Ancient Britain for Modern Folk
Written by Tom Howells
Published by Hoxton Mini Press
Design (and photography below) by Dom Grant
The physical manifestation of a long-planned project – inspired by the work of neoantiquarians like Jacquetta Hawkes, Aubrey Burl and Julian Cope – Ancient Britian for Modern Folk is a pithy reference manual, exploring the history of over 90 ancient sites: from the totemic stones of Avebury to damp Cornish fogous, recondite chalk figures and remote Cumbrian circles. As a pocketable handbook, Dom Grant’s lovely design evokes the aesthetic of 1920s field guides.
An Opinionated Guide to London Walks
Written by Tom Howells
Published by Hoxton Mini Press
Much as I adore sweltering the near full length of the 176 bus from Tottenham Court Road to Penge, London is much nicer when you’re walking around it. This book contains 20 routes of varying distance across the capital (replete with arduously compiled maps) – from a literary amble around Bloomsbury, to more verdant treks along the southeast’s Green Chain and the depths of Hampstead Heath (feat. Soviet spy hubs, swimming ponds and Bauhaus-adjacent architecture), and a trashed stumble around the degenerate highlights of Old Soho.
An Opinionated Guide to Wine London
Written by Tom Howells
Published by Hoxton Mini Press
Not exactly the most strenuous commission I’ve ever picked up, ... Wine London is a 65-point guide to the best places to buy and drink wine in and around the city – Old World, New World and everything in between. It goes without saying that London’s new-school scene is insanely fertile – whether Parisian-style neighbourhood bars, restaurants with banger lists, shops/importers or urban wineries – so the chance to profile in miniature some of my favourite holes was more than welcome.
An Opinionated Guide to Weird London
Written by Tom Howells
Published by Hoxton Mini Press
Mark Fisher categorised the weird as ‘that which does not belong’ – a sentiment I slightly wrested into new context for this book, which takes in a plethora of the esoteric, irreverant and oddball historical stuff London is absolutely brimming with. Stink pipes, pub cats in ruffs, 1,000 year sound installations, Victorian pet cemeteries, novelty automata, Fortean lectures, haunted cricket teams, mouldering catacombs, Egyptian time machines, a dessicated saint’s hand, cosmic architecture, fatberg legacies ... all for the eyeballing. The Seven Stars’ irrepressible ladlady, Roxy Beaujolais, also insisted I crawl up Carey Street (’on your hands and knees’) begging for photos for the pub’s inclusion in the book, which was unedifying.