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'No one before has ever brought out with quite the same vividness the historical background of the country all around us' - "Guardian" - a classic of English landscape history, reissued in its fiftieth anniversary year. First published in 1955 by Hodder, "The Making Of The English Landscape" is a classic of English history. It was the first book to study, literally, the history of the landscape, and also the first to explode the myth that the English landscape was 'formed by enclosures'. Instead...

The surgeon, naturalist and Arctic explorer Sir John Richardson (1787-1865) was a lifelong friend to his former commander Sir John Franklin, with whom he had twice travelled to seek the North-West Passage. Following two years of silence from Franklin after he embarked on his 1845 expedition to the Arctic, Richardson set out on his own voyage in the hope of finding his comrade. Originally published in 1851, this two-volume work charts the journey which would inevitably fail in its ambition: Frank...

Sir Albert Hastings Markham (1841–1918) was a British Admiral and Arctic explorer. He joined the Royal Navy at fifteen and after postings in China, the Mediterranean and Australia he was promoted to Commander in 1872. For the next six years he took part in Arctic exploration, later writing fascinating accounts of his experiences. He was appointed as Naval Aide-de-Camp to Queen Victoria in 1888, and in 1903 he received a knighthood and was promoted to admiral. Published in 1878, this is the first...

A major reference work, Philip's Atlas of World History - concise edition records the history of human society throughout the world, from prehistory to the year 2002, in 450 specially commissioned colour maps, 200 illustrations, tables and diagrams, and 200,000 words.The Atlas of World History - concise edition goes beyond the conventional focus on European and American political history to give worldwide coverage of socio-economic, cultural, and religious themes. Due weight is given to regions...

Written by explorer, scientist and later clergyman William Scoresby (1789-1857), this two-volume guide to the Arctic regions was first published in 1820. Scoresby, himself the son of a whaler and Arctic explorer, first sailed to the polar regions at the age of eleven, and was later apprenticed to his father. He became a correspondent of Sir Joseph Banks, and his extensive research on the Arctic area included pioneering work in oceanography, magnetism, and the study of Arctic currents and waves....

The first reliable maps of the Chilean and Peruvian coasts were drawn by the French explorer Amedee-Francois Frezier (1682-1773). In 1712, he was sent on a spying mission to the Spanish ports and fortifications of South America, travelling along the Pacific coastline as far as Callao, the port of Lima. His maps were later used by two of France's most famous explorers, Bougainville and Laperouse. Frezier also took a keen interest in botany, mineralogy, economics and anthropology. His most celebra...

In the years leading up to Charles Darwin's 1832-6 voyage on the Beagle, the ship and its captain Robert Fitzroy (1805-65) had participated in an expedition to the desolate southern coast of South America. This three-volume work, published in 1839, describes both voyages. Volumes 1 and 2, compiled by Fitzroy, contain accounts by professional mariners. Volume 3 is the first published version of the young Darwin's now famous journal. It later appeared as a free-standing publication (1840) and in a...

A key figure in post-war European art, Ralph Rumney, at the start of the 21st century, is living and working in the South of France. Numerous exhibitions of his paintings have taken place throughout Europe since his first solo show in 1956, including two major retrospectives in Paris (1999) and Halifax (2000). Ralph Rumney is the only British founder-member of Situationist International (from which he enjoyed the honour of being excluded in 1958), and the lone founder of the London Psychogeograp...

Number 24 in the Irish Historic Towns Atlas series, Sligo depicts the urban development of this strategically situated north-western town with over 1400 sites are documented. The atlas traces growth from the Gaelic settlement to the medieval town that developed around Sligo Castle, to its early modern military presence through to the twentieth century. Sligo includes 21 maps and views as well as thematic maps that are dotted through the essay and topographical gazetteer. Presented in colour on A...

The story of steamboating in the Canadian West comes to life in the voices of those aboard the vessels of the waterways of the Prairies. Their captains were seafaring skippers who had migrated inland. Their pilots were indigenous people who could read the shoals, sandbars, and currents of Prairie waterways. Their operators were businessmen hoping to reap the benefits of commercial enterprise along the shores and banks of Canada's inland lakes and rivers. Their passengers were fur traders, advent...

Flora Celtica - Plants and People in Scotland documents the continuously evolving relationship between the Scots and their environment. Based on a mixture of detailed research and information provided by the public, this book explores the remarkable diversity of ways that native plants have been, and continue to be, used in Scotland. The information is presented in clear and accessible format and is laced with quotations, illustrations, case studies and practical tips. The book covers the comple...

Emigrant Homecomings addresses the significant but neglected issue of return migration to Britain and Europe since 1600. While emigration studies have become prominent in both scholarly and popular circles in recent years, return migration has remained comparatively under-researched, despite evidence that in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries between a quarter and a third of all emigrants from many parts of Britain and Europe ultimately returned to their countries of origin. Emigrant Homeco...

An admirer of Captain Cook, Otto von Kotzebue (1787-1846) was a leading navigator, in Russian service, circumnavigating the globe three times. His 1815 expedition set out to find a passage through the Arctic, study the coastlines of Kamchatka and Alaska, and explore the Pacific. Among the personnel were the naturalist Chamisso and the artist Choris, who both contributed valuable information to the published account, while Eschscholtz, a physician, collected zoological specimens. Originally publi...

The Portland, Purbeck and Wealden rocks of southern England tell a fascinating story of environmental change during latest Jurassic and early Cretaceous times, about 140-120 million years ago. From the spectacular coastal sections of Dorset, the Isle of Wight and East Sussex, to inland quarries, cuttings and natural outcrops comes a wealth of evidence for a shallow subtropical sea ultimately replaced at a higher latitude by lagoons, lakes and river plains influenced by changing sea levels, clima...