I am very much
looking forward to seeing a copy of Looking Through
You: Rare and Unseen Photographs from The Beatles Monthly Archive by
Tom Adams, (hb £39.95 978 1783058679)
which is from a publisher new to the Compass team: Omnibus Press. This is
a unique and original colour and black and white photographic record preserving
many important moments within the Beatles’ career and providing fabulous glimpse
into the world’s greatest ever entertainment phenomenon. It’s published as a
beautiful limited (3000 copy) slipcase edition which includes a facsimile of a
calendar from 1964. In 1963, it was highly unusual for a pop group to have a
monthly magazine devoted exclusively to their career and only Elvis Presley had
been considered important enough to warrant such an honour. One of the first
people to astutely recognise their greatness was editor Sean O’Mahony and the
monthly magazine he launched with the full blessing of The Beatles and their
manager Brian Epstein was called The Beatles Book Monthly. Looking Through You presents a selection of over
300 images from the precious Beatles Book Monthly photo archive, many of
which have never been published before. Looking
Through You also tells the story of this regular Beatle bulletin. I’d
certainly never heard of it before – but The Beatles Book Monthly ran for
six years, and with each new issue, fans worldwide would voraciously devour the
contents, discovering the Fab Four’s latest news and activities and most of all,
savouring the exclusive photographs, captured by its in-house photographer,
Leslie Bryce. The Beatles Book Monthly captured the Beatles’ development
from British provincial theatres – through foreign tours including their
ground-breaking first American visit – and onwards to the band’s withdrawal into
the recording studio. Not surprisingly there is a lot of media interest in this
title, and it has already been featured in the Sunday Mirror Magazine and
the August issue of NME and there will be lots more coverage to come.
There is a dedicated Facebook page for Looking
Through You – have a look – you can view lots of the terrific pics,
and I think there will be plenty of customers for this handsome hardback – going
right up to Christmas. This is not one of those make-a-quick-buck bodged
together photographic coffee table books – this is the real
deal.
On 10 February
1962, Gary Powers, the American pilot whose U-2 spy plane was shot down in
Soviet airspace, was brought to Berlin’s Glienicke Bridge, where he was to take
part in the most famous prisoner exchange in history. The man Powers was traded
for was one Colonel Rudolf Abel, a cover name for KGB Colonel Vilyam Fisher, one
of the most extraordinary characters in the history of the Cold War. Abel was born plain Willie Fisher in
Newcastle-upon Tyne, son to revolutionary parents who fled tsarist oppression in
Russia. Arriving in the newly formed Soviet Union in 1921, Fisher was trained as
a spy and eventually sent to New York, where, posing as an artist, he ran the
network that purloined America’s atomic secrets. In 1957, his luck ran out and
he was arrested and sentenced to thirty years in prison. Six years later, the
USSR’s regard for Fisher was evidenced when they insisted on swapping him for
the stricken Powers. This is a truly amazing story – and is about to come to
cinemas as the new Steven Spielberg film Bridge of Spies starring Tom
Hanks and Mark Rylance – so it’s going to be BIG! You can watch a trailer for it here. The book it’s based on is Abel: The True Story of the Spy they Traded for Gary
Powers by Vin Arthey. Abel is a singular and absorbing true story of
Cold War espionage to rival anything in fiction, moving from the most unlikely
of beginnings in Newcastle, to Moscow and beyond to the streets of New York,
where the final trade was negotiated by New York lawyer James Donovan. Abel: The True Story of the Spy they Traded for Gary
Powers by Vin Arthey (pb,
9781849549691, £9.99) is published in October (the film opens on 6 November in
the UK) by Biteback and you can find out more and order it
here
And still
on the topic of the Cold War of yesteryear The Oligarch by
Joseph Clyde (pb, 9781908096715) is a
“well-paced thriller with a refreshing sense of realism” according to the
Standard and “skilfully exploited the clash between the old and the
clichés about Russia to give us an intelligent thriller” The Times.
You can find out more and order it
here!
Who's watching
Bake Off ? Everyone loved last week's bread week – and I would have been
happy to munch on any of the creations dished up by the contestants – especially
that extraordinary lion! Talking of fierce creatures, Paul Hollywood seems to be
getting more acerbic every series – but even he couldn’t summon up too many of
his sarky comments on that! However, we definitely mustn’t let him getting any
bigger in his boots – it’s surely time for another baker on the block – and that
person could well be Ori Hellerstein!
Artisan Baker (hb, 978 1859063965,
£14.99) is published by Connections in October and is packed full of
delicious recipes for passionate home bakers. Ori
Hellerstein is a professionally trained pastry chef, and in 2012 he
fulfilled his dream of opening The Artisan
Baker in the heart of the Cotswolds, where he runs baking
master-classes as well as hand-crafting exquisite artisan breads, cakes and
confectionery. This full colour hardback is packed with his own mouth-watering
tried-and-tested recipes which are easy-to-follow and packed full of flavour,
from a textured wild-rice loaf and aubergine & feta triangles, to decadent
Nutella brioches and date baklava! His delicious creations bring an
international twist to old classics, while his signature bakes – firm favourites
at his own bakery – will have you coming back for more. With insider tips on
using professional techniques at home, plus advice on store-cupboard essentials
and making the most of local ingredients, now you too can discover how to become
an artisan baker! Artisan Baker includes
a foreword by renowned food critic Matthew Fort and you can find out more and order it
here!
And this is my
annual cue to show a little clip for a hotel that certainly isn’t listed – that
gem on the English Riveriera – full of satisfied customers!
We finish with
something rather special – John Burningham's
Champagne. This is a book of pure loveliness, as cheering and
restorative as a glass of fizz itself. It is an album, a scrapbook, a potted
history and a celebration all rolled into one by the creator of some of our best
loved books for children, also a connoisseur of the 'King of Wines' and how it
makes us feel. John Burningham has
created a beautiful book of 184 pages, combining his own matchless illustrations
with photographs, clippings, menus and ephemera that help us relive a sequence
of 'champagne moments'. The cast of characters includes Napoleon, Mark Twain,
Oscar Wilde, Noel Coward, Bette Davis, Marilyn Monroe, Larry Hagman, John
Betjeman, Jay-Z and those amazingly long-lived matriarchs of fizz, Mesdames
Clicquot, Pommery and Bollinger. It is a handsome looking hardback (276 x 216mm)
absolutely ideal as a gift – and full to the brim with an enchanting mix of
colour drawings and photographs – as Joanna
Lumley calls it in her introduction: “a superbly entertaining
book with delicious illustrations” John has previously produced a series of
highly distinctive books for adult readers including John Burningham's
England (1992) and John Burningham's France (1998). This new title is
as original, and beautiful as any he's ever created, and, like its predecessors,
it is born of personal experience and infectious enthusiasm. When you see your
Compass Sales Manager ask them to show you the proof pages we have for this book
and I promise you will be seduced – it really is charming – even for those of us
whose budgets run more to cheap cava than the real stuff! John Burningham's Champagne (hb, £25.00, 978
0993386206) is published in October by LochAwe Books and you can order it here.
This gorgeous
book is full of photos of sparkling cinematic champagne moments – but here’s one
of my favourites – The Night They Invented Champagne
from
Gigi.
And
finally – we love this chart from Waterstone’s giving the pros and cons of
lending your books!
That’s
all for now folks! More next week!
This blog is taken from a newsletter which is sent weekly to over 700 booksellers as well as publishers and
publicists. If you would like to order any of the titles mentioned, then please click here to go to the
Compass New Titles Website or talk to your Compass Sales
representative.
