We’ve independently chosen our favourite titles to sell in our bookshops and online. And remember – we offer Free Postage in ROI on orders over €30 – just choose the Free Postage option at checkout.
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Old Ireland in Colour brings to life the rich history of Ireland and the Irish through the colour restoration of these stunning images of all walks of Irish life throughout nineteenth and twentieth century. From the chaos of the Civil War to the simple beauty of the islands; from legendary revolutionaries to modest fisherfolk, every image has been exquisitely transformed and every page bursting with life. Using a combination of cutting-edge artificial intelligence technology and his own historical research, John Breslin has meticulously colourised these pictures with breath-taking attention to detail and authenticity. With over 250 photographs from all four provinces, and accompanied by fascinating captions by historian Sarah-Anne Buckley, Old Ireland in Colour breathes new life into the scenes we thought we knew, and brings our ancestors back to life before our eyes. -
A book of hope for uncertain times. Enter the world of Charlie's four unlikely friends, discover their story and their most important life lessons. The conversations of the boy, the mole, the fox and the horse have been shared thousands of times online, recreated in school art classes, hung on hospital walls and turned into tattoos. In Charlie's first book, you will find his most-loved illustrations and some new ones too. 'A wonderful work of art and a wonderful window into the human heart' Richard Curtis ISBN 9781529105100 -
A glimpse into the process of one Ireland's best writers, handiwork is Baume's non-fiction debut, written with the keen eye for nature and beauty as well as the extraordinary versatilitySara Baume's fans have come to expect. PUBLISHED 26TH MARCH 2020. ISBN 9781916434257 -
A behind-the-scenes look at the extraordinary and meticulous design of graphic objects for film sets Although graphic props such as invitations, letters, tickets, and packaging are rarely seen close-up by a cinema audience, they are designed in painstaking detail. Dublin-based designer Annie Atkins invites readers into the creative process behind her intricately designed, rigorously researched, and visually stunning graphic props. These objects may be given just a fleeting moment of screen time, but their authenticity is vital and their role is crucial: to nudge both the actors on set and the audience just that much further into the fictional world of the film. ISBN 9780714879383 -
A beautifully designed guidebook to the unnoticed yet essential elements of our cities, from the creators of the wildly popular 99% Invisible podcast. Have you ever wondered what those bright, squiggly graffiti marks on the sidewalk mean? Or stopped to ponder who gets to name the streets we walk along? Or what the story is behind those dancing inflatable figures in car dealerships? 99% Invisible is a big-ideas podcast about small-seeming things, revealing stories baked into the buildings we inhabit, the streets we drive, and the sidewalks we traverse. The show celebrates design and architecture in all of its functional glory and accidental absurdity, with intriguing tales of both designers and the people impacted by their designs. Now, in The 99% Invisible City: A Field Guide to Hidden World of Everyday Design, host Roman Mars and co-author Kurt Kohlstedt zoom in on the various elements that make our cities work, exploring the origins and other fascinating stories behind everything from power grids and fire escapes to drinking fountains and street signs. With deeply researched entries and beautiful line drawings throughout, The 99% Invisible City will captivate devoted fans of the show and anyone curious about design, urban environments, and the unsung marvels of the world around them. ISBN 9781529355277 -
The Dublin Architecture Guide is a companion guide to the modern architecture of Dublin. With a total of 255 projects featured, this book will suit anyone interested in often under-appreciated or overlooked modern buildings. The book is written by three Dublin-based Architects: Paul Kelly, Cormac Murray and Brendan Spierin. The authors are passionate about celebrating and raising awareness about the city's architecture. The buildings range across 84 years from 1937 to 2021. Each building has an equal-length description and original photography. Some are accompanied by an architect's sketch. Several of those featured have won both domestic and international awards and have been published widely before. However, we rarely see all of them together, grouped with younger and older neighbours, with unedited photographs showing them in their day-to-day condition - long after they are first occupied. From Trinity College to the Docklands, Ballymun to Ballyfermot, Swords to Dun Laoghaire, this book celebrates all the brick, timber, concrete, stone, and glass that have helped define the new Dublin of the modern era. ISBN 9781843518259 -
These 87 black & white photographs taken by Alen MacWeeney in Dublin in 1963/5 are spontaneous images of Dublin and Dubliners in all areas of the city, a street odyssey reflecting a cross section of the people, their habits and behaviour, ten years before Ireland joined the European Union and the wider world. The text on facing pages is composed of social commentary gleaned from a posting of each of the book's photographs on Dublin social media platform Down Memory Lane, eliciting a flood of 70,000 responses during 2020. These photographs of Dublin and Dubliners in 1963 have pertinent social and historical value as attested by their placement in numerous US Universities and museums. The text offers a novel way of understanding and appreciating a full gamut of Dublin personalities through their reactions to the posting of these photographs during the current pandemic. The responses ranged from wonder and incredulity to heated derision, offset by the hilarity that characterize Dubliners. The richness of the commentary will be of interest to any Irish person curious to glimpse Dublin life in the '60s and to gauge the reactions of Dubliners today. MacSweeney's work partakes of the tradition of reportage by Walker Evans, Cartier Bresson, Robert Frank and Richard Avendon, to whom he was apprenticed in Paris during the late fifties. ISBN 9781843518266 -
In March 2020, the arrival of Coronavirus in Ireland saw our world change overnight. We watched in shock as it spread throughout the world with devastating consequences. We stopped travelling, we worked from home, we celebrated birthdays, anniversaries and new arrivals via our screens. Many also had to grieve from a distance, isolated and alone. But the pandemic also became a time of coming together, of community spirit, of small kindnesses and boundless creativity. We saw frontline workers make extraordinary sacrifices, musicians perform from their front rooms, neighbourhood bingo and open-air film screenings. In Twilight Together Ruth Medjber has captured all of this and more. Visually stunning and deeply moving, she has photographed people all over Ireland at their front window at dusk, each with their own story to tell. Twilight Together is an extraordinary portrait of a pandemic by one of Ireland's most talented talented photographers and it is an important document for our times. ISBN 9781781620571 -
Dazzlingly beautiful and wonderfully inventive, discover the magical new book from the creators of bestselling, critically acclaimed literary phenomenon, The Lost Words... Kindred in spirit to The Lost Words but fresh in its form, The Lost Spells is a pocket-sized treasure that introduces a beautiful new set of natural spell-poems and artwork by beloved creative duo Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris. As in The Lost Words, these "spells" take their subjects from relatively commonplace, and yet underappreciated, animals, birds, trees and flowers -- from Barn Owl to Red Fox, Grey Seal to Silver Birch, Jay to Jackdaw. But they break out of the triptych format of The Lost Words, finding new shapes, new spaces and new voices with which to conjure. Written to be read aloud, painted in brushstrokes that call to the forest, field, riverbank and also to the heart, The Lost Spells summons back what is often lost from sight and care, and inspires protection and action on behalf of the natural world. Above all, it celebrates a sense of wonder, bearing witness to nature's power to amaze, console and bring joy. ISBN 9780241444641 -
The next in the popular 'the city through the eyes of its artists' series, The Dublin Art Book is a tribute to Ireland's beautiful capital. An impressive artistic collection taking the reader on a tour through the vibrant and diverse city. From the historic Trinity College Dublin to the iconic Ha'penny Bridge, Dublin's very own artists highlight its beauties in the most unique way. ISBN 9781912934102 -
The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron provides a twelve-week course that guides you through the process of recovering your creative self. It aims to dispel the 'I'm not talented enough' conditioning that holds many people back and helps you to unleash your own inner artist. Its step-by-step approach enables you to transform your life, overcome any artistic blocks you may suffer from, including limiting beliefs, fear, sabotage, jealousy and guilt, and replace them with self confidence and productivity. The Artist's Way will demystify the creative process by making it a part of your daily life. From Alicia Keys to Elizabeth Gilbert, Patricia Cornwell to Pete Townshend and Russell Brand, The Artist's Way has helped thousands of people around the world to discover their inner artist. Whatever your artistic leanings, this book will give you the tools you need to enable you to fulfil your dreams. ISBN 9781788164290 -
The bestselling adult colouring book! Working with your hands is one of the best ways to soothe anxiety and eliminate stress. This stunning, pocket-sized colouring book offers a practical exercise in mindfulness that draws on your creativity and hones your focus. Beautifully illustrated by Emma Farrarons, The Mindfulness Colouring Book is filled with templates for exquisite scenes and intricate, sophisticated patterns, prompting you to meditate on your artwork as you mindfully and creatively fill these pages with colour. Take a few minutes out of your day, wherever you are, and colour your way to peace and calm. ISBN 9780752265629 -
The starting point for this book is Evelyn Hofer’s Dublin: A Portrait, which features an in-depth essay by V. S. Pritchett and photos by Hofer, and enjoyed great popularity upon its original publication in 1967. Dublin: A Portrait is an example of Hofer’s perhaps most important body of work, her city portraits: books that present comprehensive prose texts by renowned authors alongside her self-contained visual essays with their own narratives. Dublin: A Portrait was the last book published in this renowned series. The newly conceived Dublin focuses on the photos Hofer took on behalf of the publisher Harper & Row in 1965 and 1966. In Dublin Hofer repeatedly turned her camera to sights of the city, but mainly to the people who constituted its essence. She made numerous portraits—be they of writers and public figures or unknown people in the streets. Her portraits give evidence of an intense, respectful engagement with her subjects, who participate as equal partners in the process of photographing. ISBN 9783958296329 -
On Thursday 1 July, 1999, Dr Nina Simone gave a rare performance as part of Nick Cave's Meltdown Festival. After the show, in a state of awe, Warren Ellis crept onto the stage, took Dr Simone's piece of chewed gum from the piano, wrapped it in her stage towel and put it in a Tower Records bag. The gum remained with him for twenty years; a sacred totem, his creative muse, growing in significance with every passing year. In 2019, Cave - his collaborator and great friend - asked Warren if there was anything he could contribute to display in his Stranger Than Kindness exhibition. Warren realised the time had come to release the gum. Together they agreed it should be housed in a glass case like a holy relic. Worrying the gum would be damaged or lost, Warren decided to first have it cast in silver and gold, sparking a chain of events that no one could have predicted, one that would take him back to his childhood and his relationship to found objects. Nina Simone's Gum is about how something so small can form beautiful connections between people. It is a story about the meaning we place on things, on experiences, and how they become imbued with spirituality. It is a celebration of artistic process, friendship, understanding and love. 'A unique study of a fan's devotion, of transcendence and of the artistic vocation - it's got depth and great warmth. It's a beautiful piece of work.'KEVIN BARRY ISBN 9780571365630 -
In Old Ireland in Colour 2, the much-anticipated sequel to their beloved bestseller, John Breslin and Sarah-Anne Buckley have delved even deeper into Ireland’s historical archives to uncover captivating photographic gems to bring to life using their unique blend of cutting-edge technology, historical research and expert colourisation. Old Ireland in Colour 2 celebrates more of the rich history of Ireland and the Irish from all walks of life, and sees all thirty-two counties represented. With over 150 superb images, once again accompanied by insightful captions, the book is the perfect encapsulation of life in Ireland throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. From the chaos of the revolutionary period to the simple beauty of the islands, from the iconic to the domestic, there is something new and inspiring to be gleaned from every single page. ISBN 9781785374111 -
Beneath the surface we are all connected . . . Award-winning poet, rapper and storyteller Kae Tempest's first work of non-fiction: a meditation on the power of creative connection. Drawing on twenty years' experience as a writer and performer, Kae Tempest explores how and why creativity - however we choose to practise it - can cultivate greater self-awareness and help us establish a deeper relationship to ourselves and the world. Personal, hopeful and written with piercing clarity, On Connection is a call to arms that speaks to a universal yet intimate truth. 'Powerful and merciful.' Ali Smith 'Tempest doesn't just leap off the page, but leaps into your throat and demands to be shouted all the way out.' Marlon James '[Kae's] language hits like lightning. It illuminates and it burns.' Guardian ISBN 9780571370436 -
For the first time in seven years, Allie Brosh, the creator of the immensely popular blog 'Hyperbole and a Half' and #1 New York Times bestselling author, returns with her new collection. Solutions and Other Problems includes humorous stories from Allie Brosh's childhood; the adventures of her very bad animals; merciless dissection of her own character flaws; incisive essays on grief, loneliness, and powerlessness; as well as reflections on the absurdity of modern life. This full-colour, beautifully illustrated edition features all-new material with more than 1,600 pieces of art. Solutions and Other Problems marks the return of a beloved American humourist who has "the observational skills of a scientist, the creativity of an artist, and the wit of a comedian" (Bill Gates). Praise for Allie Brosh's Hyperbole and a Half: 'A hilarious collection' Mashable 'Will certainly help you, should you perhaps decide to indulge in a spot of "self-gifting" in this instance, survive Christmas with your more crazed relatives' Rachel Cooke, Observer 'It's impossible not to warm to cartoonist and blogger Allie. If she doesn't get to you with her funny childhood anecdotes (eating an entire birthday cake) then her honest reflections on depression will' Grazia ISBN 9780224101288 -
An illustrated history of the development of Dublin, and the possibilities for its evolution into the future. The Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland (RIAI) have commissioned acknowledged experts to explore Dublin's evolution across a range of topics, with a particular focus on its role as the capital city since independence 100 years ago, as well as on architectural planning and administration. Authors featured include Mary Clark, Grainne Shaffrey, Freddie Dwyer, Tony Reddy, Frank McDonald, Shane O'Toole, Ciarán Cuffe, Paul de Freine, Lorcan Sirr. Éanna Ní Lamhna & Seán O'Laoire. Heavily illustrated with plans, drawings and photographs. ISBN 9781788491679