Simon Bradley Libri

Get the full story behind the Red Special, Brian May's hand-built guitar--a unique instrument that helped make May's musical dreams come true. In 1963, Brian May and his father Harold started to build the Red Special--an electric guitar meant to outperform anything commercially made. Here, Brian talks about of his one-of-a-kind instrument, from its creation on. He played it on every single Queen album and during the band's amazing shows: the roof of Buckingham Palace, Live Aid, the closing ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics . . . and beyond. Along with original diagrams, sketches, and notes, May has included a great selection of photographs of himself with the guitar--which was fully dismantled so it could be shot-- as well as close-ups and X-rays.

More than 50 astonishing churches, a group of buildings without parallel anywhere in the world, are crowded into Europe's financial centre, the City of London. This volume explores their history, architecture, rich fittings and stained glass.

The Making of the English Urban Landscape tells the story of our towns and cities and how they came into being over the last two millennia.

"The railways. Thousands of route-miles fenced off from the rest of the country, carved into landscapes barely changed since Shakespeare's time and ruled by their own mysterious rhythms and laws. From the classical architecture of Newcastle Station to the unrelenting traffic and expanse of Clapham Junction and the lost stations of Oban and Challow, Simon Bradley explores the landscape of the railways, the trains and the passengers who pass through it. Private compartments and railway rugs have given way to 'standard' carriages with lavatories and luggage racks, but other parts of the system are old -- some the oldest in the world. Bradley weaves from these networks a remarkable story of technological change, of architecture and engineering, of shifting social classes, gender relations and public health, of tourism and the changing world of work, showing us that to travel through Britain by train is to travel through time as well as space."--Publisher description.

St Pancras station has long been an iconic landmark on the London landscape and one of its most distinctive monuments. This edition is published to coincide with the reopening of Scott's wondrous Gothic hotel. It traces the history of the station, introducing us to the men behind the architecture and looks at its new international status.

One of the oldest libraries in Britain, the Bodleian Library has been in continuous use since its founding in 1602 by Sir Thomas Bodley. This richly illustrated guidebook is perfect for architectural aficionados or those planning a trip. A short introduction that gives the story of the library’s founding is followed by a succinct guide to the buildings found there, from Duke Humfrey’s Library to the Divinity School, Convocation House, Schools Quadrangle, Clarendon Building, and Radcliffe Camera. Bodleian Library Souvenir Guide covers more than four centuries of the library’s most celebrated architecture, taking a look back at the contributions of famous architects like Sir Christopher Wren and Nicholas Hawksmoor. In addition to the buildings themselves, the book illustrates some of the Bodleian’s most exquisite stonemasonry and statuary found there. It also provides translations to the intriguing Latin inscriptions that adorn many of the buildings and mark key moments in the library’s history. The book is brought up-to-date with a description of subsequent renovations, including the addition of the state-of-the-art Weston Library to house the library’s special collections.

This accessible book is for anyone who would like to understand more about the architectural history of English churches. Clear and easy to use, the text explains the key components of church architecture-stylistic developments, functional requirements, regional variations, and arcane vocabulary. Readers can equip themselves to explore historic churches knowledgeably, evaluate dates and restoration phases, interpret stained glass and monuments, and make their own discoveries. Written by the editor of the Pevsner Architectural Guides and distilling years of experience visiting churches, the book includes explanations of how to learn more from building plans, tips for further research, searching for clues, and analyzing the evidence--]cSource other than Library of Congress.