William Heath Robinson remains one of Britain's best-loved illustrators and has embedded himself into English vernacular, inspiring the phrase 'it's all a bit Heath Robinson' to describe any precarious or unnecessarily complex contraption. Born in London, he originally had ambitions to be a landscape painter, but would establish his artistic reputation as a book illustrator during the genre's so-called golden age. It was his association with weekly illustrated magazine The Sketch that was to launch and cement his legacy as a humorous artist. Combining a distinctive draughtsmanship with a curious and ingenious mind, the advent of the First World War inspired Heath Robinson to dream up a series of increasingly outlandish and bizarre military inventions with which the opposing armies would try to outwit each other. From the kaiser's campaigning car or a suggestion for an armoured bayonet curler, to post-war 'unbullying' of beef, his cartoons are a fantastically absurd take on wartime technology and home-front life. Sadly, his inventions were rejected by a (fictitious) 'Inventions Board', but the charm and eccentricity of his ideas was loved by the public and he remains to this day one of the finest exponents of humorous British art.

In the nineteenth century, the phenomenon of 'going abroad' was born. Beautiful Mediterranean towns, the luxurious spas of Mittel-Europe and the golf courses of France became the playground of the idle wealthy. Until foreign travel became more accessible, the picturesque towns and smart hotels catered only to an elite mix of royalty, celebrities and high society. This was where the great and glamorous could relax, mingle, see and be seen - where rules could be broken and routines forgotten. Drawing on the Mary Evans Picture Library's archives and contributions from Galleria L'IMAGE, Lucinda Gosling traces the growth of some of Europe's most exclusive and desirable holiday destinations - from Monte Carlo and Maidenhead, to Biarritz and St Moritz - and explores the lives of the privileged holidaymakers who travelled there. Revealing a world of gossip and glamour, Holidays and High Society tells the story of travel in a golden age through its fashions, faces and places, using evocative vintage travel posters, brochures, fashion spreads and more. The ultimate form of escapism for anyone with a passion for the past.

The declaration of war in August 1914 was to change Britain and British society irrevocably as conflict came to dominate almost every aspect of civilian life for the next four years. Popular weekly magazines such as The Tatler, The Sketch and The Queen, recorded the national preoccupations of the time and in particular, the upper-class experience of war. Targeted at a well-heeled, largely female audience, these magazines were veteran reporters of aristocratic balls, the latest Parisian fashions and society engagements, but quickly adapted to war-like conditions without ever quite losing their gossipy essence. Fashion soon found itself jostling for position with items on patriotic fundraising, and Court presentations were replaced by notes on nursing convalescent soldiers. The result is a fascinating, at times amusing and uniquely feminine perspective of life on the home front during the First World War.