In Christopher Reid's marvellous new collection, a schoolboy furtively and thrillingly drops a marble through the top of his desk so that it makes its way in darkness along a complicated chute of books, rulers and rubbish, only to emerge from a hole in the base and be caught deftly in his other hand. The poem is titled 'Homeric' and might serve as a clue to the mood and construction of the collection in general, where the poet, now in his seventies, seeks to track down and commune with his much younger self. It is an investigation that tests Wordsworth's 'the Child is father of the Man' by contriving a series of transtemporal encounters between two selves who may now, conceivably, begin to understand each other. Reid was born in Hong Kong and, thanks to the roving nature of his father's employment, spent some of his childhood in foreign places. Most of the locations in this book, however, are the Britain of the 1950s and '60s - perhaps, at this distance in time, no less exotic. As the poems move from pre-verbal experience to adolescence, the younger self is captured in scenes that illuminate the steps by which a man - a poet - has been raised. Another poem conjures up the childhood of Henry James in order to reflect on 'the large part / mystery plays in both childhood and art', a proposition that the book as a whole may be said to endorse through both its wondering gaze and its ingenuity.

Poems of London brings together a remarkably wide range of poems inspired by the storied city, from its teeming medieval streets to the multicultural metropolis it is today. The pantheon of classic English poets, from Shakespeare and Donne to Wordsworth and Blake to T. S. Eliot and Ted Hughes, provide their views of London alongside tributes by notable visitors including Arthur Rimbaud, Samuel Beckett, and Sylvia Plath. Here, too, are poetic contributions by an array of immigrants and the children of immigrants, including Linton Kwesi Johnson, Fleur Adcock, Patience Agbabi, and Booker Prize-winner Bernardine Evaristo. All the famous sights of London, from the Thames to the Tower, are touched on in this vibrant collection, and denizens of its busy streets, ranging from princes to pub-goers to pickpockets, wander through these pages. The result is an enthralling portrait of an endlessly varied and fascinating place.

The Late Sun asserts a balance between memorialisation of the recently dead and celebration of the vitality of the living. Early in the collection is a set of poems about the poet's mother, who died in great age after a life of exotic travel, and the poet's own travels, his sense of both place and displacement, are vibrantly explored in other pieces. The city where he lives - particularly, and somewhat unusually, in a sequence titled 'Smells of London' - provides many of the themes, but the civic glades and sparkling vistas of the Mediterranean are just as important, and the book adds up to an affirmation of international perspectives at a time when civilised values are increasingly threatened.

This edition brings together A Scattering and Anniversary into a single book of lamentation and remembrance, its subject being Christopher Reid's wife, the actress Lucinda Gane, who died of cancer at the age of fifty-five. A Scattering was first published in the UK in 2009 to wide acclaim, winning the Costa Book of the Year Award. This moving and fiercely self-reflective collection is divided into four poetic sequences. The first was written during a holiday a few months before Gane's death with the knowledge that the end was approaching; the second recalls her last courageous weeks, spent in a hospice in London; the third continues the exploration of bereavement from a variety of perspectives; and the fourth addresses her directly, celebrating her life, personality and achievements.

Pairing A Scattering for the first time with Anniversary, which was written to commemorate the tenth anniversary of Gane's death, this volume brings Reid into dialogue, again, with the wife he loved. A moving exploration of the stages of grief and how the 'weighty emptinesses' that remain after bereavement change us, A Scattering andAnniversary show us what it means to love, lose and - forever changed - continue on.

The acclaimed poet Christopher Reid distils Charles Boyle's six books of poems into The Disguise: Poems 1977-2001, recovering a notable one-time poet, now known as a publisher and writer of fiction and non-fiction, from poetic neglect. Charles Boyle established a reputation as a sharp, wry, disabused observer of social mores. Paleface, published by Faber, was shortlisted for the Forward Prize, and The Age of Cardboard and String, also from Faber, was shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot Prize and the Whitbread Award. But in 2001 the well ran dry. Since the first year of the twenty-first century he has not put poetic pen to paper even once. The poems remain vital and fascinating, but they have about them also a kind of archaic cast: here we find the quintessential white male Englishness from the late twentieth century on display as if in a museum. Here too is the excitement of abroad (North Africa especially), and there are ghosts, absences, exile and evasions: in hindsight, these poems offer clues to their own disappearance after thirty notable years spent partly in the sun.

T. S Eliot's Old Possum's Practical Cats finally gets the companion volume that Eliot had envisaged.

First published in 1939, T. S. Eliot's best-selling, much-loved collection of practical cat poems, Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats, has become one of the most successful poetry collections in the world. Now, an official canine companion will be available.

Written by award-winning poet – and like Eliot himself a fellow former editor of Faber and Faber - Old Toffer's Book of Consequential Dogs is the first companion volume to Eliot’s original volume. Originally conceived by Eliot himself, Old Toffer's Book of Consequential Dogs includes a selection of paired poems about all manner of memorable "pollicles" (Eliot’s companion name to his "jellicle" cats) that are as witty, varied and exquisitely compiled as Eliot's cats.

Meet Dobson the Dog Detective, Flo the Philosophical Foxhound, and Frazzlesprat, a dog who would really rather be a cat and a host of other humorous hounds.

This study offers an authoritative and readable account of the hidden history of book theft in eighteenth-century London. It exploits a rich primary source, the compelling narratives of crime contained in the digitised Proceedings of the Old Bailey. The authors explain how cases of book theft came to court, and how in the ensuing trials the nature of the book itself became a question for legal debate. They assess the motives which led Londoners to steal books and the methods they employed in thefts from households and booksellers. Finally, the authors ask what the Proceedings tells us about the social ownership of books, and how the phenomenon of book theft differently affected book producers and consumers. Stealing Books in Eighteenth-Century London will appeal to readers interested in the connected histories of metropolitan life, crime, and the book in this period, and in the uses of digital resources in humanities research.

This book is a carefully annotated selection from the popular culture of the eighteenth century. Each chapter focuses on not only a particular theme but also a particular story, often illustrated by contemporary newspaper reports. It makes available to any reader with an interest in the period material that was once popular but has long been buried.

Lunch in Soho with a former lover - but Zanzotti's is under new management, and as the wine takes effect fond memories give way to something closer to the bone . . .

Christopher Reid's poem, which since its first publication has been filmed by the BBC and presented on stage in numerous venues, follows the lunchtime reunion of two long-separated lovers. Every smallest detail is cherished, as step by step the narrative moves towards its tragicomic outcome.

I've rounded up a rowdy assembly Of my own Consequential Dogs As counterparts to Eliot's mogs. Mine are a rough and ready bunch: You wouldn't take them out to lunch . . . But if they strike you as friendly, funny, Full of bounce and fond of a romp, Forgetful of poetic pomp, I trust you'll take them as you find them And, at the very least, not mind them. T. S. Eliot's best-selling collection of practical cat poems has been one of the most successful poetry collections ever. At last, in the 80th year of Old Possum's Cats, we have the companion volume that Eliot had envisaged, written by master poet and Costa-winner, Christopher Reid. This wonderfully witty and varied collection, illustrated in full-colour by the brilliant Sara Ogilvie, is perfect for younger readers to appreciate. A book that will be enjoyed by generations to come, perfect for reading together!

I've rounded up a rowdy assembly

Of my own Consequential Dogs

As counterparts to Eliot's mogs.

Mine are a rough and ready bunch:

You wouldn't take them out to lunch . . .

But if they strike you as friendly, funny,

Full of bounce and fond of a romp,

Forgetful of poetic pomp,

I trust you'll take them as you find them

And, at the very least, not mind them.

T. S. Eliot's best-selling collection of practical cat poems has been one of the most successful poetry collections in the world.

For the first time in company history a companion volume will be published. Originally conceived by Eliot himself, Old Toffer's Book of Consequential Dog poems are a witty, varied and exquisitely compiled as Eliot's cats.

The Curiosities is the eleventh book of poems from this most inventive and celebrated of British poets. Clustering around the letter 'C', the seventy-some poems that comprise this collection celebrate a lexicon of lived experience through a single letter of the alphabet. Here we find tales of cufflinks and costume, cougars and cochineal, catapults and cavalry, even canoodlings in canoes. With a characteristic sleight of hand, Christopher Reid shifts deftly between seriousness and play, elegy and anarchy in this sometimes-zany, sometimes-haunting compendium of bright-eyed verses. Here and there the story-telling roams and sweeps: here are tales 'for' friends and loved ones, there are tales 'after' the great poets of history. But whoever and whatever the mode of address, these poems are frequently underpinned by a unifying humanity. The Curiosities is a temptatious read, full of wisdom and surprise, humour and lament, and is a poignant and convincing reminder that in a world where 'nobody's allowed to live forever', life is for celebrating, and grasping by the collar.

The poems in this collection are presented as translations from the work of the eponymous Katerina Brac, who lives in a country, and writes in a language, that are never identified. 'Reid's achievement in this book is to conjure up in very few words a life-system capable of supporting real poetry. He has never written more carefully and delicately.' Peter Porter, Observer 'Sensitive, intelligent and highly inventive.' Stephen Spender

At the outset of his career Ted Hughes described letter-writing as 'excellent training for conversation with the world', and he was to become a prolific master of this art which combines writing and talking. This selection begins when Hughes was seventeen, and documents the course of a life at once resolutely private but intensely attuned to other lives (including a readership comprising both adults and children); a life pared down to essentials and yet eventful, peripatetic, at times publicly controversial.

Although the later eighteenth century has long been regarded as parliamentary oratory's golden age, its speaking history remains to a large extent unexplored. Imprison'd Wranglers looks in detail at the making of a rhetorical culture inside and outside of the House of Commons during this eventful period, a time when Parliament consolidated its authority as a national institution and gained a new kind of prominence in the public eye. Drawing on a wide range of contemporary sources including newspaper reports, parliamentary diaries, memoirs, correspondence, political cartoons, and portraiture, this book reconstructs the scene in St. Stephen's Chapel, where the Commons then sat. It shows how reputations were forged and characters contested as speakers like Burke, North, Fox, and Pitt crossed swords in confrontations that were both personal and political. With close attention to the early lives of selected MPs, it pieces together the education of the parliamentary elite from their initiation as public speakers in schools, universities, and debating clubs to the moment of trial when they rose to speak in the House for the first time. Since this was the period when the newspaper reporting of parliamentary debates was first established, the book also assesses the impact speeches made on the audiences of ordinary readers outside Parliament. It explains how parliamentary speeches got into print, what was at stake politically in that process, and argues that changing conceptions of publicness in the eighteenth century altered the image of the parliamentary speaker and unsettled the traditional rhetorical culture of the House.

For and After is Christopher Reid's fourth collection of poems to be published by Faber & Faber, and his first since Expanded Universes in 1996. It consists, more or less half and half, of poems bearing dedications to friends, colleagues and loved ones, and translations or versions of works in foreign languages, including a passage from The Odyssey and a miscellany of pieces by Horace, Leopardi, Baudelaire, Rilke and others. By turns intimate and affectionate, satirical and mischievous, For and After is a dazzling insight into one of the most imaginative minds in the business.

This book is a carefully annotated selection from the popular culture of the eighteenth century. Each chapter focuses on not only a particular theme but also a particular story, often illustrated by contemporary newspaper reports. It makes available to any reader with an interest in the period material that was once popular but has long been buried.

At the outset of his career Ted Hughes described letter-writing as 'excellent training for conversation with the world', and he was to become a prolific master of this art which combines writing and talking. This selection begins when Hughes was seventeen, and documents the course of a life at once resolutely private but intensely attuned to other lives (including a readership comprising both adults and children); a life pared down to essentials and yet eventful, peripatetic, at times publicly controversial.

Christopher Reid's new collection is a quartet of works for voice, opening with the brisk and brightly coloured monologue of Professor Winterthorn - recently widowed, soon to be retired, who decides on impulse to attend a conference (on 'Nonsense and the Pursuit of Futility as strategies...') in California. He is a mordant observer, alert to the anomie of modern displacement - taxis, lifts, airports, lounges, hotel rooms - whose thin air seems at one with the loose change of widowhood, the having nowhere really to go. But adventure lies ahead, and sunshine, and Winterthorn is debonair if undeceived about the deceptions of grief. His strange ride ends on a note of recovery, with the world suddenly in focus again and brimming before him.

It follows the exploits of a group of hapless bards, more intimately connected than they themselves can possibly know, in their attempts to navigate the hazards of London literary society. Reid's colourful cast includes an ageing ex-offender, a lecherous academic, a fading grande dame and her underachieving best friend, and two young graduates, one as feckless as the other is ambitious. Hard as each may try, the poets' attempts at literary and social advancement are continually hampered both by fate and by a variety of personal shortcomings, ensuring that their story accelerates irrevocably towards comic catastrophe and collapse. Six Bad Poets is a delicious romp through a world that the author has observed closely over many years, and from which he reports with merciless accuracy, zest and humour.

Explore fundamentals, strategies, and emerging techniques in the field of human-computer interaction to enhance how users and computers interact Key Features Explore various HCI techniques and methodologies to enhance the user experience Delve into user behavior analytics to solve common and not-so-common challenges faced while designing user interfaces Learn essential principles, techniques and explore the future of HCI Book DescriptionHuman-Computer Interaction (HCI) is a field of study that researches, designs, and develops software solutions that solve human problems. This book will help you understand various aspects of the software development phase, from planning and data gathering through to the design and development of software solutions. The book guides you through implementing methodologies that will help you build robust software. You will perform data gathering, evaluate user data, and execute data analysis and interpretation techniques. You'll also understand why human-centered methodologies are successful in software development, and learn how to build effective software solutions through practical research processes. The book will even show you how to translate your human understanding into software solutions through validation methods and rapid prototyping leading to usability testing. Later, you will understand how to use effective storytelling to convey the key aspects of your software to users. Throughout the book, you will learn the key concepts with the help of historical figures, best practices, and references to common challenges faced in the software industry. By the end of this book, you will be well-versed with HCI strategies and methodologies to design effective user interfaces. What you will learn Become well-versed with HCI and UX concepts Evaluate prototypes to understand data gathering, analysis, and interpretation techniques Execute qualitative and quantitative methods for establishing humans as a feedback loop in the software design process Create human-centered solutions and validate these solutions with the help of quantitative testing methods Move ideas from the research and definition phase into the software solution phase Improve your systems by becoming well-versed with the essential design concepts for creating user interfaces Who this book is forThis book is for software engineers, UX designers, entrepreneurs, or anyone who is just getting started with user interface design and looking to gain a solid understanding of human-computer interaction and UX design. No prior HCI knowledge is required to get started.

The new collection of poems from Christopher Reid.