A collection of photographs from the archives of the magazine Country Life, which form a remarkable and evocative record of houses as they were in a past that now seems almost impossibly remote - the era of the great political hostesses in their Park Lane Mansions, of society beauties in smart Art Deco flats and painters at work in Holland Park.

An English Manor House represents an architectural ideal. For generations it has embodied civilised taste. These houses have formed a core part of "Country Life" features over the decades and this book contains fantastic photography of them. Here are Cranborne, Canons Ashby and Chastleton which are houses of timeless charm and tranquillity. Also, there are many houses that fell upon hard times only to rise again, such as Sissinghurst and Hidcote. The architects of the English manor House are many of the great names in the field and here are examples by Lutyens, Blow and Blomfield.

The book is a magnificent reminder of the architectural glory of the English manor house and charts the evolution of their different styles. There are over 200 images beautifully produced in duotone which conjure up the era of the Manor House.

This is the first of 2 launch titles of paperback versions of the sumptuous "Country Life" series. It covers the great manor houses in England. It is illustrated with the pick of "Country Life's" archive of photographs of manor houses taken over the past hundred years. It is written by the foremost expert on manor houses.

The Regency Country House is the first book to provide a comprehensive survey of the key English country houses of 1800 to 1830. It is written by John Martin Robinson, leading architectural historian, herald, and librarian to the Duke of Norfolk, who is author of numerous books including Buckingham Palace the official illustrated history.

This new book is divided into three parts: it looks at the princely palaces and houses associated with the Prince Regent, from Brighton Pavilion to Buckingham Palace, the nobleman's houses such as Tregothnan, Eastnor Castle and Goodwood and gentleman's houses such as Southill, Bedfordshire and Sheringham, Norfolk.

The book will illustrate work by leading country houses architects including the Wyatt dynasty, Henry Holland, John Nash, Thomas Hopper, Humphry Repton and Sir John Soane - as well as regional designers such such as Dobson of Newcastle and Webster of Kendal.

The gabled manor houses of the early 17th century are, for many, the epitome of the English country house; indeed, Jacobean houses form the core of the National Trust collection. Richly illustrated with colour and duotone photographs from "Country Life's" unparalleled archive, this book tells the absorbing story of the evolution of the Jacobean country house. Though the Jacobean period itself spanned only 22 years (1603-25), it was to have a major impact on English domestic architecture. This was an exciting period of experiment and discovery, with an extraordinary range of architectural styles being brought into play. Plain Classical formality coexisted with French, Italian and Dutch examples adapted to English tastes, the result of an explosion in new ideas that also produced revolutions in other aspects of life - notably the English Civil War. Nicholas Cooper's authoritative essays on 22 key Jacobean houses are brought to life with beautifully reproduced photographs in the next in the "Country Life" series on houses by period.

Illustrations: 100 colour & 100 b&w images

For over 100 years,  Country Life  magazine has been recording the country houses of the British Isles and Europe. From the start, its weekly articles on the subject were illustrated with specially commissioned photographs by some of the century's pre-eminent architectural photographers. Photography remains the lifeblood of the magazine, and it has built up an unrivalled archive of architectural photographs of some of the finest houses in Western Europe.   Great Houses of Europe  brings together a collection of over 200 colour and black-and-white photographs by the master of natural-light photography,  Country Life  photographer Alex Starkey. And the distinguished architectural writer and historian Marcus Binney contributes an illuminating text, providing an essential historical background to some of Europe's most remarkable houses and their magnificent interiors. The book covers a wide range both geographically - there are houses in France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Austria, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden - and in terms of architectural style - from Dutch Classical architecture (Het Loo) to spectacular Gothic revival (Kastel de Harr).  There are astonishing interiors: the stunning stucco ceilings of the Venetian Palazzo Abruzzi, and the beautiful mirror rooms done by the ladies of the Court for the enchanting  lust schloss . Schloss Favourite near Baden; the magnificent Baroque interiors of Schloss Bruhl, built for the Elector of Cologne, and the early 18th-century Baroque Castello Guarane in Piedmont with its fine frescoes; the early 20th-century Quinta da Regaleira in Sintra, built for a diamond tycoon with its fantasy gardens, half underground; the palatial Chateau de Roquetaillade near Bordeaux, gothicised in the 19th century by Villet-le-Duc, and the quintessential medieval extravaganza, the Chateau de Meillant in Burgundy; and, finally, the dramatic Swedish post-Renaissance Castle Stokloster, arguably the finest house in Europe.

Since its foundation in 1897, Country Life has consistently featured new British houses, thus building up an unrivalled photographic archive on twentieth-century architecture and one that covers a much wider variety of houses than any other.

This archive forms the basis for Alan Powers' new study of twentieth-century houses, illustrated with 200 stunning colour and duotone photographs, some of which are reproduced here for the first time. The book is divided into chronological chapters covering the 1920s to the 1990s, preceded by an enlightening introductory essay on the changing nature of architectural style over the course of the century.

Both town and country houses are included, as well as remodellings of earlier buildings where the result has a clear twentieth-century character, such as London's glorious Eltham Palace.