Books published by Thames & Hudson Ltd

Everything you've always wanted to know about forests, in a pop-up format! Open this book and discover the wonders at the heart of the forest! Find out how trees grow, how long they can live and which creatures call them home. Explore the wonders of the Amazon rainforest and why we need to protect it, discover the amazing network of roots and fungus under the ground, and learn some legends that have surrounded trees for centuries...

A visual analysis of the colours used in furnishing fabrics and wallpapers from the 15th century to now, providing inspiration for designers. This simply structured and highly original book analyses the palettes that have been used by designers in the creation of furnishing fabrics and wallpapers from the 15th century to the present. The colours used in each pattern are presented in a simple proportional grid, giving a clear understanding of hues that have been expertly combined at different periods to create the designs we continue to admire and emulate. Spectrum opens with a brief introduction by interior design expert Ros Byam Shaw, exploring the history of colour as used in interiors. The fabrics and wallpapers that follow are arranged chronologically. Each is reproduced on its own double-page spread, and is accompanied by a brief narrative-style caption that provides information about each fabric or wallpaper and its significance in the context of interior design. Unique in such a book are the colour grids shown beside each pattern, in which the colours in the original piece are shown in proportion to their use, and with their CMYK references to enable designers to replicate these colours in their own work.

A gripping account of 200 years of archaeological research, excavation and thought, told through the life stories of 70 of the world's greatest pioneers and practitioners.

Explores the role of the nude in 20th- and 21st-century art and looks at the work of a range of international artists creating contemporary nudes. In this title, the story begins with a tale of life, death and resurrection an investigation into how and why the nude has survived and flourished in an art world that prematurely announced its demise.

First published in 1961, this charming story follows a small boy named Edward who lives in the soaring heights of New York and yearns for a pet to keep him company. Edward lives on the twenty-first floor of a large apartment block in New York, which has a sign in the lobby that reads: 'No dogs or cats allowed'. This isn't much fun for someone like Edward, who would have loved a dog or cat to keep him company, or even more than that, a horse. But the sign doesn't say anything about horses... Edward sets out in search of a horse who likes the city and who won't cost a lot of money to keep. With the help of a friendly fireman, Edward discovers Smitty, whom he unhitches from a vegetable cart and takes home immediately. Before Edward and Smitty can get anywhere near the freight elevator, they are stopped by Smitty's owner, who kindly offers to let Edward ride with them around the city whenever he pleases.

Discover a spine-tingling collection of toxic animals, and learn about the astonishing strategies they use to deliver venom and poison. Creatures from all around the animal kingdom wield a mysterious weapon that is key to their survival: poison! These sophisticated concoctions are designed with precision to defy predators or subdue prey. Big-eyed fuzzy critters with a deadly bite; tiny flashy octopuses that can kill in minutes; sinister spiders, snakes and scorpions...

A history of the world told through the prism of language, from Shakespeare to Anne Frank, Martin Luther King to Greta Thunberg. A History of Words for Children explores the uniquely human ability to transfer thoughts from one brain to another using words. Written in a lively narrative style, the book presents a history of the world and human development through the prism of language, introducing readers to the civilisations, inventions and wordsmiths who have shaped the way we communicate. Divided into themed chapters, the book explores what words are and how humans communicate using spoken language and sign; the development of written scripts and writing implements, including paper; the history of manuscripts and printed books, including worldwide bestsellers and famous libraries; the process of learning another language; dialects and accents and the way language can reflect our identity; the power of words to calm, inspire, rally crowds and rule nations; graffiti's role in spreading messages; codes and invented languages; the patterns of poetry; the future of words, including emojis; and languages facing extinction.

The third title in the laugh-out-loud series of picture books starring Bad Apple, a truly terrible piece of fruit who in his latest bad-tempered adventure looks to spoil a birthday party.

An unexpectedly charming bedtime story in which a little girl imagines what it would be like to have a vampire bat as her pet.

A landmark publication that captures the beautiful richness of every aspect of trees and their importance for science, culture and the future of humankind. Trees feed us, shelter us, inspire us and heal us. In a world facing the destruction of the Amazon rainforest and a pressing climate emergency, the importance of these primeval beings in shaping our future is hard to understate. Generously illustrated and organized according to tree lifecycle - from seeds, leaves and form to wood, flowers and fruit - this book celebrates the great diversity and beauty of the 60,000 tree species that inhabit our planet. Exquisite details are rendered by surprising photography and infographics: intricate bark and leaf patterns, intertwined ecosystems, colourful flower displays, archaic wooden wheels and timber houses. Integral to science, art and culture, fundamental and fragile, dependent and depended on, the vitality of trees is revealed like never before.

A compelling and lively history that examines the lives of British artists from the late-19th century to today. In This is Tomorrow Michael Bird takes a fresh look at the 'long twentieth century', from the closing years of Queen Victoria's reign to the turn of the millennium, through the lens of the artists who lived and worked in this ever-changing Britain. Bird examines how the rhythms of change and adaptation in art became embedded in the collective consciousness of the nation and vividly evokes the personalities who populate and drive this story, looking beyond individual careers and historical moments to weave together interconnecting currents of change that flowed through London, Glasgow, Leeds, Cornwall, the Caribbean, New York, Moscow and Berlin. From the American James McNeill Whistler's defence of his new kind of modern art against the British art establishment in the latter half of the 19th century to the Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson's melting icebergs in London, he traverses the lives of the artists that have recorded, questioned and defined our times. At the heart of this original book are the successive waves of displacement caused by global wars and persecution that conversely brought fresh ideas and new points of view to the British Isles; educational reforms opened new routes for young people from working-class backgrounds; movements of social change enabled the emergence of female artists and artists of colour; and the emergence of the mass media shaped modern modes of communication and culture. These are the ebbs and flows that Michael Bird teases out in this panoramic account of Britain and its artists in across the twentieth century.

A spectacular anniversary publication to celebrate ninety years since the launch of Chanel's first fine jewelry collection in 1932. 'I used my penchant for all that shines to try and reconcile elegance and fashion in a set of jewelry' Gabrielle Chanel From Gabrielle Chanel's 1932 collection to the newest interpretations of her signature signs and symbols, Chanel fine jewelry remains eternally modern and true to the spirit of her enterprise. Breathtaking new photography and classic images from the Chanel archives bring together revealing combinations in a stunning visual narrative, privileging aesthetic form over chronology. Chanel's passion for fabulous and improbable marvels is celebrated here in a covetable book-object that pays tribute to the house's unparalleled insistence on luxury and refinement, creativity and beauty. Based on extensive research and exploring Chanel's life and art through some of the most precious of all her creations and the eternally modern ideas they have inspired, the book features superb photographs by Mario Testino, Patrick Demarchelier, François Kollar, Roger Schall, George Hoyningen-Huene, Horst P. Horst, André Kertész, Sarah Moon, Karl Lagerfeld, Koto Bolofo, Karim Sadli, Dominique Issermann, and many others. It is also illustrated with images from Chanel's archive and sketches that express the creativity and joie de vivre of the world's finest high jewelry collection.

Exquisite yet too fragile to exhibit, one of the world's greatest collection of autochromes - colour photography's pioneering process - is presented to a wide audience for the first time. Offering unprecedented access to the V&A's collection of autochromes - one of the greatest collections of early colour photography in the world - Colour Mania presents this pioneering photographic process in its full, vibrant, wondrous and painterly beauty and provides a breathtaking view of the early 20th century in colour. These autochromes are so fragile and light sensitive that they cannot be displayed in public - this book presents the only chance to see them. Invented by the Lumière brothers - also pioneers of cinema - autochrome was the first widely available direct colour photography process and remained so for the next twenty years. Upon its commercial release in 1907, it was eagerly embraced by Pictorialist photographers and advocated by its leading member Alfred Stieglitz, who predicted ?a mania for colour'. Photographed with great care for this book, the V&A's abundant collection of autochromes is brought to the public for the very first time. Organized thematically and with sections focusing in-depth on the photographers who engaged with the process Colour Mania is built upon the latest scholarship and research by Catlin Longford and includes insights into how these extraordinary photographs are being preserved for future generations. An opportunity to travel in time and understand a tour de force in photographic technology, Colour Mania will delight anyone who desires to experience the past in colour.

Fact or fiction? An imaginative collection of statements about Vincent van Gogh that challenges what we think we know about the artist's much mythologized existence. Van Gogh is the most famous artist in the world, yet our understanding of his life is full of contradictions. Art historians, filmmakers, journalists, psychologists and conspiracy theorists have offered theories on his life and work, yet their views are often poles apart. Van Gogh has been described as a suffering genius, a madman, the embodiment of peace and compassion, a man of violence who was a danger to himself and others, a religious fanatic and a Marxist. Where does the truth lie and the myth begin? This book examines the continual rewriting of Van Gogh's story since the first publications on the artist appeared at the beginning of the twentieth century. Presenting a collage of succinct facts and 'counterfacts', the text is drawn from a wide field of sources: fellow artists, friends and family, doctors and psychoanalysts, actors and writers, theorists, crackpots and scholars. Conflicting statements go hand in hand with an unconventional curation of images, which include postcards of locations associated with the artist, photographs of a fraudster's legal trial, a children's toy, a bottle label and a rusty revolver. Turnbull presents a kaleidoscope of fact and fiction about the world's most discussed artist - sometimes funny, sometimes heartrending, always revealing - giving readers new insights into the artist, his work and his legacy. Van Gogh himself would be amazed not only to see what people have said about him, but also to grasp the global phenomenon that he has become. A must-have for art lovers and museumgoers, this book invites all readers familiar with Van Gogh to challenge long-accepted ideas about the man and his work.

A compelling, fully illustrated account of the worldwide phenomenon of science fiction as depicted in film, literature and art, and the scientific advances and imagination behind it. Drawing on a wide range of examples from the literary and visual canons - short stories, novels, films, television programmes, video games, graphic novels, artworks and more - in both cult and popular culture, this extensively illustrated book examines how science fiction has provided a human response to science, exploring every reaction from complacency to exhilaration, and from hope to terror. Across five chapters this volume reviews the role played by science fiction in exploring our world and a multitude of ideas about our relationship with the human condition. This encompasses a fascinating range of themes - machines, travel, aliens (the Other), communication, threats and anxiety. Featuring a range of essays by experts on the subject as well as interviews with well-known science-fiction authors and reproductions of classic ephemera, graphics and objects throughout, it also focuses on the darker elements of this fascinating genre - the anxieties, fears, dystopias, monsters and apocalypses that have populated science fiction from the beginning. Ultimately, science fiction asks what makes us human, and what lies in the future to test, threaten and even destroy humanity. This publication has these questions at its core, making it especially relevant for a contemporary readership in an age preoccupied with the climate emergency, the coronavirus pandemic, the development of nuclear missiles and military technologies, and other global challenges.

An expert palaeoarchaeologist reveals how our understanding of the evolution of our species has been transformed by momentous discoveries and technological advancements. Who are we? How do scientists define Homo sapiens, and how does our species differ from the extinct hominins that came before us? This illuminating book explores how the latest scientific advances, especially in genetics, are revolutionizing our understanding of human evolution. Paul Pettitt reveals the extraordinary story of how our ancestors adapted to unforgiving and relentlessly changing climates, leading to remarkable innovations in art, technology and society that we are only now beginning to comprehend. Drawing on twenty-five years of experience in the field, Paul Pettitt immerses readers in the caves and rockshelters that provide evidence of our African origins, dispersals to the far reaches of Eurasia, Australasia and ultimately the Americas. Popular accounts of the evolution of Homo sapiens emphasize biomolecular research, notably genetics, but this book also draws from the wealth of information from specific excavations and artefacts, including the author's own investigations into the origins of art and how it evolved over its first 25,000 years. He focuses in particular on behaviour, using archaeological evidence to bring an intimate perspective on lives as they were lived in the almost unimaginably distant past.

The first major publication on the life and work of America's celebrated mid-century modern graphic designer. Rudolph de Harak (1924-2002) is one of the most influential modern graphic designers of the mid-20th century. This beautifully produced, comprehensive monograph is the first and only major publication devoted to this fascinating and significant figure and provides an in-depth account of de Harak's life and work. From his early years in Los Angeles to his success as a design consultant and educator in New York City, de Harak brought huge inventiveness to everything he designed, from record covers to book jackets, from furniture to exhibitions. De Harak's work was influenced by early modernist masters, such as Will Burtin, György Kepes, Alvin Lustig, and Max Bill, as well as by the rigour, simplicity and rationalism of the International Style, Abstract Expressionism, Op Art and Pop Art. Graphic design guru Steven Heller says, 'Rudy de Harak is a solid link between American and Swiss modernism. He was an exemplar of minimalist form with a conceptual content. A book on his life and work is sorely needed and long overdue.' Organized chronologically into six chapters that cover de Harak's life and career from 1924 through to 2002, each supported by sidebars on the designers, architects and art movements that have influenced his work, Rudolph de Harak Graphic Designer: Rational Simplicity documents de Harak's pioneering and prolific fifty-year career in graphic design, environment and experiential design, industrial design, furniture design, posters, books and magazines for a wide range of clients, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Cummins Engine Company, McGraw-Hill Publishers, and many others.

The first career retrospective of one of the rising stars of art photography and filmmaking. A mainstream introduction to Prager's work for a `breakout' audience, and a welcome survey for her existing followers, in 120 exacting, choreographed and utterly memorable images.