Why are dragons recognized in almost all cultures on Earth? What is the mysterious geomantic gold they secretly guard? Could dragons be a folk memory of something that once hunted us?

In this beautiful little book Joyce Hargreaves tells the story of these extraordinary animals through examples drawn from all over the world. Richly illustrated, and with detailed appendices of notable dragon sites around the United Kingdom, this is an essential and timeless book.

Today it is difficult to imagine a living room without a sofa. When the first sofas on record were delivered in seventeenth-century France, the result was a radical reinvention of interior space. Symptomatic of a new age of casualness and comfort, the sofa ushered in an era known as the golden age of conversation; as the first piece of furniture designed for two, it was also considered an invitation to seduction. At the same moment came many other changes in interior space we now take for granted: private bedrooms, bathrooms, and the original living rooms.

None of this could have happened without a colorful cast of visionaries--legendary architects, the first ... more