Featuring over 60 maps of London from the twentieth century, this fascinating miscellany provides an enthralling exploration of the history of the city.

One of the best ways to gain an insight into a city’s multilayered past is by deciphering its maps, and this curated collection of historical maps of London will help you do just that. Many of these hugely interesting and significant maps are also beautiful works of art and fascinating examples of design in and of themselves.

The majority of the maps in this collection have been drawn from the historical treasure house that is The London Archives, which has been housing London’s records since 1889. The maps are presented in thematic chapters, including:

• Making Connections: Maps of the railways, tube system and roads.
• Let’s Go Outside: London’s green spaces and the River Thames.
• Picture This: Pictorial, decorative and artistic maps.
Perfect for map enthusiasts, history buffs and lovers of graphic design and London, this is a visually stunning book that you will spend hours poring over.

A nostalgic exploration of Britain’s distinctive and architecturally significant seafront buildings from the 1920s to the new millennium.

British seaside resorts enjoyed phenomenal popularity for much of the twentieth century. Told chronologically, this book is the first look at how resort architecture around the UK coast kept pace with changing fashions and the increasing competition of foreign destinations.

Using vintage postcard images, Kathryn Ferry showcases the inherent playfulness of seaside architecture as it evolved from interwar classicism, through art deco and international modernism, to Festival of Britain-inspired mid-century style, then later to seafront tower blocks and the artificial beaches of 1970s leisure centres. Featuring a wide range of building types, Twentieth Century Seaside Architecture explores everything from beach huts and bandstands to lidos, piers, theatres, hotels and amusement arcades.

As climate change and the soaring cost of living provoke changing attitudes to travel, Britain’s seaside has witnessed renewed popularity, making now the perfect time to champion our architectural legacy of domestic tourism. Offering a compelling reassessment, Twentieth Century Seaside Architecture will appeal to fans of architecture and design who love to be beside the sea.

Sashiko is used to repair and decorate clothing, bed covers, tablecloths; nearly any textile you could think of. It is a functional, decorative way to give new life to tired or damaged clothing. In Mending with Sashiko, you will learn how to sew with different techniques such as hitomezashi, moyozashi and koginsashi, and learn which techniques are best for which materials. There are direct instructions on how to mend jeans, shirts, socks and more, as well as how to utilise your new skills on larger projects, such as patchwork quilts. 

Takao ‘Momi’ Momiyama is a renowned artist and Sashiko practitioner, and in Mending with Sashiko you are invited into his workshop where he shares his best tips and tricks for successful stitching. You can dive into Momi’s archive and take a closer look at garments that he has repeatedly repaired with Sashiko over the years; in some cases, up to 40 years. You can observe how this continuous cycle of wear, tear and repair affects the clothing in a way that is rarely seen in our throw-away culture, and see how mending your clothes with Sashiko, either simply with functionality in mind or with more intricate embroidery patterns, turns your clothes into unique and sustainable pieces for life. 

An uplifting, positive and powerful book that explores how to break through fear and find joy through creativity, from bestselling author Holly Ringland.

The House That Joy Built is about how to give ourselves permission to be creative. It explores all the big fears that can block our creativity, and the permission we can meet those fears with – not simply to create, but to revel in the life-changing wonder and joy of doing so. It offers a jump-start for the nervous heart of anyone whose desire to create is ruled by fear. It is a book for those people who yearn to write, as well as people who find their creativity in other ways: gardeners,, sculptors, jewellery-makers, florists, songwriters, dancers, cooks, painters … anyone who wants to make something but doesn’t because they’re afraid. Afraid of feeling vulnerable, of criticism and judgement from others, of not being good enough, of not having enough, of having ‘bad ideas’, of being ‘too much’.

In lyrical, inspirational prose, Holly examines her own sometimes difficult journey to a successful writing career, and offers a wealth of encouragement for anyone who wants to unlock their imagination. Divided into eight chapters, each addresses an obstruction to creativity with a suggested remedy, including generous, conversational advice. This book is an exhilarating, empowering clarion call to overcome doubt and experience the joy and freedom of creating. 

A visual feast of 49 weird, wonderful and architecturally astounding swimming pools from around the world.

This book is a sumptuous celebration of swimming pools as playgrounds of pioneering design and architectural excess. Banish memories of crowded leisure centres and sun lounger-clad lidos, these are pools designed for pleasure, not purpose. Swimming pools are no longer simply places to swim, they are versatile sites of activity and excess. They can be vital lifelines providing communities with safe access to water, domestic symbols of affluence, and the avant-garde spectacle of hotel developers.

Naina Gupta uncovers some of the most spectacular swimming pools from around the world, including Berthold Lubetkin’s modernist Penguin Pool at London Zoo, the world’s largest infinity pool at Marina Bay Sands, Ricardo Bofill’s blood-red garden pool in Spain, and London’s unparalleled Sky Pool. Extraordinary Pools also includes 4 extended essays on various aspects of pool culture, such as the use of empty swimming pools in California by skateboarders. 

Illustrated throughout with awe-inspiring colour photography, Extraordinary Pools is a mosaic of exceptional public and private pools, reasserting the protean quality of the swimming pool as a space of activity, pleasure and excess.

30 magical crochet square designs for clothes, accessories and the home.

A square is a small, repeatable crochet project that is versatile and easy to take with you wherever you go. You can use them individually or you can join endless amounts of squares together to build up patterns which can give you everything from mug coasters to duvet covers.

In this book, Maria Gullberg has designed different types of squares including classic and easy granny squares, new and interesting designs of squares and hexagons, as well as mosaic crochet squares. They can be used for all kinds of projects, from jumpers, shawls and waistcoats to rugs, cushion covers and bags: the possibilities really are endless.

Each square can be joined together in as many ways as you can think of. There are pattern examples with clear instructions if you’re looking for inspiration or specific designs, or you can make it up as you go along mixing patterns and choosing your own colour ways. 

In this book you’ll discover squares to crochet that you’ll never have seen before. With projects suitable for all abilities, from beginner through to intermediate and advanced, there’s plenty to ignite your imagination.

A smooth ride through the golden age of car travel, looking at both its cultural and architectural impact on the world.

The culture of road travel and the road trip is arguably best reflected in the stationary spots found along the way. Christopher Beanland journeys through these built environments the world over, whose sole purpose is to cater to cars and those who drive them, and examines what makes them so alluring.

Illustrated with 65 stunning photographs, Architecture For Cars explores everything from the brutalist fashions of listed UK petrol stations to the quirky and colourful drive-thrus found across the US. If you’re interested in the autobahn churches of Germany, why Ed Ruscha felt drawn to painting gas stations, or you just enjoy the aesthetics of car-centric architecture across the globe, this book is for you.

Also included are essays on wider topics such as roadside signs, drive-in malls and retail parks, cars on film, and roads that never were. This latest architectural deep-dive from Christopher Beanland focuses mainly on the 20th century, with an additional optimistic look towards the future: hopefully an electric vehicle-led existence will herald a new, greener ‘golden age’ for cars.

Poetry of the Zodiac is a fun and enlightening collection that takes you on a journey around the different signs of the zodiac wheel.

Accompanied with beautiful illustrations, this book covers each of the star signs, harnessing the power of words and language to illuminate the different characteristics and to help you explore your own emotional constellations. Whether you’re an energetic Aries, a curious Gemini or a diligent Virgo, you’ll find here poems that reflect your own traits and poems to deepen your understanding of others.

Included are some of our greatest writers – both classic and contemporary – from Ptolemy and Rainer Maria Rilke to Langston Hughes and Jane Hirshfield, all casting light on the personal, the mysterious, the celestial and the universal. Each chapter includes around 10 poems as well as a short introduction to the star sign, making the collection accessible to those less familiar with the subject and those who are curious to learn more.

A chromatic celebration of fabulous fashion.

Colorwear immerses you in the power of color in fashion – as storytelling, mood, and creative expression – all drawn from the extraordinary fashion collection of Phoenix Art Museum.

Organized into 13 color-themed chapters, this vibrant book examines how designers across eras and cultures transform fashion into wearable art. Drawing from the renowned Phoenix Art Museum collection, fashion curator Helen Jean contextualizes iconic garments within broader historical and cultural narratives. Fashion historians April Calahan and Cassidy Zachary, hosts of the podcast Dressed: The History of Fashion, contribute additional insights into standout pieces. From couture to ready-to-wear, shoes to accessories, Colorwear highlights the role of color as a powerful tool for storytelling, mood, and creative expression.

Iconic garments, including Fortuny’s Delphos gown and Warhol’s ‘Souper’ Dress, mingle with other sartorial gems created by Chanel, Gaultier, Lagerfeld, Louboutin and Schiaparelli, among others. 

Sunny Spells and Scattered Showers: A Weather Poem for Every Day of the Year is an anthology of classic and contemporary poems, all about the weather.

This latest anthology from Jane McMorland Hunter covers all aspects of the weather: from storms to heatwaves to April showers, there’s a poem to reflect all the elements throughout the year.

From the nursery rhyme ‘Rain, Rain, Go Away’ to Sylvia Plath’s ‘Black Rook in Rainy Weather’, from Ralph Waldo Emerson’s ‘A Snowy Day’ to Amanda Gorman’s ‘Earthrise’, there is a weather poem for every day of the year. You can slip into a poem to dream of better weather (whether to you that means snow, rain or sun) or revel in a mirroring of what is currently going on outside of your window.

With contributions from classic and contemporary poets alike, there is all sorts of weather to be found; some favourites as well as some you may not even have heard of. With a selection of poems stretching across the globe and centuries, you’re sure to find a weather poem to cast some sunlight on your day.

A celebration of some of the greatest modern buildings in Britain, all created in the 21st century.

The Twentieth Century Society are looking to the future with this latest title in the ‘100 Buildings’ series, providing an overview of the best and most interesting buildings created in the 21st century so far. What do these buildings tell us about British society, our changing values and our aspirations? And will we still feel they have meaning and purpose for decades to come?

This fascinating book provides an overview of a quarter of a century of new buildings, and offers a unique perspective of how these buildings might adapt to changing future needs. The buildings include houses, workplaces, education buildings, entertainment and sport venues, transport hubs, places of worship and even landscapes and gardens. 

100 21st-Century Buildings also provides a look forward to the heritage of the future, examining if our historic building preservation system is robust enough to protect the best examples of 21st-century architecture. What needs to be done to ensure we save what deserves to be saved?

From Tate Modern and the Shard to Gateshead Millennium Bridge, the Scottish Parliament Building and Belfast’s Lyric Theatre, this beautiful book is a celebration of this century’s best architecture. 

Learn how to recreate adorable embroidered scenes of Tokyo and other iconic Japanese motifs with this colourful, fun and practical book.

In Stitch Tokyo, embroidery artist Yumi Hoops shows you how to create Japanese-inspired embroidered masterpieces, explaining the techniques and methods that can help to transform your embroidery into unique works of art. Yumi Hoops’s quirky signature style incorporates 3D elements in her embroidery, such as mini LEDs and beads, creating unique and colourful pieces of embroidery. This book contains 15 charming projects, each accompanied by easy-to-follow explanations of the materials, tools, stitches and processes involved. The project patterns are included at the end of the book.

Step-by-step projects include:

• Shinjuku’s famous 3D cat;
• A delicious-looking plate of gyoza;
• Iridescent koi fish swimming in a pond;
• The colourful and cheerful Takeshita Street;
• A photo-transfer Tokyo metro carriage

Both a fun project book and a useful instructional book, this cute and kitsch celebration of Japan is a must-have for any embroidery lover and fan of Japanese culture.