In recent years Russian cities have visibly changed. The architectural heritage of the Soviet period has not been fully acknowledged. As a result many unique modernist buildings have been destroyed or changed beyond recognition. Russian photographer Arseniy Kotov intends to document these buildings and their surroundings before they are lost forever. He likes to take pictures in winter, during the 'blue hour', which occurs immediately after sunset or just before sunrise. At this time, the warm yellow colours inside apartment block windows contrast with the twilight gloom outside. To Kotov, this atmosphere reflects the Soviet period of his imagination. His impression of this time is unashamedly idealistic: he envisages a great civilization, built on a fair society, which hopes to explore nature and conquer space. From the Baikonur Cosmodrome in the desert steppes of Kazakhstan to the grim monolithic high-rise dormitory blocks of inner city Volgograd, Kotov captures the essence of the post-Soviet world. 'The USSR no longer exists and in these photographs we can see what remains - the most outstanding buildings and constructions, where Soviet people lived and how Soviet cities once looked: no decoration, no bright colours and no luxury, only bare concrete and powerful forms.'

With over 200 stickers, this fabulous sticker book is perfect for little fashion lovers! Dress up the magical characters in your favourite outfits. From fluttering fairies to mesmerising mermaids, there are so many fantastic friends to be made in this book. Easy to use stickers and bright, appealing designs encourage hands-on interaction, making this sticker book perfect for little learners. Immersive scenes and cute characters to dress up take readers on a magical adventure. Coming soon: Dream Stickers: Dogs & Puppies, Dream Stickers: Princesses, Dream Stickers: Weddings

The Russian Criminal Tattoo Archive presents highlights from FUEL’s singular collection of authentic material on this subject. Previously unpublished in its original form, this work comprises ink on paper drawings by Danzig Baldaev, the photographic albums of Arkady Bronnikov and prisoner portraits by Sergei Vasiliev. The selection is contextualised with insights from Mark Vincent PhD (author and academic specialising in the Soviet Gulag) and Alison Nordström (photography scholar, writer and curator). The meticulous depictions of tattoos by prison guard Danzig Baldaev are reproduced in facsimile, authenticated by his signature and stamp, alongside his handwritten notes on the reverse. The paper has yellowed with age, giving the exquisite drawings a visceral temporality – almost like skin. Sergei Vasiliev’s photographs portray inmates in startling intimacy. He achieves a remarkable level of trust within the closed criminal society, a strict hierarchy, where outsiders are viewed with hostile suspicion. Arkady Bronnikov’s collection of photographs are shown in the albums in which they were collected. Used exclusively to aid police in their investigations, they depict a motley line-up of assorted body parts. This unique book is the only publication of primary material on this subject, highlighting the pioneering methods of these three individuals used to document this unique phenomenon.

What makes Italian Brutalist buildings different to their counterparts in other countries? Containing over 140 exclusive photographs – ranging from private homes to churches and cemeteries via football stadia – across every region of the country, Brutalist Italy is the first publication to focus entirely on this subject. Architectural photographers Roberto Conte and Stefano Perego (authors of Soviet Asia) have spent the past five years travelling over 20,000 kilometres documenting the monumental concrete structures of their native country. Brutalism – with its minimalist aesthetic, favouring raw materials and structural elements over decorative design – has a complex relationship with Italian history. After World War II, Italian architects were keen to distance themselves from fascism, without rejecting the architectural modernism that had flourished during that era. They developed a form of contemporary architecture that engaged with traditional methods and materials, drawing on uncontaminated historical references. This plurality of pasts assimilated into new constructions is a recurring feature of the country’s Brutalist buildings, imparting to them a unique identity. From the imposing social housing of Le Vele di Scampia to the celestial Our Lady of Tears Sanctuary, Syracuse – Brutalist Italy collects the most compelling examples of this extraordinary architecture for the first time in a single volume.

Full of wacky facts and hilarious jokes, these books bring non-fiction for young readers to life. Brain Bursts: Bugs explores the creepy-crawly world of insects, while Brain Bursts: Space goes where no one has gone before to reveal the weird and wonderful secrets of the universe. A brain-bursting series or curious kids.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 has led to widespread sanctions being imposed on Russia. As the effects of these measures begin to take hold, the lives of ordinary Russian people will be subject to the type of austerity they last endured over 30 years ago, following the collapse of the USSR. A reprinted edition of the highly popular book from 2006. Home Made Russia features over 220 artefacts of Soviet culture, each accompanied by a photograph of the creator, their story of how the object came about, its function and the materials used to create it. The Vladimir Arkhipov collection includes hundreds of objects created with often idiosyncratic functional qualities, made for use both inside and outside the home, such as a tiny bathtub plug carefully fashioned from a boot heel; a back massager made from an old wooden abacus; a road sign used as a street cleaner's shovel; and a doormat made from beer bottle tops. Home Made Russia presents a unique picture of a critical period of transition, as the Soviet regime crumbled, but was yet to be replaced with a new system. Each of these objects is a window, not only into the life of its creator, but also the situation of the country at this time. Shortages in stores were commonplace, while wages might be paid in goods, or simply not paid at all. These exceptional circumstances lent themselves to a singular type of ingenuity, respectfully documented in intimate detail by Vladimir Arkhipov.

Occasionally a book is published that reveals a subculture you never dreamt existed. More rarely, that book goes on to become a phenomenon of its own. The 2004 publication of the "Russian Criminal Tattoo Encyclopaedia" was such a phenomenon, spawning two further volumes and alerting a fascinated readership worldwide to the extraordinary and hermetic world of Russian criminal tattoos (David Cronenberg, for example, made regular use of the "Encyclopaedia" during the making of his 2007 movie "Eastern Promises"). Now, Fuel has reprinted volume one of this bestselling series, whose first edition already fetches considerable sums online. The photographs, drawings and texts published in this book are part of a collection of more than 3,000 tattoos accumulated over a lifetime by a prison attendant named Danzig Baldaev. Tattoos were his gateway into a secret world in which he acted as ethnographer, recording the rituals of a closed society. The icons and tribal languages he documented are artful, distasteful, sexually explicit and sometimes just strange, reflecting as they do the lives and traditions of Russian convicts. Skulls, swastikas, harems of naked women, a smiling Al Capone, medieval knights in armor, daggers sheathed in blood, benign images of Christ, sweet-faced mothers and their babies, armies of tanks and a horned Lenin: these are the signs by which the people of this hidden world mark and identify themselves. With a foreword by Danzig Baldaev, and an introduction by Alexei Plutser-Sarno, exploring the symbolism of the Russian criminal tattoo.

The first book of its kind - a car book like no other - offering a deeply nostalgic look at beautiful vintage cars through the superb literature, leaflets and pamphlets that sold them to us. Auto Erotica covers the gamut of motoring in Britain during the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. These rare ephemeral booklets are full of unusual graphic ideas and concepts. Their fabulous photography, dazzling colour charts, daring typography, strange fold outs and inspiring styles symbolise the automobile aspirations of generations of Britons. The book is also packed full of era-defining classic cars, from those we love to those you can't remember. Expect fast Fords, the XJS, the TR8, MGs, minis, Maxis, Renaults, Beemers, VWs, Vivas, Citroens, DeLoreans and a whole lot more - amazing motors from the past and even some from the future - as you've never seen them before.

Chosen as one of the Best Architecture and Design books Summer 2022 by the Financial Times. Why British record store carrier bags are graphic design icons: While they've never carried the kudos of sleeve designs and music posters, record shop bags offer a fascinating insight into 20th century British music culture, high-streets and more. - Creative Review Jonny Trunk's extensive collection of record shop bags weaves together a less conventional history of British music, celebrating the shops where musicians and fans bought and sold their first LPs. This book is a love letter to these forgotten spaces, accompanied by a juicy selection of anecdotes and little known facts about the record shops and their bags. Readers, gear up for a "brilliant ride down the old British high streets and low streets too." - It's Nice That Jonny Trunk and FUEL present A-Z of Record Shop Bags - a publication celebrating the humble record store bag. This exhaustive collection of the record shop bag provides a unique perspective of record shopping in the UK over the last century, bringing together over 500 incredible bags (some possibly the only surviving examples) to document the fascinating story of British high street record shopping. Bags from famous chains such as NEMS, Our Price and Virgin (the amazingly rare Roger Dean bags), sit alongside designs from local shops run by eccentric enthusiasts. Packed with stories such as the first Jewish ska retailer, the record sellers who started the premier league, famous staff (David Bowie, Dusty Springfield, Morrissey, etc.) and equally infamous owners, these anecdotes of mythical vinyl entrepreneurs will entertain and delight. With vinyl record sales at their highest ever for decades (outselling CDs in the US), this publication acts as an amazing insight into the history, culture and visual language of record collecting. Following Own Label, Wrappers Delight and Auto Erotica - A-Z of Record Shop Bags: 1940s to 1990s is the next book in the series by Jonny Trunk and FUEL, examining overlooked aspects of our collective past.

With friendly alien guides and hilarious cartoons, this is non-fiction as you've never seen it before. From head to heels and everything in between, The Human Body Is Weird is densely packed with information, while The Periodic Table Is Weird covers every element from actinide to zirconium. Hilarious non-fiction with up to 300 fascinating facts and 150 riotous gags per book.

Despite the borders of the USSR being closed to majority of its population, Soviet citizens were among the world's most frequent flyers. Following the 1917 Revolution, Vladimir Lenin made the development of aviation a priority. Assisted by advertising campaigns by artists such as Alexander Rodchenko, Soviet society was mobilised to establish an air fleet - from the very beginning of the USSR through to its demise in 1991, Soviet aviation flew its own unique path. This book unfolds the story of Soviet air travel, from early carriers like Deruluft and Dobrolet, to the enigmatic Aeroflot. Organised like an Air Force, with a vast fleet of aircraft and helicopters, Aeroflot was the world's biggest air carrier of passengers and cargo, responsible for a wider range of duties than any other airline. In an era when it was still common to smoke on board, the Aeroflot emblem appeared on cigarette packets, matchboxes and many other everyday goods. Aeroflot publicity alerted domestic passengers to new destinations or proudly presented the introduction of faster, more comfortable aircraft, while colourful advertising enticed Western travellers to use Aeroflot's international services. Aeroflot - Fly Soviet uses this ephemera to illustrate a parallel aviation universe that existed for 70 years. It pays tribute to generations of aircraft engineers, designers, pilots, ticket sellers, flight dispatchers, air traffic controllers, ground handlers and flight attendants, who jointly created this remarkable chapter of Soviet civil aviation history.

This volume of drawings and photographs completes the "Russian Criminal Tattoo Encyclopaedia" trilogy. Danzig Baldaev's unparallelled ethnographic achievement, documenting more than 3,000 tattoo drawings, was made during a lifetime working as a prison guard. His recording of this esoteric world was reported to the KGB, who unexpectedly supported him, realizing the importance of being able to establish facts about convicts by reading the images on their bodies. The motifs depicted represent the uncensored lives of the criminal classes, ranging from violence and pornography to politics and alcohol. A medieval knight is surrounded by the severed heads of his enemies, a naked woman simultaneously services a man and two dwarfs, a crying President Gorbachev grips a human bone between sabre-like fangs, a group of angels drink vodka with God on a cloud--the meanings of these arresting images are explained to the uninitiated eye. Sergei Vasiliev's graphic photographs show the grim reality of the Russian prison system and some of the alarming characters that inhabit it, while the illustrated criminals of Russia tell the tale of their closed society. This volume, the last in the trilogy, includes an introduction by historian Alexander Sidorov exploring the origins of the Russian criminal tattoo and their various meanings today.

Travelling from zero to infinity and back again via algebra, polygons, probability and averages, friendly (but silly) robots guide the reader through the weirdness of mathematics. With up to 300 fascinating facts and 150 riotous gags, this engaging and hilarious book teaches readers why maths is so much weirder than they first thought,

Charles Holden's designs for the London Underground from the mid-1920s to the outbreak of World War II represent a high point of transport architecture and Modernist design in Britain. His collaboration with Frank Pick, the Chief Executive of London Transport, brought about a marriage of form and function still celebrated today. Pick used the term ‘Medieval Modernism’ to describe their work on the underground system, comparing the task to the construction of a great cathedral. London Tube Stations 1924 – 1961 catalogues and showcases every surviving station from this innovative period. These beautiful buildings, simultaneously historic and futuristic, have been meticulously documented by architectural photographer Philip Butler. Annotated with station-by-station overviews by writer and historian Joshua Abbott, the book provides an indispensable guide to the network's Modernist gems. All the key stations have a double page spread, with a primary exterior photograph alongside supporting images. A broader historical introduction, illustrated with archival images from the London Transport Museum, gives historical context, while a closing chapter lists the demolished examples alongside further period images.These stations, as famed architectural historian Nicholas Pevsner later noted, would "pave the way for the twentieth-century style in England".

London is Patrick Keiller's highly imaginative psychogeographic journey through (and history of) London, as undertaken by an unnamed narrator and his companion, Robinson. The unseen pair complete a series of excursions around the city, in an attempt to investigate what Robinson calls 'the problem of London', in so doing the palimpsest of the city is revealed. London is a unique take on the essay-film format, with scathing reflections on the recent past, enlivened by offbeat humour and wide-ranging literary anecdotes. The amazing locations reveal the familiar London of the near past: Concorde almost touches suburban houses as it takes off; Union Jacks fly from Wembley Stadium's Twin Towers and pigeons flock around tourists in Trafalgar Square. These images, in combination with the script, allow us to see beyond the London presented on the page. It is both a fascinating reflection on the diverse histories of Britain's capital and an illuminating record of 1992, the year of John Major's re-election, IRA bombs and the first crack in the House of Windsor. The book is the first time the film has been fully reproduced in print and contains an introduction from the director.

The second volume of the Russian Criminal Tattoo Encyclopaedia contains completely new drawings, text and photographs from Danzig Baldaev and Sergei Vasiliev. During his fifty years working as a prison guard in St Petersburg’s notorious Kresty Prison, Baldaev diligently recorded over 3,000 criminal tattoos, documenting their meanings within this closed society. This volume further explores the extremes of this incredible collection. Published 3rd July 2006, reprinted in 2011.

This book is dedicated to the Soviet Space Dogs, who played a crucial part in the Soviet Space program. These homeless dogs, plucked from the streets of Moscow, were selected because they fitted the program's criteria: female, weighing no more than 15 pounds, measuring no more than 14 inches in length, robust, photogenic and with a calm temperament. These characteristics enabled the dogs to withstand the extensive training that was needed to prepare them for suborbital, then for orbital, space fights. On 3 November 1957, the dog Laika was the first Earth-born creature to enter space, making her instantly famous around the world. She did not return. Her death, a few hours after launching, transformed her into a legendary symbol of sacrifice. Two further strays, Belka and Strelka, were the first beings to make it back from space, and were swiftly immortalized in children's books and cartoons. Images of the Space Dogs proliferated, reproduced on everyday goods across the Soviet Union: cigarette packets, tins of sweets, badges, stamps and postcards all bore their likenesses. "Soviet Space Dogs" uses these unique items to illustrate the story (in fact and fiction) of how they became fairytale heroines. The first book to document these items, it contains more than 350 images, almost all of which are previously unpublished, and many of which have never been seen before outside Russia. The rich and varied ephemera (from cigarette packets to sweet wrappers and children's toys) of Soviet graphics will have immense appeal to the art and design market, as well as appealing to dog-lovers everywhere.

Since the first atomic bomb was dropped, humankind has been haunted by the idea of nuclear apocalypse. That nightmare almost became reality in 1986, when an accident at the USSR's Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant triggered the world's worst radiological crisis. The events of that night are well documented - but history didn't stop there. Chernobyl, as a place, remains very much alive today. In Chernobyl: A Stalkers' Guide, researcher Darmon Richter journeys into the contemporary Exclusion Zone, venturing deeper than any previously published account. While thousands of foreign visitors congregate around a handful of curated sites, beyond the tourist hotspots lies a wild and mysterious land the size of a small country. In the forests of Chernobyl, historic village settlements and Soviet-era utopianism have lain abandoned since the time of the disaster - overshadowed by vast, unearthly mega-structures designed to win the Cold War. Richter combines photographs of discoveries made during his numerous visits to the Zone with the voices of those who witnessed history - engineers, scientists, police and evacuees. He explores evacuated regions in both Ukraine and Belarus, finding forgotten ghost towns and Soviet monuments lost deep in irradiated forests. He gains exclusive access inside the most secure areas of the power plant itself, and joins the 'stalkers' of Chernobyl as he sets out on a high-stakes illegal hike to the heart of the Exclusion Zone.

With over 200 stickers, this fabulous sticker book is perfect for little animal lovers! Meet adorable puppies on every spread as you bring their world to life! From the park and the dog cafe to the vets and the dog groomer, there are so many fun settings to explore with your new fluffy friends. Accessorise these perfect pups and their owners with stickers and create your own paw-fect world! Also available: Dream Sticker Dress-Up: Magical Friends Coming soon: Dream Sticker Dress-Up: Princesses, Dream Sticker Dress-Up: Weddings