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"Airship of Dreams" is a true story that can be read by itself, although it is also Book #1 of the VALIANT HEART trilogy. It describes William Palstra's extraordinary life, which ended in 1930 when His Majesty's airship R101 exploded in flames, changing the world forever. An Air Force pilot and decorated hero, Palstra returns to Australia in 1919, at the end of the First World War. Then follow his marriage and family, his role in the early years of Melbourne University, and his rise through the ranks of the newly-formed Royal Australian Airforce (RAAF). The decade of the 1920s was the Golden Age of Airships and zeppelins. The stuff of dreams, these enormous, cigar-shaped aircraft glided slowly and majestically across the skies, like fantastic creatures from legend.The British Empire's R101 was the world's biggest airship at that time. She was fitted out so luxuriously that she has been called The Titanic of the Skies. And like the Titanic, her maiden voyage was doomed."Airship of Dreams" tells of this fatal flight, and the repercussions of the tragedy that rippled through time and continues to this day.

The Stormriders land their winged stallions on the battlements of Isse Tower, where servants tell of wicked creatures haunting the world outside. It is only a mute, scarred foundling who dares to scale the Tower, board a Windship, and escape.

ERIC BRIGHTEYES - A BOOK THAT INSPIRED TOLKIEN. With original illustrations.Rider Haggard is among a small selection of Victorian and Edwardian writers whom Professor J.R.R. Tolkien (author of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit) acknowledged by name. In her introduction to this new edition Cecilia Dart-Thornton says, 'Haggard's classic is an action-packed adventure filled with Viking feasts duels, battles on land and sea, romance, treachery, magic, beautiful women and brave heroes. In a description that could be straight out of "The Lord of the Rings", Haggard writes that Eric "was strong and great of stature, his hair was yellow as gold, and his grey eyes shone with the light of swords."' 'For both authors, landscape plays as important a part as any character, and is described in concise yet evocative language. Haggard plunges his readers among the dizzying precipices, waterfalls, fast flowing rivers, icy winters and stormy seas of his fantastic Iceland, much as Tolkien sweeps us into Middle-Earth.' Enriched by almost sixty vibrant vignettes and illustrations by the hand of artist Lancelot Speed, this book is a close replica of the 1891 edition, published when Tolkien was one year old. He read it during the formative years of his youth, absorbing, no doubt, the lavish details of the pictures as he perused the tale. Speed was a highly accomplished and prolific fantasy illustrator during Tolkien's lifetime, and he illuminated many titles Tolkien is known to have read. A dwarf-forged sword wrested from Barrow Dwellers, its bright blade engraved with runes; the appellation: 'Ring-giver'; poetry and song; a hero with grey eyes - these and many more resemblances of style and content exist between Haggard's classic tale and 'The Lord of the Rings'.

THE SONG OF THE NIBELUNGS - With Original Illustrations. A BOOK THAT INSPIRED TOLKIEN. The Song of the Nibelungs (Nibelunglied), a thirteenth century Germanic epic, was a rich source of inspiration for Professor J.R.R. Tolkien, author of The Lord of the Rings. Scholars have noted the influence of its pre-Christian heroic motifs - drawn from historic events and people of the 5th and 6th centuries - on his writing of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. Tolkien was five years old when this beautifully illustrated translation by Margaret Armour was published in England under the title 'The Fall of the Nibelungs'. Undoubtedly a copy would have made its way into his hands during his boyhood. Armour uses an archaic form of English to preserve the high-flown style of the original poem. Here and there throughout The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien, too, employs this solemn, dignified and majestic form, which is reminiscent of the language of the King James Bible. A glossary of antiquated terms is provided at the back of this book. Armour was the wife of W.B. MacDougall, whose illustrations illuminate the text with their delicate beauty. In his turn, MacDougall was a friend of famous art nouveau illustrator Aubrey Beardsley, and his own drawings echo Beardsley's style. This classic saga, drenched in blood and tragedy, heroism and honour, beauty and nobility, gives us a glimpse into the literature that helped inform Tolkien's imagination, ultimately flowering in his most popular work - The Lord of the Rings.