Peter Hill

For many parents the first few months after a baby's birth can be a time of shock and adjustment as well as personal joy.

Hadrian's Wall was a small part of the thousands of miles of Roman frontiers, but presents the most magnificent spectacle. Its 90-mile length was conceived on a grand scale, with a stone wall 10 Roman feet thick and 15 high, and has been the subject of research for four centuries. There is, however, one aspect which has never been studied in detail: the practicalities of how it was actually built. This book examines every aspect of the work needed to construct the Wall, and analyses all the building operations including quarrying, stone dressing, transport and scaffolding. It is presented in a form accessible to the interested layman as well as to the student, and among other new conclusions throws light on the attitude of the Roman army to the work.

The French composer Olivier Messiaen (1908–92) is a musician about whom most remains to be discovered. More than a decade after his death our knowledge of Messiaen is largely conditioned by what he said about himself in lectures and interviews, in his work as a teacher, and in the monumental seven-volume treatise that encompassed the whole of his composing world. But Messiaen’s public documents conceal as much as they reveal, seldom explaining why a work was written or what complexities went into its making. The composer was similarly reticent about his private life. This is the first book to explore the world that Messiaen was at pains to keep hidden. Based upon unprecedented access to Messiaen’s private archive granted to the authors by the composer’s widow, Yvonne Loriod-Messiaen, Peter Hill and Nigel Simeone trace the origins of many of Messiaen’s greatest works and place them in the context of his life, from his years at the Paris Conservatoire and his passionate first marriage to Claire Delbos through the immense achievements of his final decades.

When Peter Hill, a student at Dundee College of Art, answered an advert in The Scotsman seeking lighthouse keepers, little did he imagine that within a month he would be living with three men he didn't know in a lighthouse on Pladda, a small remote island off the west coast of Scotland. Hill was nineteen, it was 1973 and, with his head fed by Vietnam, Zappa, Kerouac, Vonnegut, Watergate and Coronation Street, he spent six months on various lighthouses, "keeping" with all manner of unusual and fascinating people. Within thirty years this way of life was to have disappeared entirely. The resulting book is a charming and beautifully written memoir that is not only a heartfelt lament for Hill's own youth and innocence but also for a simpler and more honest age.

A pictorial history of Corby

The Rite of Spring is Stravinsky’s most revolutionary work. This important new book provides a comprehensive guide to the work, telling in vivid detail the story of its inception and composition, of the stormy rehearsals which led to the scandalous premiere on 29 May 1913, and of Stravinsky’s later betrayal of the ballet’s first choreographer, Vaslav Nijinsky. At the same time, in a radical reassessment of the work’s musical values, Peter Hill probes beneath the surface of the music to reveal an architectural conception of unsuspected guile and subtlety. A feature of the book is a detailed discussion of the work in performance, drawing on recordings by the Rite’s greatest interpreters, Stravinsky himself included. Finally, the significance of the Rite is thoroughly reviewed in a hard-hitting conclusion which poses a radical challenge to the orthodox view of the work.

The Rite of Spring is Stravinsky’s most revolutionary work. This important new book provides a comprehensive guide to the work, telling in vivid detail the story of its inception and composition, of the stormy rehearsals which led to the scandalous premiere on 29 May 1913, and of Stravinsky’s later betrayal of the ballet’s first choreographer, Vaslav Nijinsky. At the same time, in a radical reassessment of the work’s musical values, Peter Hill probes beneath the surface of the music to reveal an architectural conception of unsuspected guile and subtlety. A feature of the book is a detailed discussion of the work in performance, drawing on recordings by the Rite’s greatest interpreters, Stravinsky himself included. Finally, the significance of the Rite is thoroughly reviewed in a hard-hitting conclusion which poses a radical challenge to the orthodox view of the work.

This book is part of the Images of England series, which uses old photographs and archived images to show the history of various local areas in England, through their streets, shops, pubs, and people.

This book is part of the Archive Photographs series, which uses old photographs and archived images to show the history of various local areas in Great Britain, through their streets, shops, pubs, and people.

Practical Stone Masonry is the first major book in nearly seventy years on the craft of the stonemason. Today the work of the stonemason is almost exclusively confined to the repair of historic buildings, requiring a full working knowledge of the detailed traditional craft practices relating to repairs. This book addresses that need. It covers the basic methods of working stone, the making of specialized tools, and, for the first time, a full analysis of the procedures for setting-out for repairs. A broad description of the nature and problems of stone also includes guidance on selection. In addition, the authors look at the causes of decay in stone and outline methods for repair of both stone and mortar. "Practical Stone Masonry" contains essential advice for working masons and apprentices, and all those engaged in planning and supervising such works. It includes: the basic methods of working stone; how to make specialized tools; the procedures for setting-out for repairs explained; and, the nature and problems of stone plus a guide to selection.