What are the best burger joints in San Francisco? Which local craft breweries are worth visiting? Where should you go to find the coolest surf gear? The 500 Hidden Secrets of San Francisco is the perfect guide for anyone who’s keen to explore the city’s best-kept secrets. It guides the reader to the places not typically included in tourist guides. Like a secret fairy door in Golden Gate Park or the truly steepest hills in the city. At the same time, it also lists fantastic places frequented by San Francisco residents, like where to shop for local goods and antiques, or where to go for a fabulous brunch and the best craft cocktails in the city. Packed with hundreds of places to go, things to do, and good-to-know facts about the city, The 500 Hidden Secrets of San Francisco will help you make the most of your visit to one of the United States’ coolest towns.

Discover the series at the500hiddensecrets.com

“If you really want to get under the skin of a city, the 500 Hidden Secrets series, which covers a number of cities from Havana to Ghent, all written by people who know the cities inside out, is ideal. It’s an innovative and refreshing take on the traditional travel guide.” – The Independent

The perfect book for those who wish to discover the locals’ favorite spots in Venice, one of the most popular tourist destinations in Europe. Avoiding the usual tourist haunts, this affectionate guide provides a fresh perspective on the must-visit spots and introduces you to Venice’s best-kept secrets, such as 5 restaurants that most tourists will never find, 5 cozy markets in the open air, the 5 most beautiful buildings by architect Carlo Scarpa, 5 convents where you can spend the night, the 5 nicest bookshops for kids and much more.

Where to go for the best pints of Guinness in Dublin? Or when you’re craving the ultimate sandwich? And what are the 5 shops you absolutely have to visit on Grafton Street? Shane O’Reilly knows! With lots of love and enthusiasm, he shares hundreds of his favorite places in his hometown of Dublin, like the wood-panelled and plush club serving as a multi-purpose arts center, Ireland’s oldest reggae shop, or the stunning and family-run delicatessen serving up delicious seafood straight from the ocean half a mile away. The 500 Hidden Secrets of Dublin is the perfect book for those who wish to discover the city, but avoid all the usual tourist haunts, as well as for residents who are keen to track down the city’s best-kept secrets.

Discover the series at the500hiddensecrets.com

To document and preserve an ancient craft tradition in danger of disappearing, Douglas Brooks apprenticed with five master boatbuilders in Japan between 1996 and 2010, building a different traditional wooden boat with each. His research and experiences were presented in his landmark 2015 publication, Japanese Wooden Boatbuilding. This book documents his most recent apprenticeship, building a cormorant fishing boat with 85-year-old master craftsman Seichi Nasu, in Gifu, Japan.

Using trained cormorants to fish has a 1,300 year history in Gifu, and is done at night from special river craft called ubune, literally “cormorant boat.” The boat features an extended bow with pivoting boom from which is hung an iron fire basket to light up the water and attract fish, which are then retrieved by the enthusiastic birds.

Together with Mr. Nasu, then 85, Brooks worked with several volunteers over a two-month period to build the 42 foot craft, a design largely unchanged for centuries. As in his previous publications, readers are introduced to important aspects of traditional Japanese boatbuilding, including design and measurements, workshop and tools, wood and materials, joinery and fastenings, and above all, secrets of the craft.

This volume, published in association with the Rijksmuseum (Amsterdam), contains the results of research by scientists, conservators and art historians into the materials and techniques of early paintings from the Northern Netherlands in the museum’s collection. In order to investigate the materials used by the artists, including the provenance of the materials and the methods of preparation and application, 14 paintings and frames were examined. Information on the panels, grounds, underdrawings, pigments, oils, diluents etc. are explored in relation to the descriptions in mediaeval texts and treatises.

This richly illustrated book gives a clear understanding of the lost skills, forgotten materials, and technical secrets of medieval painting – a world so different from ours – thereby making the materials and methods of the medieval past less foreign to us.

In The 500 Hidden Secrets of Madrid, Anna-Carin Nordin presents 500 must-know addresses in the Spanish capital, such as the 5 trendiest but affordable restaurants, 5 shops with the coolest sunglasses, 5 places that are decorated by the new generation of Madrid’s designers, 5 buzzing after-work bars or the 5 most curious street names… Madrid has so much to offer, and this guide helps you to choose where to start discovering this beautiful city. It is the perfect book for those who wish to discover the city, but avoid all the usual tourist haunts, as well as for residents who are keen to track down the city’s best-kept secrets.

With this new guide in your bag, you’re set to go out and discover the best and most fun places in hotspot Miami: 500 addresses that many tourists don’t know, a bit off the beaten track, but always loved by the locals and worth a visit. The 500 Hidden Secrets of Miami will take you to all the places that make Miami the lively and unique city it is, also known as the ‘Gateway to the Caribbean’, such as: the 5 nicest water views, 5 stunning Mediterranean revival buildings, 5 renowned Miami-based fashion designers, the 5 coolest hotel pools, and 5 wonderful parks, playgrounds, and museums to visit with your kids. It even includes some unusual experiences, such as swimming in a freshwater Venetian pool, or day trips to the Everglades and the Keys.

The 500 Hidden Secrets of Rome helps you set out to discover the most attractive, fun and unique places in Italy’s capital. Luisa Grigoletto and Christopher Livesay share 500 addresses and facts that many tourists don’t know, sometimes off the beaten track, but always loved by the locals and worth a visit.

This book lists, among other things, the 5 best gelaterías, the 5 most beautiful historic shops, 5 breathtaking palazzi which played an important role in art history and 5 sites where major Italian films were shot. It is the perfect book for those who wish to discover the city, but avoid all the usual tourist haunts, as well as for residents who are keen to track down the city’s best-kept secrets.

The 500 Hidden Secrets of Rotterdam is a guide to the city’s hidden gems. It takes you off the beaten track to discover the city’s turbulent history, its modern architecture, its little-known museums, the best restaurants and the coolest clubs.
True locals Saskia Naafs & Guido van Eijck selected 500 addresses and facts about Rotterdam that few people know and presents them in lists of 5, alongside beautiful photographs. Guido and Saskia’s favorite addresses include a former harbor warehouse turned daily fresh market where you can sample a perfect locally roasted coffee or a homemade cider, a bright-red light-vessel ship where you can attend an intimate concert, or a former subtropical swimming paradise where you can grow your own oyster mushrooms.

Whether you’re using a top-notch camera or the one on your phone, anyone can practise being more present through photography. One Photo A Day Keeps the Doctor Away will help you do just that, through 160 photography challenges that help you to slow down and look around.
To inspire you, each challenge is accompanied by a carefully selected quote, sourced from a diverse collection of books by inspiring thinkers, writers, artists and philosophers – all of them experts in the art of looking, seeing and being.
Taking a moment out of your busy day to create a thoughtful image will sharpen your focus and creativity. Share your discoveries with the world, using the hashtag for the challenge, so others can see what you saw.
Now, open the book and pick a photo challenge. What will your photo look like today?
#onephotoaday

“A lush, illustrated book shows the “Equestrian Life” in the rich paradise around New York – and is also great fun for non-equestrians.” — Monopol

“His book overflows with breathtaking imagery and rich history.” —  Frederic

Equestrian life has an enduring appeal for many of us, but it has a special place in the hearts of Hamptonites. Written by renowned fashion and lifestyle editor, Blue Carreon — an avid equestrian who lives and breathes the Hamptons when not in Manhattan — this luxurious book is his photographic showcase of the glamorous, often exclusive, and intriguing horse-sporting life in the Hamptons. This is a place dotted by bucolic barns and exclusive stables, coexisting with the shingle-style mansions with sweeping manicured lawns and modernist beach houses with uninterrupted views of the dunes and ocean beyond. Wending and looping through the picturesque hills and townships of the Hamptons are horseback-riding trails, world-class public and private equestrian facilities and estates, and premier blue-ribbon horse shows, polo competitions, and more. Blue Carreon also explores the hard work that comes with the glamor that comes with the sport. The thrill and danger that come with the sound of a horse’s galloping steps; the frustration of falls and ecstasy of big wins. Equestrian Life in the Hamptons offers a historic framework to the evolution of equestrian culture in the region, provides details on stables and how they are designed, barn and tack room tours, and the fashions on and off the field (both human and equine) as well as interiors inspired by all things equestrian. These pages are jam-packed with stories and interviews with not only the wealthy weekenders but with those who have devoted their life to their equine passions and the equestrian life.

It’s easy to fall in love with the Hamptons. Charming towns, pristine beaches – and that luminous light cherished by locals and generations of beach lovers. While it’s famous for its magnificent mansions and coiffed hedges, there is so much more here to than meets the eye. Come find the hidden secrets of the Hamptons waiting to be discovered with 111 Places in the Hamptons That You Must Not Miss. Hang ten at a secret surfers’ beach. See the studio where artist Jackson Pollock painted his masterpieces. Get lost in a field of lavender. Visit a haunted lighthouse. Ride a horse along a secluded beach. Take a stroll in the graveyard where Picasso’s forgotten muse is buried. From wood-shingled windmills to hydrangea-rimmed roads. White, sandy beaches – to calm, bayside views. These places of nature, history, art, and delightful quirkiness are the very reasons why the East End of Long Island has become one of the most beloved travel destinations in the world.

‘One of the very few necessary and inevitable utterances of the century.’ William Morris, in the Preface. The Nature of Gothic started life as a chapter in Ruskin’s masterwork, The Stones of Venice. Ruskin came to lament the ‘Frankenstein monsters’ of Victorian buildings with added Gothic which ‘The Stones’ inspired; but despite his misgivings the original moral purpose of his writing had not fallen on stony ground. The Nature of Gothic, the last chapter of the second volume, had marked his progression from art critic to social critic; in it he found the true seam of his thought, and it was quickly recognised for the revolutionary writing it was. As Morris himself put it, The Nature of Gothic ‘pointed out a new road on which the world should travel’; and in its indictment of meaningless modern labour and its celebration of medieval architecture it could be called the foundation stone of Morris’s aesthetic and purpose in life. 40 years after he first read it, Morris chose Ruskin’s text for one of the first books to be published at his Kelmscott Press, using his own Golden type. It is one of the summits of his career, and one of the most beautiful books ever published.

Few books can so completely sum up an era. The Kelmscott Nature of Gothic encapsulates the meeting of two remarkable minds and embodies their influence in word, image and design. But more than that, Ruskin’s words are increasingly relevant for our times. In this facsimile edition, the first ever made of this rare book, the reader can fully appreciate their importance and their legacy, as understood by one of the most potent visual imaginations to have worked in Britain.

In this enlarged edition, essays by leading scholars, Robert Hewison (who was one of Ruskin’s successors as Slade Professor of Fine Art at Oxford University), Tony Pinkney (Senior Lecturer at Lancaster University) and Robert Brownell (lecturer, stained glass maker and author of Marriage of Inconvenience) explain the importance of this book for Ruskin, for Morris and for us today.

The site of Bamiyan in Afghanistan has suffered numerous disasters throughout its history which have resulted in the loss of many of its cultural treasures, especially many of the Buddhist wall paintings which contain/contained much of the history of painting techniques.

In spite of these losses, the authors of this volume discovered, in a cave in Bamiyan, the oldest example of the use of oil-based paints in the world dating back to the mid-7th century.

This book presents important data collected through chemical analyses aimed at determining the materials and techniques used in the Buddhist wall paintings at Bamiyan. The results of these studies are discussed from a broad perspective, addressing the cultural interactions between the geographical east and west of the Eurasian continent.

As early as 1934 Charlotte Perriand began to reflect on the architectural aspects of leisure activities for all, but it was with Les Arcs, her greatest work, that she completed her reflection on the art of living in the mountains.
Alongside the developer Roger Godino, Charlotte Perriand displayed all the facets of her immense talent: design, urban planning, but also bioclimatic architecture, of which she was a pioneer. She had to deal with financial and time constraints in order to design most of the Arc 1600 and 1800. Thanks to her perseverance and growing inventiveness, her integration of architecture into the sites, her innovative and human approach to traffic, and the life she breathes into the resort, especially on the rooftops, she has made it a friendly place, in harmony with the environment. Thus, she designs the interior architecture of more than 4,500 homes, 25,000 beds, for an annual flow of more than one million people. Her wish to combine the art of living in the mountains with housing for the greatest number of people has been largely realized.

“In an era dominated by traditionalism on one hand and the emergence of modernity on the other, Lutyens’ work serves as a compelling testament to the brilliance of harmonizing these contrasting approaches.” — ArchEyes

Edwin Lutyens was one of the most famous architects of the 20th century. After he died in 1944, three large volumes of his drawings and photographs were commissioned and published by Country Life as a tribute.

All three volumes are in the process of being reissued. Having earned his reputation designing domestic buildings, he was soon given scope to expand his practice to the outdoors and to public projects. This second volume contains his extensive contributions to garden design and town planning, as well as the finest examples of his bridges and a selection of monumental civic constructions. These include various university buildings, the Johannesburg Art Gallery, the Washington Embassy and the Viceroy’s Palace in New Delhi.

The genius of Lutyens is now universally recognized. In the work featured in this book, we can now see not just the professionalism of a great architect, but also the loving care with which he set down the most minute detail, with the result that this is one of the few books in existence that can be used to provide working drawings.

Also available: The Architecture of Sir Edwin Lutyens: Volume 1, Country Houses ISBN 9781788842181.

In The 500 Hidden Secrets of Stockholm Antonia af Petersens shares 500 must-visit places in her hometown, as well as good-to-know facts. The aim of this book is to get you started on discovering the best of Stockholm behind its idyllic, water-surrounded façade. Overrated tourist fodders have been left out in favor of tucked-away finds that will surprise both foreign visitors and savvy residents. Expect to discover quirky details and interesting facts about famous places and timeless favorites to learn about the secret gems where you can imbibe the genuine atmosphere of Stockholm.

Also available: The 500 Hidden Secrets of Berlin, The 500 Hidden Secrets of Copenhagen, The 500 Hidden Secrets of Brussels, The 500 Hidden Secrets of Paris, The 500 Hidden Secrets of Amsterdam, and many more. Discover the series at the500hiddensecrets.com

In The 500 Hidden Secrets of Istanbul, Feride Yalav-Heckeroth shares all of her favorite insider tips, tricks and places to explore Istanbul. Her book contains fun and interesting lists such as 5 restaurants to discover modern Turkish cuisine, the 5 most beautiful beaches, 5 unknown architectural gems from the Ottoman Empire, the 5 best spots for live music, 5 cafes with a breathtaking view and much more.

Also available: The 500 Hidden Secrets of Berlin, The 500 Hidden Secrets of Tokyo, The 500 Hidden Secrets of Miami, The 500 Hidden Secrets of Paris, The 500 Hidden Secrets of New York, and many more. Discover the series at the500hiddensecrets.com

The 500 Hidden Secrets of Tokyo is an affectionate city guide, written by Tokyo local Yukiko Tajima. She has listed 500 must-visit places in her truly fascinating hometown, as well as good-to-know facts. The city has a great many aspects that are changing at a rapid pace; hopefully this book will help you discover new sides that you were unaware of, and will inspire you as you organize your holiday here.

Also available: The 500 Hidden Secrets of Berlin, The 500 Hidden Secrets of Istanbul, The 500 Hidden Secrets of Miami, The 500 Hidden Secrets of Paris, The 500 Hidden Secrets of New York, and many more. Discover the series at the500hiddensecrets.com

The mashrabiya originated in the ancient world. As a scalable latticed window screen, whose intricate geometries developed with the spread of Islam, it provided ventilation, shade, and privacy to buildings. Today, as restoration efforts revive centuries-old architecture across Cairo and an interest in craft is rekindled by a global maker movement, the wood-turned mashrabiya are not only poignant metaphors for artists, architects, and writers but also sources of inspiration for nascent wood artisans. This publication, the first dedicated to the study of the mashrabiya, connects a culturally specific craft with contemporary artistic practice. Through photographs conveying the beauty and artistry of these wooden structures as well as contemporary works by leading artists, the complex beauty and meaning of the mashrabiya are brought to life.

In his office Urbana, Bangladesh, Kashef Chowdhury designs architecture that is rooted in the history and nature of the location. Nature in this sense not only consists of vegetation, plants and forests, but also the spiritual and cultural context of a specific environment and landscape. The range of his works includes the transformation of ships, the development of housing and the construction of mosques, museums and corporate headquarters. All of his projects have the common feature that they are based on comprehensive research work, aimed at applying an awareness of a specific location and its nature to achieve a high degree of innovation and original expression. This combination of traditional building styles and contemporary architecture often has an inspirational effect.
The Consciousness Of Place is Chowdhury’s philosophical engagement with his own understanding of architecture, based on his research and lectures. It focuses on the significance of architecture, which is able to connect us to nature and liberate us from hectic urban life. Buildings and workplaces should be transformed into oases of peace and relaxation in order to benefit from nature’s regenerative and relaxing qualities.
Chowdhury stresses the need to listen to nature and appreciate its beauty. Accordingly, he prefers natural materials in his projects, while also using the interplay of light and shadow as a key element to create spaces that inspire us to pause and think.
This publication is a manifesto of a form of architecture that harmonizes with the respective location, reflecting the identity of its culture and people. Chowdhury regards his task not so much as work and more as an activity stemming from his love of an art form that serves the people – which he believes is the nature of architecture.
In recent years, Chowdhury’s constructed works have attracted international attention and have been awarded prizes such as the 2022 RIBA International Prize and the 2016 Aga Khan Award for Architecture.

This comprehensive and richly illustrated volume is the first-ever history of British medieval illuminators’ pigments. It rests on first-hand investigation, with optimal scientific techniques, of a wide selection of manuscripts, ranging in date from the 17th century to the 15th. It provides an authoritative, engaging and accessible guide to this understudied field, for historians, art historians, librarians, conservators, heritage scientists, and anyone interested in the art, culture and techniques of book illumination.

If you are a true chocolate professional, then The Chocolatier’s Shop is your professional bible. In this book you will find answers to all questions to start or grow your chocolate shop: How do I build or further expand my brand? Which products do I include in my range? How do I deal with staff and customers? Which tools do I absolutely need? How do I manage my stock?