Stephen Ellcock – renowned curator and author of The Cosmic Dance, Underworlds and Elements – brings together an amazing selection of images from a broad range of cultures and eras, depicting living wonders from all five kingdoms of nature.

This visual treasury also features a foreword by Robert Macfarlane, an essay on the stories of the ark by acclaimed author Sarah Perry, and three inspiring essays on the natural world by tree scientist Harriet Rix, marine biologist Helen Scales and birder Stephen Moss. Each writer guides readers through some of the intricate, life-sustaining relationships that populate nature’s elemental realms of earth, water and air, and outlines some of the threats that climate change and human actions pose. Symbols throughout pinpoint which of the species pictured are critically endangered or vulnerable.

Ark is a celebration of the myriad lifeforms inhabiting our planet and a powerful environmental call to arms.

From the goldfish in Raphael’s Madonna del Cardellino to the sacred ibis on an ancient Egyptian wall painting and the quetzal feathers of an Aztec headdress, birds have always held a special place in human culture and belief systems. For millennia, humanity has imbued them with symbolic significance and as a result they are a constant source of fascination. But where did such symbolism come from? Why do we view some birds as special, while others are seen as comical or simply as food? The Secret Language of Birds examines forty-two birds and the diverse roles they have played across civilizations.

Written by renowned ornithologist Colin Rees, each individual profile offers a fresh perspective on our feathered friends, drawing from history, art, music, literature and folklore. These entries delve into the myriad ways people have worshipped, feared, hunted and consumed birds, utilized them as medicine, or relied on them to predict the weather. From well-known birds like the majestic crane, a symbol of longevity and harmony in Southeast Asia, to lesser-known species like the fierce cassowary, a bird integral to Dreamtime narratives among Australian Aboriginal groups, birds have played important roles in cultures around the world. Rees also details instances of bird persecution, and traces the derivation of bird names across Latin, English, Native American and African traditions, as well as those introduced by colonists worldwide.

Organized by habitat and richly illustrated with ornithological paintings, artworks and a broad range of contextual material, The Secret Language of Birds reveals how certain species have been perceived and why they continue to captivate our imaginations.

Beautiful Bugs presents a rare and extensive collection of artfully preserved insects, each framed and professionally photographed to create a stunning masterpiece. From shining iridescent beetles to paper-thin butterflies, these insects invite you to ponder the breathtaking intricacy of nature. Accompanying the gallery of photographs are essential identifiers for each insect and unexpected facts about the extraordinary ways these creatures live and operate in our world.

A curated gallery for the brave and bug-curious, this stunning book unveils the wonders of the most astonishingly diverse lifeform in the animal kingdom.

BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week
A Financial Times Book of the Year

‘AN EXCEPTIONAL BOOK.’ Robert Macfarlane, author of Underland
‘A BOLD, BEAUTIFUL, CONFRONTING JOURNEY.’ Isabella Tree, author of Wilding
‘LOVELY … FULL OF INCIDENT, COLOUR AND NUGGETY FACTS.’ Robbie Millen, The Times

From the winner of the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award comes an epic walk across the Alps in the footsteps of a wolf, throwing unique light on Europe's mountainous hinterlands at a moment of political and environmental change.

In 2011, a young wolf named Slavc set out from Slovenia. Traced by GPS, he travelled a thousand miles through the Alps, arriving four months later on the Lessinian plateau, north of Verona. There had been no wolves in northern Italy for a century, but here he crossed paths with a female wolf on a walkabout of her own. A decade later and there are more than a hundred wolves back in the area, the result of their remarkable meeting.

In Lone Wolf, Weymouth walks Slavc's path, examining the changes facing these wild corners of Europe. Here, the call to rewild meets the urge to preserve culture; nationalism and globalisation pull apart; climate change is radically changing lives; and migrants, too, are on the move.

The result is a multifaceted account of a region caught in a moment of kaleidoscopic flux, from an award-winning writer with a uniquely perceptive eye for detail.

British Landscapes covers a wide range of genres, showcasing a history of 20th century art in Britain: British Post-Impressionism by Spencer Gore and Walter Sickert; a focus on the 1920s printmaking revival of etching and wood-engraving with FL Griggs and Robin Tanner; 1930s travel posters and watercolours by David Jones and Eric Ravilious; an exploration of Surrealism through Paul Nash, John Tunnard and Julian Trevelyan; and wartime landscapes by John Piper, Sutherland and Keith Vaughan. The final section considers the development of abstraction in British art via the St Ives artists and their contemporaries, such as Ivon Hitchens.

It explores the concept of placemaking, and how artists have conveyed the spirit or sense of a particular place in their artworks. It not only includes pastoral idylls but also urban, suburban and industrial landscapes. A leitmotif running throughout is the relationship of people to the land: from images of rural labour and farming to the development of leisure tourism. It also considers how the British landscape has been central to the formation of regional and national identities, and how tangentially it can convey the anxieties of socio-political events, such as the First and Second World Wars.

This fully illustrated catalogue is published to accompany the exhibition of the same title at Pallant House Gallery.

Vincent van Gogh’s (1853-1890) Sunflowers paintings are among the world’s most recognizable works of art. Central to his artistic ambition, these extraordinary still lifes provide insight into Van Gogh’s methods of production, artistic values, and exhibition strategies. Building on the 2019 technical study of the Sunflowers paintings undertaken by the Van Gogh Museum and the National Gallery, London, Van Gogh’s Sunflowers examines his two Sunflowers painting campaigns, places still life painting at the heart of the electric debates between Van Gogh and Paul Gauguin in the Yellow House in Arles in the summer of 1888, and considers how the artist intended the paintings to be displayed.

Sumptuous images capturing the boldness and detail of the Sunflowers paintings illustrate three essays by leading curators. From Van Gogh’s insistence on painting from nature to his identification with the sunflower motif to his preferred display and framing strategies, this publication addresses myriad facets of Van Gogh’s artistic practice through the singular lens of his Sunflowers paintings.

Distributed for the Philadelphia Museum of Art

Exhibition Schedule:

Philadelphia Museum of Art
(June 6-October 11, 2026)

Still-life painting celebrates the extraordinary within the ordinary, offering a timeless reminder of the beauty that surrounds us every day. This book explores the rich variety of the genre through the lens of the National Gallery collection, from seventeenth-century Dutch flowers to Picasso’s modern interpretation.

Published by National Gallery Global Ltd/Distributed by Yale University Press