her I was ninety-five "

Also included are memories of Minnie by . . .

• Porter Wagoner
• Ralph Emery
• Bill Anderson
• Johnny Russell
• Little Jimmy Dickens
• Jimmy C. Newman

An exploration of public performance in everyday life, by the leading cultural and social thinker 'All the world's a stage' declares the melancholy Jacques in Shakespeare's As You Like It. Today that's an unhappy thought. A cluster of demagogues has recently dominated the public realm through their powers as actors; they are brilliant performers. More unsettling, the demagogue, the dancer, the musician all share the same non-verbal realm of bodily gestures, lighting and blocking, costuming, stage architecture. So too, the roles and rituals of everyday life and everyday acting can be malign or sublime, repressive or liberating. Performing constitutes one art - an ambiguous art. In this book, the acclaimed sociologist Richard Sennett explores uncomfortable connections between performances in life, art, and politics. He draws on his own early career as a professional cellist as well on histories both Western and non-Western. He is not a pessimist; at the end of his study, he shows how this ambiguous art might become more ethical.

This book is a unique exploration of the transformational process that turns film's raw material into deeply moving and provocative experiences. It takes key moments in films as examples of this process and examines how the moment is staged; how visual composition is used; how narrative is structured; how color, light, and music are handled; and how to get inside what it is like to be a fictional character that viewers really care about. 240 pp.

Winner of the 2010 Non-Fiction National Book Award Patti Smith's definitive memoir: an evocative, honest and moving coming-of-age story of her extraordinary relationship with the artist Robert Mapplethorpe 'Sharp, elegiac and finely crafted' Sunday Times 'Terrifically evocative ... The most spellbinding and diverting portrait of funky-but-chic New York in the late '60s and '70s that any alumnus has committed to print' New York Times 'Render, harrowing, often hilarious' Vogue In 1967, a chance meeting between two young people led to a romance and a lifelong friendship that would carry each to international success never dreamed of. The backdrop is Brooklyn, Chelsea Hotel, Max's Kansas City, Scribner's Bookstore, Coney Island, Warhol's Factory and the whole city resplendent. Among their friends, literary lights, musicians and artists such as Harry Smith, Bobby Neuwirth, Allen Ginsberg, Sandy Daley, Sam Shepherd, William Burroughs, etc. It was a heightened time politically and culturally; the art and music worlds exploding and colliding. In the midst of all this two kids made a pact to always care for one another. Scrappy, romantic, committed to making art, they prodded and provided each other with faith and confidence during the hungry years--the days of cous-cous and lettuce soup. Just Kids begins as a love story and ends as an elegy. Beautifully written, this is a profound portrait of two young artists, often hungry, sated only by art and experience. And an unforgettable portrait of New York, her rich and poor, hustlers and hellions, those who made it and those whose memory lingers near.

Contains more than 60 beautiful artworks to colour in.

Pillar boxes were first introduced into Britain at the instigation of Anthony Trollope, the novelist, who was also a Post Office surveyor. Although many letter boxes are ordinary, some types, such as those that survive from the 1850s, are understandably rare. This book describes and illustrates some of those from the Channel Islands, where pillar boxes were first introduced in 1852, to Scotland, which has had its own design of letter boxes since the Queen's accession in 1952, and from the heart of London to the depths of rural Wales and the Irish Republic.

Agile, flexible and never afraid of controversial innovations (such as abandoning traditional 'black tie' evening dress for its players or giving amplified concerts with creative lighting at the Hammersmith Apollo), the LCO has surfed the waves of history. It has travelled from the early days of broadcasting - which other orchestras shunned, fearing it spelt the end of 'live' music - through the difficult days of the Second World War, when London's largest concert hall was bombed, and the thrill of being invited to play at the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge in 2011, to a triumphant return and reinvention after the Covid-19 pandemic when its comeback programmes included Concerto for Turntables by the composer Sergei Prokofiev's grandson Gabriel Prokofiev, featuring DJ Mr Switch. Author and music critic Jessica Duchen traces the LCO's history from the beginning under its founding conductor, the entrepreneurial Anthony Bernard from London's East End, whose contacts included Britain's first female MP, the American Nancy Astor (who kindly lent her house for the orchestra's first concert) and leading composers like Edward Elgar and Ralph Vaughan Williams, up to its current Artistic Director, Christopher Warren-Green, who ensures the LCO continues to delight its devoted audiences at home and abroad with an eclectic and diverse programme of music. Over the years it has performed dozens of world or UK premieres by composers including Stravinsky, Falla, Delius and even Mozart. This engaging book teems with entertaining stories: the composer who relished riding naked on a motor bike in the Gloucestershire countryside, the oboe player who taught her daughter's boyfriend, Paul McCartney, to play the recorder for a much-loved Beatles song, and the times the LCO travelled the length and breadth of the US in a country & western tour bus straight out of Nashville. It adds up to a fascinating celebration of over 100 years of classical music, as well as giving unique insider glimpses into this vibrant and much loved orchestra.

Academy Award-winning songwriter Glen Hansard has wowed the world through the years with his artistic output, including his role in Once, The Swell Season, The Frames, and, starting in 2012, his solo material. This guitar TAB songbook chronicles the best of Hansard's music and draws from all of those periods. Titles: Back Broke * Drown Out * Falling Slowly * High Hope * Lay Me Down * Love Don't Leave Me Waiting * Low Rising * Maybe Not Tonight * The Moon * Red Chord * The Song of Good Hope * Star Star * Talking with the Wolves * This Gift * What Are We Gonna Do * What Happens When the Heart Just Stops * You Will Become * Your Face.

A colorful, imaginative, and highly absorbing introduction to music theory for the younger student. Packed with exciting exercises and entertaining characters, this is the ideal introduction to theory for a young instrumentalist.

Ever since Alfred Brendel bid farewell to the concert stage after six decades of performing, he has been passing on his insight and experience in the form of lectures, readings and master-classes. This reader for lovers of the piano distils his musical and linguistic eloquence and vast knowledge, and will prove invaluable to anyone with an interest in the technique, history and repertoire of the piano.

Erudite, witty, enlightening and deeply personal, A Pianist’s A to Z is the ideal book for all piano lovers, musicians and music aficionados: rarely has the instrument been described in such an entertaining and intelligent fashion.

The names of plants that are so familiar to us magnolia, bougainvillea, sequioa may just be names, but behind the names lie stories of espionage and heroism, rivalry and mystery and inspiration. In the Name of Plants relates the stories of these people and the plants that were named after them. Each chapter tells the story of the person for which each plant is named, many of whom were pioneering explorers, collectors and botanists - such as Alice Eastwood who has the yellow aster, Eastwoodia elegans, named after her. Eastwood explored previously uncharted territories in the 19th century and famously saved the California Academy of Science's priceless plant collection from the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. Subjects range from Charles Darwin (Darwinia) and legendary French botanist Pierre Magnol (Magnolia), to US founding fathers George Washington (Washingtonia) and Benjamin Franklin (Franklinia). Each entry is accompanied by superb artworks from the Library of the Natural History Museum, as well as photography of specimens and wild plants and the essential taxonomic details and geographic spread for each species.