Built nearly six hundred years ago by one of Ireland’s greatest chieftans, Cormack MacCarthy, Blarney Castle is one of Ireland’s most visited monuments. Every year thousands flock to visit the ancient castle and walk through its delightful gardens – and to kiss the Blarney Stone, the legendary Stone of Eloquence, which sits at the top of the tower.

The castle and gardens are steeped in the history of Ireland; they are a place of mystery, magic and storytelling, in the great Irish tradition. This richly illustrated book presents Blarney in all its glory, giving historical context, a comprehensive tour of the castle, manor house and garden, and a taste of the many myths and legends that draw visitors from all over the world to Blarney today. On this virtual journey, stand on the upper ramparts, look down across 60 acres of sprawling parkland, including gardens, avenues, arboretums and waterways, and experience Blarney at its best.

As an ‘Englishman in New York’ since 1985, the artist Bill Jacklin has concentrated on painting ‘urban portraits’ of the city in all its guises – from large scale canvases of crowds in flux to intimate moments in Seurat-like etchings.  As a member of the Royal Academy in London, Jacklin’s paintings have been exhibited at the Marlborough Gallery in London and New York since the 1980s and he has participated in numerous one-man and group exhibitions around the world from the 1970s until today. This first full treatment of Jacklin’s New York paintings is a visual celebration of the artist’s fascination with his adopted New York City, its energy, its light, its movement, and its people.

The Foreword is by Sting, an avid collector of Jacklin’s work as well as a fellow ‘Englishman in New York’, who writes on the artist and their relationship with the city. Well-known art historian Michael Peppiatt contributes an insightful interview with the artist, providing an overview of his body of work as shaped by New York. As the first monograph on Bill Jacklin for over 20 years, this stunning, fully illustrated book will be a significant contribution to the study of this internationally acclaimed artist, and serves as a lasting celebration of the magnificence of New York City.

Bill Jacklin’s works are held in collections all over the world; They include the Metropolitan, The Museum of Modern Art, The Morgan Library, The Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, and the Whitney, among many others: Arkansas Arts Centre, Little Rock, USA; Arts Council of Great Britain; Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia; Ashmolean Museum, Oxford; Bayley Art Museum, University of Virginia, VA; British Council, London; British Museum, London; Brooklyn Museum of Art, USA; City Art Gallery, Bradford; Contemporary Art Society, London; Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge; Veranneman Foundation, Belgium Government Art Collection; Houghton Library of the Harvard College Library; Hunterian Art Gallery, Glasgow; Irish Art Council, Dublin; Isle of Man Arts Council; Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, Rutgers, NJ; The Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, Missouri; The Library of Congress, Washington DC; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Montclair Art Museum, Montclair, NJ; The Morgan Library and Museum, New York; Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest, Hungary; useum of Modern Art, New York; Museum Boymans-van-Beuningen, Rotterdam, The Netherlands; Neuberger Museum of Art, New York; The New York Public Library of the Performing Arts, New York; Palmer Museum of Art, Pennsylvania State University; Portland Museum of Art, Oregon; The Queen’s Gallery, (RA Portfolio), London; Royal Academy of Arts, London; Smithsonian Institution, National Portrait Gallery, Washington DC; Tampa Museum of Art, Florida; Tate Gallery, London; Thyssen-Bornemisza, Lugano, Switzerland; University of Alberta, Canada; University of Leicester; University of Guelph, Ontario, Canada; University of Northumbria at Newcastle, Newcastle-upon-Tyne; Victoria and Albert Museum, London; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, Connecticut.

Beverley Minster is one of the most spectacular and impressive of
English non-cathedral churches. It owes its origins to the Saxon St John
of Beverley, who is buried here, though most of what we see today dates
from the 13th and 14th centuries, when Beverley was one of the largest
and wealthiest towns in England and the Minster was a major pilgrimage
centre. Despite a long building programme, the church was constructed in
a consistent architectural style which gives the interior, in
particular, a pleasing harmony. Dr Foyle traces the importance of St
John as both the founder and the inspiration for the continuing
development of the Minster, and the book is lavishly illustrated with
specially commissioned photography.

The Benaki Museum was founded by Antonis Benakis, a visionary collector and cosmopolitan Greek patriot born and raised in Alexandria, Egypt. Since opening to the public in April 1931, the museum has grown into one of the most innovative cultural organisations in Europe, and today includes several branches: a museum dedicated to Greek culture from prehistory to the 1940s; a gallery on modernism in Greece; a museum of Islamic art; a 20th-century sculptor’s studio; a collector’s home; a museum of toys from around the world; a celebrated writer’s seaside retreat; a passementerie factory; and an exhibitions centre. Across this network of venues all over Athens – and beyond – diverse cultures from all historical periods meet contemporary art movements, enabling ‘the Benaki’ to situate the Greek world within a global context.

"Neumann’s book has many qualities – it is beautifully presented, very wide ranging and nicely illustrated – but above all it is a reminder of what the radical right wants to destroy, and how it wants to turn a vibrant, thriving scene into a world of sameness and conformity." – Dan Stone, Professor of Modern History at Royal Holloway, University of London

‘For all those who (we hope) will visit Timișoara during its year as European Capital of Culture, Victor Neumann’s volume provides a welcome introduction to the city and region, of the highest scientific and intellectual quality.’ – Observator Cultural

"…an innovative, monographic illustration of the research topic through cooperation between specialists. Even those who know the history of Banat will find new perspectives." – Armin Heinen

The Banat is a uniquely fascinating example of a European cross-border region, incorporating parts of western Romania, northeastern Serbia and a small area of southeastern Hungary. The team of historians, headed by Professor Victor Neumann of the West University in Timisoara, who have contributed to this volume are drawn from across the three modern nations of the region. They analyse the history and culture of the Banat from the earliest times, focusing on the 300 years since it was captured from the Ottoman Turks by Prince Eugene of Savoy. Today this ethnically diverse region has a distinct character of its own, and its Romanian seat, the city of Timisoara, exudes a character quite different from Transylvania and the rest of Romania. This new English edition of the book (originally published in Romanian in 2016 under the title Istoria Banatului) has been expanded and is published to support Timisoara’s designation as European Capital of Culture in 2023.

Auckland Museum, founded in 1852, just 12 years after New Zealand became a British colony, was the nation’s first public museum. From the outset the Museum was encyclopaedic in its collecting of ‘specimens illustrative of the Natural History of New Zealand – also, Weapons, Clothing, Implements of New Zealand, and the Islands of the Pacific’. Starting in a farm cottage, the Museum is now one of the most important in Oceania. Dominating the central Auckland landscape, its monumental Greek Revival building is one of the visual icons of the city. The building is also a memorial to the war dead of the Auckland province, hence the Museum’s full title, Auckland War Memorial Museum. Auckland Museum houses the world’s leading collection of Maori taonga (treasures) and, reflecting Auckland’s place as the world’s largest Polynesian city, multiple traditional and contemporary arts from throughout the Pacific region. The Museum’s director, David Gaimster, explores this extraordinary collection, each item with its own compelling backstory.

Director Kennie Ting has chosen his personal favourites from the collection, collaborating with ACM curators to provide readers with insightful descriptions of these masterpieces as well as a broad introduction to the museum.

Commissioned to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the foundation of the
Special Air Service, the Ascension memorial by renowned artist John
Maine RA is a powerful presence in this ancient building. The memorial
comprises a spectacular stained-glass window above a polished blue stone
sculpture below, presenting the viewer with a journey from darkness to
light, from quiet contemplation to richly colourful light that becomes
brighter and more vibrant as the eye is drawn upwards. This beautifully
illustrated book tells the story of the commission in the words of the
Regiment, the cathedral community and the artist himself, from first
thoughts to final installation.

ArtScience Museum is the cultural heart of Marina Bay Sands in Singapore and explores the intersection between art, science, technology and culture. Since its opening in February 2011, ArtScience Museum has staged large-scale exhibitions by some of the world’s most famous artists, including Leonardo da Vinci, M.C. Escher, Salvador Dalí, Andy Warhol and Vincent van Gogh. Other significant exhibitions have explored aspects of science and technology – from particle physics and big data to robotics, palaeontology, marine biology and space science.

Artists’ Corner in St Paul’s Cathedral is the final resting place for some of the greatest artists working in the United Kingdom, including Turner, Leighton and Millais. British painters of the 19th century are shoulder to shoulder with artists from America and Continental Europe who made Britain their home and helped to shape national taste.

Artists’ Corner reflects a golden age of artistic production, when the visual arts were central to British cultural pride and identity, when the funerals of the cultural figures were occasions of national mourning, and their achievements were marked with monuments and enduring plaques.

All of the painters and sculptors memorialised in Artists’ Corner are brought together in this guide, with references to some of their master works which chart a trajectory from history painting to the arrival of impressionism and abstraction in the 20th century. 

In 2017 acclaimed film and stage actress Glenn Close donated her costume collection to Sidney and Lois Eskenazi School of Art, Architecture + Design. The Art of the Character: Highlights from the Glenn Close Costume Collection is an exhibition and catalogue at the Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art at Indiana University, in partnership with the Sage Fashion Collection.

This beautifully designed catalogue spans Close’s career through film, television and theatre, with a survey of beautifully crafted costumes from some of her most iconic performances, such as roles in Fatal Attraction, Dangerous Liaisons and 101 Dalmatians. Great designers featured include James Acheson, Ann Roth and Anthony Powell.

"All my costumes are the product of an informed, passionate collaboration," Close said. " … And I’d like them to gain an insight into the creative process, which is basically the thing that keeps any artist’s soul alive: the actual process."

This book offers the first comprehensive survey of the art of the Cayman Islands as seen through highlights from the National Gallery’s permanent collection. The collection traces a historical and stylistic journey that begins with the visionary markings of intuitive artists such as Gladwyn ‘Miss Lassie’ Bush, and moves on to the work of the early realist painters who sought to capture the picturesque tropical island paradise before concluding with the more critically engaged, multi-disciplinary work that the islands’ contemporary artists are generating. This overview, which also functions as the gallery’s first collection guide, features essays on the history of art, the story of the National Gallery and its collection, and works by over 70 artists.