Simon Courtauld discusses the avian link between Wiltshire and Spain in Wiltshire Life Magazine. Footprints in Spain by Simon Courtauld is out now and receiving great critical acclaim. Get your copy of the book here today and for more information, read the fantastic Sunday Telegraph review here.

Footprints in Spain is reviewed in The TLS. You can read the full review here: footprints-in-spain-tls and get your copy of the book here. 

The Metro publishes the New Year’s Honours List, with details of the CBE appointed to our Chairman Naim Attallah. Read the list here.

‘A lifetime of observation has been packed into this book, which sparkles with historical anecdotes.’

Country Life Magazine lists Footprints in Spain by Simon Courtauld as a recommended Winter read. Read the full piece here and get your copy of the book here today.

‘This is an idiosyncratic tour of Spain  as touched by good, bad and ugly British feet. To read it feels as if you had placed yourself in the hands of an authoritative host, who knows all the characterful places to eat and drink, but refuses to show you any of the expected sights… initially bemused by our route, I grew entranced, for Courtauld knows his ground very well and his text is littered with fascinating digressions, historical, literary and genealogical.’

The Sunday Telegraph gives a fantastic review of Footprints in Spain by Simon Courtauld. Read the full review here footprints-in-spain-telegraph and get your copy of the book here today.

Happy New Year! We are delighted to announce that our Chairman Naim Attallah has been appointed CBE in the New Year’s Honours List for Quartet Books and his contribution to publishing and the arts. Mr Attallah has put the following on his blog:

‘When I first opened the letter from the Prime Minister’s Office telling me I had been nominated for an honour and would I be willing to accept it, my reaction was conflicted.            Immensely aware of how special it was and humbled by its implications, I was also aware I have never pandered to or taken much notice of what the British Establishment thinks and does. Indeed, a quick browse through the books Quartet and The Women’s Press published during the forty years I have had the privilege of owning them, indicates my sympathies are usually with the dispossessed and the outsiders. But I was also overcome with a sense of wonder that such an event could happen to someone born in the Holy Land, in the most unenviable circumstances, at a time when the whole world was about to erupt in the worst catastrophe imaginable, the Second World War. I was also immensely saddened not to be able to instantly telephone my wife as I had done so many times during our long blissful marriage with good and bad news. Her death was still and will always remain impacted on my soul. I even thought I might politely decline. But reflecting further and talking with one or two trusted friends, I decided that I would accept this gracious and historic honour on behalf of all those writers, publishing artisans, booksellers, media gnomes – indeed everyone in Grub Street who has held my hand, worked with me, excited and infuriated me, and all who have made the last four decades at the helm of one of Britain’ most distinguished and exciting independent publishers, funding literary magazines, making movies and even creating chocolates and wearing my perfumes Avant & Après L’Amour, a truly wonderful time. God bless us everyone!’

To read more of our Chairman’s blog, go here. It looks like 2017 is going to be a fantastic year for Quartet and we hope it is for you too!

We wanted to take you behind the scenes at Quartet Books and have decided to share some of our printing photos with our followers…. Please see the above pictures taken at Graphius, in Ghent, last week when our book, The City of Westminster, went to press. One of the largest printers in Europe, the factory is equipped with the very latest machines and is capable of producing outstandingly beautiful books in record time.  Published in association with the Sir Simon Milton Foundation, our book is a pictorial celebration of life in Westminster. Copies will be available in the New Year.

Go here for more information on The City of Westminster: A Celebration of People and Places.

Darling Baby Mine by John de St. Jorre £20 is a dramatic page-turner about the author’s search for his mother who disappeared without trace when he was four years old. Read more and get a copy here.

Summer’s Grace by Vanessa Hannam £10  is a historical fiction piece based on Vanessa Hannam’s relative George Anson and his heroic and controversial  and is inspired by real diaries. Read more and get a copy here.

Nine Love Letters  by Gerald Jacobs £20 is a heart-rending tale of two families fleeing the horrors of the holocaust, by long-standing literary editor of the Jewish Chronicle. Read more and get a copy here.

 

‘He is the most famous spy of all time, a double “O” agent licensed to kill for his country, who has thrilled readers since his debut in 1953. But could James Bond have been invented by another writer a full seven years before Ian Fleming introduced him to the world? Miles Jupp investigates the strange case of Bottome…Phyllis Bottome and asks if she is the woman who invented James Bond.’

Radio 4 programme  The Woman Who Invented James Bond? was first aired on Saturday, but is available on demand here and The Constant Liberal: The Life and Work of Phyllis Bottome  is available here now.

‘The writing, too, stands out. It reminded me of a memoir or, at times, reportage, with its rush of anecdotes, telling the stories of family, friends and neighbours in a few packed pages, moving back and forward in time, with an omniscient third-person narrator. There was something about it that felt different from other novels covering familiar ground…’

The Jewish Chronicle on Nine Love Letters by Gerald Jacobs. Read the full article here: nine-love-letters-jewish-chronicle and get your copy of the book here today.

‘The British figures in this book range from Catherine of Lancaster to Laurie Lee, from anonymous fighting men of the Peninsular War to kings and queens and the daughters and granddaughters of queens. It draws heavily on original and secondary sources to explain and elucidate the experiences various people have in the country, and then gives depth to the book by describing the author’s own visits to the places he discusses, looking for clues, memorials and references to the events he’s just described. This gives a freshness and immediacy to the book, adding in elements of travelogue to the history-writing genre.’

Shiny New Books Blog reviews Footprints in Spain by Simon Courtauld. Read the full review here and get your copy of Footprints in Spain here.