RECOMMENDED READING

Hudson's Historic Houses & Gardens has done it again for 2009! The twenty-second edition of this consistently best-selling, annual guide has over 2000 up-to-date property profiles with over 1500 lavish photographs. Interesting and informative articles increase the pleasure and useful maps aid journey planning. Meticulous multi indices give all properties featured and many specialist listings for every interest; from those that offer accommodation or plant sales for the keen gardener, to properties that are open all year. Add to this a calendar of Special Events that are held at the properties throughout the year and there really is something for everybody...a must have for visitors.

Every year more than 8,000 items are photographed to make "Miller's Antiques Price Guide" the most comprehensive and informative price guide on the market. Whether you're buying or selling, a dealer, collector or auctioneer, this is the book you need to help you keep track of the international market. Whenever you're buying or selling always take Judith with you.

It is hard to overstate the importance of the Gillow material in relationship to the history of both British and North American furniture. No other furniture archive covers the same period of time and in as much detail. Information on a wide variety of topics such as woods and finishes, furniture design developments, business practices, workmen, customers, family, social issues and international events which affected the Gillow firm have been extracted from the letters, sketchbooks and ledgers and pieced together to form an account of the firm's development and history from 1730-1840.Gillows was a unique firm. No other cabinetmakers were in business for as long a period, or had a showroom and workshop in eighteenth century London from which to view the fashion scene as well as another showroom and manufacturing base in the provinces. This enabled them to cover a great deal of Great Britain (to say nothing of their trans-Atlantic and European trade via the two branches) and make fashionable but cheaper furniture than their rivals in London.The publication of this book will help owners, collectors and dealers to identify Gillow furniture and furniture made by other cabinetmakers to the firm's designs. It also has a wider application by offering a firm chronology for the development of different types of western furniture. The advice given by Gillows on furniture design and social customs, both to their customers and to their workforce, will be of interest to social as well as furniture historians and curators. This monograph also dispels some of the myths which have grown up around the firm and furniture making generally.

With a wealth of colour photographs taken specially for this volume, this book clarifies the nature and variety of chairs and seating in Britain from 1500 to 1700. Unusually, all the illustrations are accompanied by the dimensions of the pieces, and attention is drawn to restorations or missing parts or replacements, as well as to rare, fine or particularly interesting features. The author, Tobias Jellinek, handled and examined every piece illustrated. "Fine Seating in Britain" will help the new or wary enthusiast get to grips with some of the difficulties in authenticating old furniture, and by example and explanation will demonstrate what serious buyers should be looking for. It also displays the superb quality and fascinating range of the finest furniture of this period.

The history of great diamonds is intimately interwoven with the lives of emperors and conquerors, great kings and queens, with statesmen and soldiers, the rich and famous - but also, inevitably, with those who lead more shadowy lives. Diamonds have been objects of passion, sometimes of war, violence and theft. As well as being objects of exceptional beauty and rarity, they were once thought to possess magical properties that protected their owners from enemies. Initially a male prerogative reflecting status and authority, these incredible gems later adorned the wives of powerful men, and at times were offered as influential gifts. Few were immune to the temptation of diamonds; many sacrificed their lives and souls to them.In "Famous Diamonds", Ian Balfour tells the fascinating stories of almost 80 of these remarkable gems including the famous: Koh-i-Noor, which is set in the British Crown Jewels; the infamous: the deep blue Hope Diamond, which is said to bring bad luck to all who handle it; the biggest: The Cullinan; and, the Hollywood romantic: the Taylor-Burton Diamond. Some have detailed histories that can be traced from the present day back to the moment they were mined, while others have a more mysterious past or have disappeared from view. Also included are shorter entries on a further selection of some forty notable diamonds.