Antiquities & Oddities

//Antiquities & Oddities
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  • Hudson explores the forces responsible for bringing about the Renaissance, which he describes as...the West's transition from the medieval to the modern world. Voyages of discovery, inventions, the revival of classical learning and the advent of science contribute to the intellectual upheavals of this creative period which are reflected in its literature and art. Hudson focuses on the one thread of continuity which he sees as both the seed and the fruit of this exciting era: the awakening of secular humanism and the emergence of the individual.  Chapters: The Renaissance In General; The Age Of Invention And Discovery; The Revival Of Learning; The Renaissance In Religion: The Reformation; Science And Philosophy;  Art, Literature And Education. Illustrated.
  • A Gothic coming-of-age story that takes place in Sussex County and follows a young boy with an interest in mischief, exploration, and boxing. Rodney Stone and his best friend, Jim Harrison have always been drawn to dark and dangerous places. When they wander into Cliffe Royale, an old, deserted mansion that was the scene of a gruesome murder fifteen years earlier, they’re both frightened and strangely excited to cross paths with a ghostly figure. Before they can identify who the ghost is and what it wants, Rodney’s wealthy uncle, Sir Charles Tregellis, arrives in Brighton and takes Rodney away. Rodney soon learns that Tregellis, a typical dandy, is connected to just about everyone in London and has focused his attention on an upcoming boxing match to be witnessed by thirty thousand spectators. If Tregellis’s unnamed challenger wins the fight, it could mean grave trouble for Tregellis and everyone he’s associated with - including Rodney. Distracted by the upcoming fight, Rodney almost forgets about the chilling discovery he made at Cliffe Royale with Jim - until the past comes back to haunt them all. A story with twists, turns and the famous and infamous from history - an unforgettable portrait of what life was like for both the common man and the social elite in the early 19th Century.
  • This novel spans 130 years and follows the line of women of the Wrotham family, beginning with Sabrina in 1806. The daughter of a socially disgraced, sadistic roué, she is sponsored into 'Society' by her step-aunt - after having had some good manners vigorously instilled in her and her tomboyish ways smoothed out. Her brother Prior's marriage and production of children play a part in keeping the Wrotham name going. The next Wrotham woman is Clare - her brother Anthony's marriage to Harriet brings Charlotte to the line and the last is Gillian Rose, known as 'Jill'. The diaries and letters of the women are fictitious but the times in which the story is set are not, and many historical characters and events of England are brought to the story. As the generations overlap, with the members of each generation subscribing to the beliefs of their day, there is little sentimental romance involved - just a very good story, tinted with gentle romance and enhanced by the backdrop of historic reality.
  • A teaser of  the upcoming movie attractions of 1957, with interviews and photos of the great and sadly, some now forgotten as well as details of the films in production. There's on-set candid shots as well as glamour pics, with plenty for the vintage film enthusiast: Jack Lemmon, John Wayne; Jean Simmons, Marilyn Monroe, Joan Collins, Doris Day, a young Benny Hill and many more. Film previews include The Battle Of The River Plate, The Spirit Of St. Louis, Giant, Kismet and more. Illustrated with numerous colour and black and white photographs.
  • Or...£500 for a second hand car. A humorous study of the trades and professions that make London tick. Here is cheerful, factual reporting on how the people who clip the publics train tickets or weigh their bananas think, talk, feel and swear about their business. Here are car salesmen, the Billingsgate Bobbin Boys, street-corner news vendors, cab drivers, musicians, Palace guardsmen and others who have added colour and spice to London life.
  • Honouring those who continue to improve our gene pool by removing themselves in sublimely idiotic ways, such as: the woman caught in an American national park, smearing honey all over her small son's face so she could get a photo of a bear licking it off; the man who decided to add a plastic bag to his collection of solo sex toys, and who was found with the plastic bag over his head, the vacuum cleaner still running and himself being very very dead; and the two allegedly experienced twenty-something construction workers who fell to their deaths after cutting a circle in a thick concrete floor without realising they were standing in the middle of the circle. All this and much much more! Also includes sections on honorable mentions and debunks.

  • It is December of 1944, and a detachment of American soldiers has been assigned to guard an ancient castle in Belgium inhabited by an elderly aristocrat, his young wife, and countless valuable artifacts. The soldiers virtually wait out the war - indulging in various hobbies, exploring the castle's excesses (including a replica of Venice, complete with canals and gondolas), in other words, trying to do something other than war - until a German counterattack puts them in the fray!
  • Mr. T. Wallace Wooly, a self-important tycoon, but at heart a shy man, meets his future bride when he rescues her from a hotel fire. Usually this would pose unique challenges to a couple just getting acquainted, but it probably helped that the future Mrs. Wooly was completely naked at the time. Mr. Wooly is the most public, most consequential man in town and respectable - so the well-publicized rescue of the nude Miss Broome thrown over Mr.Wooly's shoulder as he rushes from the burning building sets tongues wagging. Mr. Wooly is aghast at the rumors, but Miss Broome is after all, bewitching, and Mr. Wooly is soon under the spell of her red lips, lustrous black hair, and slanting yellow eyes. It isn't long after their marriage that Mr. Wooly begins to question the wisdom of their hasty union when he sees his new wife climbing down the trumpet vine outside their bedroom window, riding the goat through the apple orchard in the moonlight and killing chickens. Among other things. The Passionate Witch was initially drafted as a film scenario, but later completed as a novel by Norman Matson after Thorne Smith's death in 1934 and is alleged to have been the inspiration for the hit television show Bewitched.  Illustrated by Herbert Roese.
  • Stories From History, Book II. Published in 1936 - but history doesn't change that much.  This is a lovely little volume tracing the history of Rome from Romulus and Remus to the Roman invasion  of Britain, the invasions of the English, the Vikings, the Goths and the Huns up until the time of Edward the Confessor, all told in small manageable 'bites'. With black and white rotogravure illustrations.