Nearly 40 nearly forgotten essays on magic and esotericism by Ithell Colquhoun.Writer, artist, and wilfully dissident surrealist Ithell Colquhoun (1906–1988) invested her unique works with magical learning, esoteric lore, and a palpable sense of mystery. Despite having published widely on esoteric and occult topics during her lifetime, Colquhoun was never to produce a single book-length edition of her magical writings. As a result, many of her essays were lost or n...

**A classic travelogue by Britain's foremost female surrealist painter, which immerses the reader in a dreamlike Cornwall where landscape and legend meet“Her responses to the aura of place are keen, and her eye for detail is excitingly sharp” — Sunday Times“She is sensitive to the ways of wind and water, the flowers and birds and trees” — Country Life**In the midst of the 2nd World War, surrealist painter Ithell Colquhoun withdraws from London to C...

The heroine of this story (described only as "I") is compelled to visit a mysterious uncle who turns out to be a black magician who lords over a kind of Prospero's Island that exists out of time and space. Startled by his bizarre behavior and odd nocturnal movements, she eventually learns that he is searching for the philosopher's stone. When his sinister attentions fall upon the priceless jewel heirloom in her possession, bewilderment turns into stark terror and she realizes she must find...

Ithell Colquhoun (1906–1988) is remembered today as a surrealist artist, writer, and occultist. Although her paintings hang in a number of public collections and her gothic novel Goose of Hermogenes (1961) remains in print, critical responses to her work have been severely constrained by the limited availability of her art and writings. The publication of her second novel, I Saw Water—presented here for the first time, together with a selection of her other writings and i...

**A classic travelogue exploring the meeting point of Ireland's landscape and legends, by Britain's foremost female surrealist painter“Colquhoun has a very beguiling pen. . . To Irish landscapes she brings a painter's eye, writing particularly beautifully about skies, twilights, river valleys, sea-frayed coasts and the intensive atmosphere of remote places” — Tatler**Into the world of 1950s Ireland—a lushly green, windswept landscape studded with holy wells and the...

**A trance-like feminist fairy tale of magic, alchemy, and the battle of the sexes—for fans of Angela Carter, Leonora Carrington, and O CaledoniaBritain’s foremost surrealist painter puts a lushly visual spin on the Philosopher’s Stone in her first-ever novel!**In this modern fairy tale inspired by alchemy, a nameless narrator is determined to protect the precious jewels in her possession from her uncle, the Prospero-like ruler of an island stronghold. Locked in a ...

This celebration of the English countryside does not only focus on the rolling green landscapes and magnificent monuments that set England apart from the rest of the world. Many of the contributors bring their own special touch, presenting a refreshingly eclectic variety of personal icons, from pub signs to seaside piers, from cattle grids to canal boats, and from village cricket to nimbies.First published as a lavish colour coffeetable book, this new expanded paperback edition has...

An author's walk "from source to sea along the Ouse in Sussex is a meandering, meditative delight" drawing on history, literature, and the river itself ( The Guardian, UK).In To The River, author Olivia Laing embarks on a weeklong, midsummer odyssey along the banks of the River Ouse in Sussex, England, from its source near Haywards Heath to the sea, where it empties into the Channel at Newhaven. More than sixty years after Virginia Woolf drowned he...

Fairytales are one of our earliest and most vital cultural forms, and forests one of our most ancient and primal landscapes . Both evoke a similar sensation in us - we find them beautiful and magical, but also spooky, sometimes horrifying. In this fascinating book, Maitland argues that the two forms are intimately connected: the mysterious secrets and silences, gifts and perils of the forests were both the background and the source of fairytales. Yet both forests and fairy stories are at r...

A description of Glastonbury that remains one of the most evocative and poignant accounts of this wild yet holy place; a power center polarizing with distant Jerusalem and linking and harmonizing the Christian way with the primeval and pagan past of England.

An insightful, beautifully written study of how nature has influenced popular fairy tales like Rapunzel and Little Red Riding Hood—pairing 12 modern retellings with detailed histories of Northern European forests.Fairy tales are one of our earliest cultural forms, and forests one of our most ancient landscapes. Both evoke similar sensations: At times, they are beautiful and magical, at others—spooky and sometimes horrifying. Maitland argues that t...

Jan Morris's magnificent book celebrates Wales and all things Welsh. Written as a deeply personal study, it reflects the rich bilingual literature and folklore of Wales, the buildings and wonderfully varied landscapes, the national character and humour, the historical predicaments and the political condition of this small but extraordinary country. Jan Morris is a distinguished historian as well as being one of the world's leading travel-writers. Her passionate love of Wales makes this a u...