John Lawrence – illustratör

A mesmerising episode from the universe of His Dark Materials and The Book of Dust, giving us an extraordinary insight into this world and its characters.When Lyra is studying at Oxford University, she comes across the story of Lee Scoresby and Iorek Byrnison's first meeting, many years ago, along with much evidence of the adventure that brought them together.She discovers that when a young Texan balloonist Lee came down to earth in the harbour of an Arctic town in the North, little did he realise that he is about to be caught in a war between the residents of the town and the huge arctic bears that also live there.And when Lee meets one of these bears - Iorek - for the first time, they cement a friendship that will continue throughout their lives, as the tensions in the town threaten to erupt ...Another wonderful tale from a master story-teller, which includes beautiful illustrations and maps.

***** Just announced! THE BOOK OF DUST, the long-awaited new work from Philip Pullman, set in the world of His Dark Materials, will be published as a work in three parts, with the first volume to arrive in October 2017! ***** In this prequel episode from Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials universe, Lee Scoresby--Texan aeronaut and future friend to Lyra Belacqua--is just 24 years old, and he's recently won his hot-air balloon in a poker game. He finds himself floating North to the windswept Arctic island of Novy Odense, where he and his hare daemon Hester are quickly tangled in a deadly plot involving oil magnate Larsen Manganese, corrupt mayoral candidate Ivan Poliakov, and Lee's longtime nemesis from the Dakota Country: Pierre McConville, a hired killer with at least twenty murders to his name. It's only after Lee forms an alliance with one of the island's reviled armored bears that he can fight to break up the conspiracy in a gun-twirling classic western shoot out--and battle of wits. This exquisite clothbound volume features the illustrations of John Lawrence, a removable board game-Peril of the Pole-on the inside back cover, and a glimpse for Pullman fans into the first friendship of two of the most beloved characters in the His Dark Materials trilogy: Lee Scoresby and armored bear Iorek Byrnison.

This book contains a story and several other things. The other things might be connected with the story, or they might not; they might be connected to stories that haven’t appeared yet . . .Two years after the conclusion of The Amber Spyglass, Lyra and her daemon Pantalaimon sit high on the roof of Jordan College, gazing down on the streets of Oxford. But their peace is shattered by a flock of enraged starlings, who seem intent on knocking another bird out of the sky – a bird that Lyra and Pan quickly realise is a witch’s daemon. The daemon carries worrying tidings of a terrible sickness spreading in the North, and claims that only Lyra can help him – but is he really a friend, or a foe?Illustrated throughout with exquisite wood-cut engravings by John Lawrence, this beautifully packaged story also contains an extract of Pullman’s second short story set in the His Dark Materials world, Once Upon a Time in the North, a map and other missives that seem to have slipped from Lyra’s world into our own.

The Elizabethan age was one of unbounded vitality and exuberance; nowhere is the color and action of life more vividly revealed than in the rogue books and cony-catching (confidence game) pamphlets of the sixteenth century. This book presents seven of the age's liveliest works: Walker's Manifest Detection of Dice Play; Awdeley's Fraternity of Vagabonds; Harman's Caveat for Common Cursitors Vulgarly Called Vagabonds; Greene's Notable Discovery of Cozenage and Black Book's Messenger; Dekker's Lantern and Candle-light; and Rid's Art of Juggling. From these pages spring the denizens of the Elizabethan underworld: cutpurses, hookers, palliards, jarkmen, doxies, counterfeit cranks, bawdy-baskets, walking morts, and priggers of prancers.In his introduction, Arthur F. Kinney discusses the significance of these works as protonovels and their influence on such writers as Shakespeare. He also explores the social, political, and economic conditions of a time that spawned a community of renegades who conned their way to fame, fortune, and, occasionally, the rope at Tyburn.

Dive into the ocean and discover one of the shyest fish in the sea – the seahorse!In the warm ocean, among the waving sea grass meadows, an eye like a small black bead is watching the fish dart by. Who does it belong to? Seahorse! Dive into the magical, underwater realm of one of the shyest fish of all! Discover the secrets of a seahorse's life-cycle, and find out about its food, its habitat, and how it is the dad, not the mum, who gives birth to their babies! Made in consultation with seahorse expert Colin Wells of Plymouth Marine Aquarium, this book contains accurate information suitable for classroom projects and activities.

An anthology of Christmas card poems.

A two-volume culinary memoir features some of the author's favorite recipes.