**“[A]n electric new translation . . . Each page is adorned with illustrations and photographs from other translations and adaptations of the tales, as well as a wonderfully detailed cascade of notes that illuminate the stories and their settings. . . . The most striking feature of the Arabic tales is their shifting registers—prose, rhymed prose, poetry—and Seale captures the movement between them beautifully.” —Yasmine Al-Sayyad, New YorkerA magnificent and richly illustr...

'A masterpiece of historical fantasy and fetid imagination.' -Time Out Highly acclaimed cult novelist, historian and literary critic.

Spanning the fifth century to the sixteenth, and ranging from Afghanistan to Spain, this unique collection provides a profound insight into the sheer vitality and depth of Classical Arabic literature. From the earliest surviving fragments of The Thousand and One Nights to the elegant beauty and profound power of the Qur'an - believed by the Islamic faith to contain the actual words of Allah - it includes translated extracts from all the major works of the period, alongside many less well-k...

Novel about love and madness amongst the British surrealists.

Robert Irwin’s history of Orientalism leads from Ancient Greece to the present. He shows that, whether making philological comparisons between Arabic and Hebrew, cataloguing the coins of Fatimid Egypt or establishing the basic chronology of Harun al-Rashid’s military campaigns against Byzantium, scholars have been unified not by politics or ideology but by their shared obsession. For Lust of Knowing is an extraordinary, passionate book, both a sustained argument and a brilliant wo...

It is Palm Sunday 1461 and the bloodiest battle ever fought on English soil is about to take place outside the village of Towton. It is one of a series of engagements between the houses of York and Lancaster. The world when younger was more brightly coloured and its ecstasies and tortures more fiercely endured. But, ever since the Dolorous Stroke and the Showing of the Grail in the days of King Arthur, England has lain under a curse. So many have died that Hell is now full and consequently...

Tom's Version is a lament for the sixties and then a mad race towards old age and death. Hovering in background are the ghostly presences of St Ignatius of Loyola, St Joseph of Copertino, Robert Louis Stevenson and M.R. James. This is the story of a story that plays out in real life. Tom is a stock controller. Though management of the shelves kept him busy in the daytime, his nights were frightful. Again and again he dreamt of guns, conjuring tricks, car chases, burials, disinterments, Mar...

Why do we collect? Is it to rescue objects from oblivion? Is it a kind of desire - or even a kind of madness? In this mosaic of fiction, philosophy, sociology, biography and autobiography, virtuoso thinker Robert Irwin takes us on a wayward journey through the art of collecting, and his own intellectual passions.Drawing on the works of writers including Susan Sontag, Walter Benjamin, Iris Murdoch and Georges Perec, as well as a host of lesser-known geniuses, flaneurs, obsessives and...

This is the story of Sonja Heda and her rise from humble beginnings as a waitress in Holland to walk-on appearances in such famous German films of the Weimar and Nazi eras as The Blue Angel, The Gypsy Baron, Jew Süss, Habanera, Munchausen and, eventually, the starring role in the Nazi screwball comedy Bagdad Capers. Joseph and Magda Goebbels, Hans Albers, Eva Braun, Lillian Harvey, Albert Speer, Marika Rökk since she knew them all, it was inevitable that she should think of writing her aut...

‘Robert Irwin vividly and brilliantly blends the fictional life and all-too-real times of a film star of the Nazi era in this a narrative of diminishing options and the advance to death and destruction. Cultured, clever and funny at times, in a grim Charles Adams way, Robert Irwin’s novel is engrossing and enveloping. From a dull Dutch childhood in Dordrecht and a waitressing job, sexy Sonja Heda, cigarette in hand, wangles her way on to the film sets of various independent production comp...

Surefire techniques for coming out on top in any real estate dealA great book for anyone who is interested in real estate investing or planning to buy a new home, Tips & Traps When Negotiating Real Estate covers everything from financing and deposits, to better prices versus better terms, to handling brokers and sellers alike.Bestselling real estate guru Bob Irwin breaks down all the common negotiating points by subject, and supplies you with check...

Fully revised and expanded, the classic guide to negotiating every aspect of any real estate transactionReal estate guru Bob Irwin breaks down all the common negotiating "tips and traps" when it comes to buying and selling in real estate. Beginning with the golden rule of real estate--everything is negotiable--the all-new third edition of this easy-to-read guide helps homeowners and investors like you maximize profits by avoiding the common pitfalls standing in the way of getting...