Perhaps best known as the co-creator of and writer for the Goon Show, Spike Milligan has received accolades as a comedian, musician, poet and playwright. This mini wall calendar features a selection of his hilarious cartoons. The datepad features previous and next month's views.

For this artist's sketchbook, Spanish painter, author and set designer Eduardo Arroyo (born 1937) created 20 drawings and then mailed them to 20 international artists, such as Bruno Bruni, William Klein and Peter Blake, to make pairs for them. This volume reproduces all 40 works. Text in Spanish only.

Quentin Blake's illustrations are instantly recognisable to millions of people around the world. A new exhibition to be held at London's House of Illustration will explore an unusual aspect of Blake's work, however, exhibiting for the first time 100 examples of his works of art. 100 Figures, will feature all of the 100 exhibited works - ranging from large-scale oil paintings to drawings and prints, created between the 1950s and today. Works included date back to his post-grad years in the 1950s when he struggled to make a living as an illustrator and took life-drawing classes at Chelsea School of Art. It was here that he first engaged with the human figure, but soon, having observed how the human body behaves, he found he was able to draw it from memory in any pose, working from his vivid imagination. 100 Figures will also offer the chance to catch a rare glimpse of early oil paintings by Blake - some painted on hardboard since he was unable to afford canvases at that time and painted using commercial house-painters' brushes.

A free open access ebook is available upon publication. Learn more at www.luminosoa.org. From fashion sketches of smartly dressed Shanghai dandies in the 1920s, to multipanel drawings of refugee urbanites during the war against Japan, to panoramic pictures of anti-American propaganda rallies in the early 1950s, the polymorphic cartoon-style art known as manhua helped define China's modern experience. Manhua Modernity offers a richly illustrated, deeply contextualized analysis of these illustrations across the lively pages of popular pictorial magazines that entertained, informed, and mobilized a nation through a half century of political and cultural transformation. In this compelling media history, John Crespi argues that manhua must be understood in the context of the pictorial magazines that hosted them, and in turn these magazines must be seen as important mediators of the modern urban experience. Even as times changed-from interwar-era consumerism to war-time mobilization to Mao-style propaganda-the art form adapted to stay on the cutting edge of both politics and style.

This is the fifth in a series of catalogues that present descriptions and complete cycles of illustrations of all existing manuscripts of the "Commentary on the Apocalypse" written by the 8th-century Spanish monk Beatus. The entire corpus, which spans the 9th to the 13th century, constitutes the greatest single tradition of Apocalyptic writing in the Middle Ages. All illustrations in these six manuscripts are reproduced and each catalogue entry discusses the location of production, the work of the outstanding illuminators and scribes, as well as details of codicology. A short introduction places the manuscripts in their historical context and analyzes the style of the miniatures. The volume includes a bibliography, relevant tables, and an index.

A FLAME TREE NOTEBOOK. Beautiful and luxurious the journals combine high-quality production with magnificent art. Perfect as a gift, and an essential personal choice for writers, notetakers, travellers, students, poets and diarists. Features a wide range of well-known and modern artists, with new artworks published throughout the year. BEAUTIFULLY DESIGNED. The highly crafted covers are printed on foil paper, embossed then foil stamped, complemented by the luxury binding and rose red end-papers. The covers are created by our artists and designers who spend many hours transforming original artwork into gorgeous 3d masterpieces that feel good in the hand and look wonderful on a desk or table. PRACTICAL, EASY TO USE. Flame Tree Notebooks come with practical features too: a pocket at the back for scraps and receipts; two ribbon markers to help keep track of more than just a to-do list; robust ivory text paper, printed with lines; and when you need to collect other notes or scraps of paper the magnetic side flap keeps everything neat and tidy. THE ARTIST. Anne Stokes is a fantasy artist whose passion for the genre began in her childhood after reading J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit. Her art covers a broad range of themes, from the romantic and magical enchanted Forest, to fearsome dragons and the dark underworld of gothic vampires. THE FINAL WORD. As William Morris said, "Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."

The art of predicting earthly events from the movements of stars and planets has always been a source of fascination. Medieval astrologers, though sometimes feared to be magicians in league with demons, were usually revered scholars whose ideas and practices were widely respected. Politics, medicine, weather forecasting, cosmology and alchemy were all influenced by astrological concepts. Astrology in Medieval Manuscripts explores the dazzling complexity of western medieval astrology and its place in society, as revealed by a wealth of illustrated manuscripts from the British Library's rich medieval collection.

The Haggadot commissioned by wealthy patrons in the Middle Ages are among the most beautifully decorated Hebrew manuscripts, and The `Brother' Haggadah - so-called because of its close relationship to The Rylands Haggadah in the collection of the John Rylands Library, Manchester - is one of the finest of these to have survived. Created by Sephardi - or southern - artists and scribes in Catalonia in the second quarter of the 14th century, it sets out the liturgy and sequence of the Passover Seder, a ritual feast by which Jewish families give thanks for the liberation of the Israelites from slavery in ancient Egypt as described in the Book of Exodus. This finely produced facsimile edition begins with an introduction by medieval scholar Professor Marc Michael Epstein, who sets out the background to the Passover and provides an analysis of the manuscript's iconographic scheme. Following are essays on the provenance of The `Brother' Haggadah by Ilana Tahan, head of the Hebrew and Christian collections at the British Library, and on the Shaltiel family, former owners of the manuscript, by Hebrew scholar Eliezer Laine. The book also contains a translation of the poems and commentary in the manuscript by the late Raphael Lowe, former Goldsmid Professor of Hebrew at University College London, and a translation of the Haggadah liturgy.

This collection of essays takes a fresh look at the important role of illustration in Romantic literature. The late eighteenth century saw an explosion of illustrated editions of literary classics and the emergence of a new culture of literary art, including the innovative literary galleries. The impact of these developments on the reading and viewing of literary texts is explored in a series of case studies covering poetry, historical texts, drama, painting, reproductive prints, magazines and ephemera. Romanticism and Illustration argues for a more detailed study of illustration which includes the context of a wider circulation of images across different media. The modern understanding of the word 'illustration' fails to convey the complex relationship between the artist, the engraver, the publisher, the text and the audience in Romantic Britain. In teasing out the implications of this dynamic cultural matrix, this book opens up a new field of Romantic studies.

MAURICE SENDAK: POCKET GUIDE

Maurice Sendak (1928-2012) is the acclaimed American children's book author of classics such as Where the Wild Things Are (recently made into a movie), Outside Over There and In the Night Kitchen.

Sendak's as important - and as adored - as Theodore Geisel (Dr Seuss). This study also considers Sendak's illustrations for fairy tales, such as the Brothers Grimm pictures, collected in The Juniper Tree.

There is also a chapter on Maurice Sendak and Walt Disney, later works such as Dear Mili, and a discussion of Sendak and other book illustrators.

Fully illustrated. With bibliography and notes. 192 pages. ISBN 9781861713087.

www.crmoon.com

FROM CHAPTER ONE

MAURICE SENDAK begins not with the pictures, as one expect, but with the words. He has explained on a number of occasions that his written texts have to be 'very good before one considers illustrating them.' The words are important, because they locate the pictures within a particular narrative, context and meaning. The words 'anchor' the pictures into a dominant or preferred set of meanings, which Sendak likes to get right first. 'I like to think of myself as setting words to pictures. A true picture book is a visual poem'.

Sendak's concern with words also reminds us of his emphasis on storytelling. All Sendak's books are narrative books, books which move from one point in a story to another. The pictures, Sendak asserted, must not merely illustrate the words. The pictures must always do more than that. The words must allow for an openness of interpretation in the pictures. The two, words and pictures, work in tandem, but not merely to mirror each other, Sendak remarked. The written text, if it's a good one, will leave gaps of meaning into which the pictures can be inserted. There must be an ambiguity to what is happening in the written text too, so that the text can function on a number of levels. It is the conscious working at this split-level meaning that marks Sendak out from other illustrators. His books always have a carefully cultivated symbolic dimension: they are never merely descriptions of physical action.

As an example of narrative openness, Maurice Sendak cites the Mother Goose nursery rhymes, which often have a political or religious subtext (for instance, 'Oranges and Lemons', or, famously, 'Ring-a-Ring-a-Roses', which is about the plague in mediaeval Europe). At the same time, the pictures, in Sendak's view, must be able to exist on their own, they must be somewhat independent of a written story. A good picture book can be consumed just by looking at the pictures.

Keanu Reeves: actor, musician, dog lover. He's the internet's boyfriend. The poetic petrolhead. The guru on a surfboard. Part samurai, part samaritan. He is, very simply, 'The One'. 'James has been my movie guru for years and now he's my spiritual guru too! From now on I'm going to ask myself: 'What would Keanu do?' Jo Whiley In this hilarious book of pocket philosophy, film critic and Keanu fan James King reveals what makes Mr Reeves so special. He unpacks iconic films from the Bill & Teds to the John Wicks, as well as the star's own free-spirited life, showing us why the great man with the great hair has all the answers. And how everyone can #bemorekeanu. 'A handsome, cool, enigmatic Gen X'er who never seems to age, James King is the perfect man to write about Keanu Reeves.' Stephen Merchant

Edward Ardizzone RA (1900-79) was one of relatively few British artists who defined the field of illustration for their generation. Although his work as an artist and illustrator was wide-ranging, it is for his illustrated children's books, almost continuously available since they were first published from the late 1930s onwards, that he is best known. This book provides the first fully illustrated survey of Ardizzone's work, analysing his activity as an artist and illustrator in the context of 20th-century British art, illustration, printing and publishing. Copiously illustrated with many previously unpublished images, Edward Ardizzone: Artist and Illustrator also contributes more broadly to the current reassessment and investigation of mid-20th-century British art and illustration. Alan Powers (author of the bestselling Eric Ravilious: Artist and Designer) has written a critically considered text which draws for the first time on the family's archives, those of Ardizzone's publishers, and conversations with those who knew the artist. This beautiful and enlightening book, which reflects in its design and production values the aesthetic of an artist who was closely involved in the production of his own illustrated books, will be a fascinating read both for specialists as well as for readers who have grown up with the unforgettable characters of Ardizzone's classic children's stories.

"All the Art That's Fit to Print" reveals the true story of the world's first Op-Ed page, a public platform that--in 1970--prefigured the Internet blogosphere. Not only did the "New York Times"'s nonstaff bylines shatter tradition, but the pictures were revolutionary. Unlike anything ever seen in a newspaper, Op-Ed art became a globally influential idiom that reached beyond narrative for metaphor and changed illustration's very purpose and potential.

Jerelle Kraus, whose thirteen-year tenure as Op-Ed art director far exceeds that of any other art director or editor, unveils a riveting account of working at the "Times." Her insider anecdotes include the reasons why artist Saul Steinberg hated the "Times," why editor Howell Raines stopped the presses to kill a feature by "Doonesbury"'s Garry Trudeau, and why reporter Syd Schanburg--whose story was told in the movie "The Killing Fields"--stated that he would travel anywhere to see Kissinger hanged, as well as Kraus's tale of surviving two and a half hours alone with the dethroned peerless outlaw, Richard Nixon.

"All the Art" features a satiric portrayal of John McCain, a classic cartoon of Barack Obama by Jules Feiffer, and a drawing of Hillary Clinton and Obama by Barry Blitt. But when Frank Rich wrote a column discussing Hillary Clinton exclusively, the "Times" refused to allow Blitt to portray her. Nearly any notion is palatable in prose, yet editors perceive pictures as a far greater threat. Confucius underestimated the number of words an image is worth; the thousand-fold power of a picture is also its curse.

Op-Ed's subject is the world, and its illustrations are created by the world's finest graphic artists. The 142 artists whose work appears in this book hail from thirty nations and five continents, and their 324 pictures-gleaned from a total of 30,000-reflect artists' common drive to communicate their creative visions and to stir our vibrant cultural-political pot.

Unique digital drawings from one of Switzerland's most prolific artists of today. Since early in his career, the Swiss artist Yves Netzhammer has used digital drawings as the basis of his work, which oscillates between sculpture and the moving image. Lines drawn into a space in abeyance visualize his figurative thought and beguile the viewer into bizarre, comical, and eerie associations. Netzhammer's refined and precise pictorial rhetoric plays a subtle game that permits the viewer a variety of interpretations and continually evades the deceptive moment of unambiguity. This results in images in which complexity and levity, formal strictness, or conceptual proliferation come to the front depending on one's point of view. Convex Thoughts is a bibliographical space that complements its predecessor, Concave Thoughts-together they are a guide for dreamers and musers, an endless storyboard from an art at the highs and lows of its time.

"Beginner's Guide to Digital Painting: Characters" is a comprehensive guide for artists wishing to create convincing and detailed characters. It features established artists such as Charlie Bowater (concept artist at Atomhawk) and Derek Stenning (freelance concept artist and illustrator, with clients such as Marvel Entertainment and Nintendo) who share their industry experiences by covering such aspects as posing characters, choosing the correct costumes, conveying emotions, and creating suitable moods. Conclusive step-by-step instructions make this an invaluable resource for artists looking to learn new skills, as well as those pursuing the next level.

Perched on a little camping stool, artist Tommy Kane draws what he sees. His remarkable career has taken him around the world, and he has documented the people and places he's encountered in his unique painting and drawing style--on location--wherever he goes. He calls New York home, but has a growing international following. "An Excuse to Draw "is the first book-length collection of Kane's work, and it is filled with full-page illustrations and reproductions of pages taken from his sketch books.
Kane has worked in advertising as a creative director for more than thirty years. His style is inspired by comic artists like R. Crumb and James Jean, and by "Mad Magazine"--but his interpretations of the world are decidedly original. With a bag filled with pens and watercolors, Kane records the world as he travels, bringing readers along for the ride. Witty descriptions and observations accompany the hand-drawn, full-color illustrations found throughout the book. Beautifully produced and exquisitely designed, "An Excuse to Draw" is the perfect introduction to the world of Tommy Kane.