Ambrose Rathborne was an Australian mining engineer who moved first to Ceylon (present-day Sri Lanka) as a coffee planter, and then in the 1880s to the Malay States, where he worked as a planter and entrepreneur.

Henry Walter Bates and his co-naturalist Alfred Russet Wallace embarked together in 1848 on an expedition to the forests of the Amazon in search of plants and animals that would help solve the problems of the origin of species. Wallace returned to England in 1852, but tragically lost his entire collection in a shipwreck, while Bates stayed on for seven more years, accumulating more than 14,000 specimens, of...

Henry James was a renowned observer of European culture, both in his fiction and in his life. In particular, he loved Italy, visiting it 14 times and setting several of his novels in the country. Between 1873 and 1909 he also wrote numerous essays and travelogues that were ultimately collected into one volume and published as Italian Hours. James is famous for his fine perception and baroque prose, and both...

Mungo Park set off from his home in the Scottish borders in May 1795 at the age of 23 to discover the course of the River Niger in West Africa. When he reappeared in England more than two and a half years later, he had been presumed dead, and the tale of his perilous journey published in 1799 was greeted with great acclaim. Travels in the Interior of Africa provided Europeans with one of the first detailed ...

Phuket and Krabi Islands in the Andaman Sea and Samui in the Gulf of Thailand offer an idyllic combination of a sunny climate, stunning beaches, lively nightlife and extraordinary natural beauty. The west coast of Phuket, the largest island in Thailand, has the most beautiful beaches including Patong, Karon, Kata and Surin, all with azure waters and white sand. Most of the island's resorts and night-time en...

A Naturalist's Guide to the Birds of Britain & Northern Ireland will help you identify the 280 species that the amateur naturalist might expect to see in the field or garden.

The handy pocket-size guide is packed with useful information, tips and recommendations, accompanied by colour photographs, charts and maps for the first-time traveller who wants to experience the major highlights that Corfu has to offer. The fold-out map of Corfu is ideal for tourists and visitors. The highly successful Globetrotter Travel Series, which includes Travel Guides, Travel Maps, Road Atlases, Be...

The highly successful Globetrotter Travel Series, whichincludes Travel Guides, Travel Maps, Road Atlases, Best Of Pocket Guides and In Your Pocket Language Guides, presently covers more than 90 destinations worldwide. The Packs are excellent value, including both a guidebook and a softcover version of the fold- out Globetrotter map of the region, in a printed plastic wallet.The handy pocket-size guide is pa...

Chiang Mai is the natural capital of the north, a fascinating destination in its own right but also a starting point for exploring the country's most dramatic scenery with its remote hills, villages and mountain tribes. Chiang Mai itself is a moated and walled city retaining many ancient treasures but also rapidly evolving into a modern city with boutique hotels, chic shops and stylish restaurants serving t...

A Naturalist's Guide to the Birds of Sri Lanka will help you identify the 280 bird species most commonly seen in the area. With high quality photographs and detailed species descriptions, which include nomenclature, length, plumage, distribution, habits and habitat.

Robert Louis Stevenson was not only a gifted writer, he was also an indefatigable traveller. His thirst for adventure was formed by his boyhood visits to remote Scottish lighthouses, and he spent much of his life fleeing the rigours of cold climates and social orthodoxy. Along the way he canoed through Belgium and France, booked passage to and across America, and finally famously settled in Samoa in the Sou...

A Naturalist's Guide to the Birds of Hong Kong will help you identify the 280 bird species most commonly seen in the area. With high quality photographs and detailed species descriptions which include nomenclature, size, distribution, habits and habitat.

An African safari is arguably one of the most alluring and easily understood dreams of our time. Just the thought of an African safari evokes thoughts of adventure, a journey through nature's greatest spectacle, a glimpse of the earth before man. African Safari is an exploration of all that the word safari encompasses, from journeys on horseback and dugout canoes, the quiet drifting of a balloon and the ten...

From Santiago de Compostela in the north-west to Granada in the south-east via Madrid in the centre, Enchanting Spain reveals the fascinating breadth and depth of this exuberant country. The Moorish Alhambra, Toledo's Jewish quarter, the Roman amphitheatre at Merida and Barcelona's Sagrada Familia, the famously unfinished cathedral, each show a different aspect of Spain's complex history, now intermingled w...

Comprising the Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak, the independent Sultanate of Brunei, and the Indonesian state of Kalimantan, the island of Borneo is a treasure house of natural beauty and biodiversity. Described by Charles Darwin as "one great luxuriant hothouse made by nature for herself", Borneo is home to a rich profusion of flora and fauna, including 669 bird species; a diversity of mammals includ...

Mark Twain wrote a series of travel letters whilst on a tour of Europe and the Middle East in 1867 with a group of American 'pilgrims'. These letters later formed the basis of The Innocents Abroad. Journeying from New York to Egypt via France, Spain, Italy, Morocco, Russia, Turkey and the Holy Land, he observed and lampooned his companions with typically caustic and incisive commentary. The local people he ...

Alfred Russel Wallace's The Malay Archipelago is a work of astounding breadth and originality that chronicles the British naturalist's scientific exploration of Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and New Guinea between 1854 and 1862. An intrepid explorer who earned his living by collecting bird skins, Wallace also catalogued the vast number of plant and animal species that inhabit this unique geographical area....

A Naturalist's Guide to the Garden Wildlife of Britain and Europe will help you identify the 280 species of wildlife most commonly found in the gardens of Britain, Ireland, and other parts of Northern Europe.

Afoot in England looks at the life of Argentinean born William Henry Hudson following his settlement in England in 1869. Hudson began a new life as a wanderer and field naturalist and his country rambles were an escape from a life that then held few other pleasures, not least many years living in poverty in London. The books he wrote about the English countryside eventually brought him fame and, in turn, he...

A Naturalist's Guide to the Garden Birds of Britain and Northern Europe will help you identify the 90 bird species most commonly seen in or over the gardens of the area.