Windsor is the oldest inhabited castle in the world – for over 900 years it’s been home to kings and queens, including our Queen Elizabeth II.

This colourful activity book reveals the secrets of the world’s oldest inhabited castle and the Kings and Queens who have lived there. Over time it has been a royal fortress, a King Arthur-inspired palace, a Victorian Christmas wonderland and home to The Queen (and her corgis)! There’s also a mini palace inside – Queen Mary’s Dolls’ House has hot and cold running water, two working lifts and even flushing lavatories!

Jousting and feasting, deaths and dungeons, childhood games and celebrity events – lively illustrations and fun facts bring the Castle’s colourful history to life.

"My favourite museum in the world!" This is what many visitors say about the Pitt Rivers Museum, with its atmospheric galleries, showing artefacts from all corners of the world, uniquely arranged according to the objects’ different functions. But who was General Pitt-Rivers, who donated the founding collection, and how did the museum come to have so distinctive an appearance? Its displays may look unchanged since Victorian times, but they are actually the outcome of a lively history, curatorial ambitions, university politics and shifts in public taste.

This book provides, in addition, an insight into the collections themselves, the cast of characters who contributed to them and the kind of adventurous collaborations that the museum today undertakes with the communities from which the collections originally came.

The Peterhof State Museum-Reserve is one of the most visited and attractive museums in Russia, the "fountain capital" of a huge country. Uniting today more than 30 expositions located on the territory of Peterhof, Alexandria, Strelna and Oranienbaum, the museum acquaints its guests with the great past of Russia.

The history of each Peterhof monument is deeply individual, but, being formed into single architectural ensembles, its are an organic synthesis of history, art, architecture, human destinies. The planning structure of Peterhof skillfully combines regular and landscape parks, palaces of different architectural styles, small forms and fountains. The famous water supply system, which has no analogues in the world, keeps the memory of its creator – emperor Peter the Great.

The Peterhof collections, collected by the crowned owners of the residence to decorate it, consist of a variety of museum items. "There is a soul in every museum object," says Director Elena Kalnitskaya, and this is clear in each work of art presented in this book. Each object, tells its own story, but also invites the reader to better understand the history of Russia.

Peterborough Cathedral is one of England’s finest Norman buildings and, with the addition of its uniquely arranged west front, also among the most individual. Architectural historian Dr Jonathan Foyle combines the wealth of his specialist knowledge with the recent findings of other historians in this study and elucidation of a truly impressive building. He shows how its liminal position between land and water reflects the mediating role of the medieval Church between the terrestrial and the celestial realms. It is fundamental to the Saxon abbey’s dedication to St Peter, bearer of the key to heaven, and is reflected in the construction, decoration and symbolic language of the twelfth-century building. Engagingly written and beautifully illustrated with specially commissioned photography and the author’s own architectural drawings, Peterborough Cathedral: A Glimpse of Heaven offers a superb tribute to one of England’s most beautiful and enigmatic medieval buildings.

Contents: Introduction; 1. Between Land and Water; 2. Destruction and Rebuilding; 3. Cathedral Completed; 4. Nave Ceiling; 5. The End of an Era; 6. Survival and Renewal.

Follow @pborocathedral on Twitter (4220 followers).

A royal palace for over 500 years, Holyroodhouse is The Queen’s official Scottish residence. It has been home to Mary, Queen of Scots, and Bonnie Prince Charlie, as well as the setting for rebellion, murder and marriages that have changed the course of British history. This new guide tells the sometimes turbulent story of Holyroodhouse, while new photography offers a closer look at its interiors and some of the artworks on display.

The Oval is one of the world’s great cricket grounds. It was here in south London in 1882 that the legend of the Ashes was born, and many of the game’s most memorable events have taken place here, including Don Bradman’s duck in his final innings and Kevin Pietersen’s coruscating 158 that sealed England’s 2005 Ashes win. Home to Surrey County Cricket Club since it opened in 1845, the Oval also staged England’s first international football match and the first FA Cup Final, and has hosted everything from American football to rock concerts. This official guidebook provides a fascinating introduction to the Oval, covering its history, architecture and the people who have made it what it is today, from ground staff to sporting heroes. It is illustrated throughout, with images ranging from archival photography of the ground’s earliest days to the 2017 ICC Champions Trophy Final.

Stunning, intimate photographs bring orchids to life in this showcase of the extraordinary collection of Marie Selby Botanical Gardens in Sarasota, Florida. As a leader in the study and conservation of orchids and other epiphytes, Selby Gardens is home to the best scientifically documented collection of living orchids in the world. A fascinating and accessible text by their botany and horticulture experts explores the remarkable beauty and diversity of one of the largest and most admired families of flowering plants, examining their vibrant colours, elegant lines, and sometimes other-worldly shapes. This striking volume is published in celebration of Selby Gardens’ 50th anniversary, and will be a delight for all those intrigued by the unique and complex splendor of orchids.

Over the nearly five decades of their marriage, Charles and Fiona Allsopp moved home more than thirty times. They also visited six continents, flooded several bathtubs, washed a very expensive rug in a swimming pool, had close encounters with elephants and howler monkeys, climbed waterfalls and escaped the clutches of the KGB.

Told through the urbane, funny and always personable voice of the pater familias, this is the story of the Allsopps – Charles, Fiona and their four children, Kirstie (now herself a property expert), Henry, Sofie and Natasha – and their exploits across England and across the globe. Along the way they suffer defeats and celebrate victories in the tumultuous world that is the English property market and Charlie, a former chairman of Christie’s, gives his inimitable take on art and culture.

The grid often hides in plain sight, from notepads and spreadsheets to halftone photographic reproductions. It dominates the organisation, perception, and representation of the modern world, especially in print. Deeply embedded in a Western worldview, the grid visualises control, mastery, and order. As an invisible framing device, it has become so pervasive that we habitually ignore it. Yet when artists call our attention to the grid, its layered meanings come fully into view.

On the Grid: Ways of Seeing in Print surveys photographs, prints, artist’s books, and printed sculptures from the dynamic permanent collection of the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center at Vassar College.

From 19th-century scientific and portrait photography to avant-garde and conceptual photography; from mid- 20th-century Minimalist, Pop Art, and Op Art printmaking to experimental bookmaking and photography in the 21st century, this richly illustrated volume explores how artists have embraced, rejected, and reclaimed the grid. By altering and challenging perception, they offer new ways of seeing the world.

With contributions by Jared Bark, Jessica D. Brier, Lukas Felzmann, Stephen Frailey, John P. Murphy, Werner Pfeiffer, Alison Rossiter, Stephanie Syjuco, Rhiannon Skye Tafoya, Massimo Tarrida.

This beautifully designed publication commemorates the 50th anniversary of Public Art of the University of Houston System, including works by esteemed artists such as Carlos Cruz-Diez, Margo Sawyer, Alyson Shotz, Frank Stella and Andy Warhol. An essay by Alison de Lima Greene delves into the history of the collection and an essay by Public Art UHS director and chief curator María C. Gaztambide, Ph.D., looks towards its future. In addition, the volume highlights about 40 of the collection’s most notable works, illustrated with all-new colour photography and accompanied by entries written by artists, scholars, curators and other members of the arts community. The book gives readers access to the nearly 300 artworks on view to the public every day throughout the University of Houston System.

Contents:
Foreword
Acknowledgments
The State of Public Art of the University of Houston System at Fifty by María C. Gaztambide
On Site, In Time by Alison de Lima Greene
Highlights of the Collection
Selected Works
Contributors
Index.

Preserving a historic house is a labour of love. Preserving nearly a
dozen houses, from Colonial-era Georgian to opulent Gilded Age mansions,
becomes a mission. In this book, The Preservation Society of Newport
County shares its 75 years of experience in conserving three centuries
of the finest achievements in American architecture, decorative arts and
landscape design. This fully illustrated volume is an essential
resource for all heritage, architecture and preservation enthusiasts –
as well as anyone enchanted by the unique grandeur of Newport, Rhode
Island.