{"title":"Books by John Freely","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"9781780600567","title":"Stamboul Sketches","description":"Throughout the 1960's John Freely and Hilary Sumner-Boyd explored every alley, cove and monument of their adopted home of Istanbul in between their teaching jobs. They created a legendary guidebook, covering 1,500 years of Byzantine and Ottoman architecture, to a city that was still innocent of tourists. But the passages that were too personal, too capricious, too idiosyncratic, too indulgent of eccentric personalities, too melancholically obsessed with lost monuments, too wrapped up in the love of mid-afternoon banter, too indulgent of musicians, dancers, gypsies, dervish, drunks, beggars, fishermen, poets, fortune-tellers, folk healers, mimics and prostitutes were cut from their scholarly guidebook. Stamboul Sketches is a slim book compiled from these editorial floor off-cuts.  Inspired by travelling in the footsteps of Evliya Celebi, the Puck-like Pepys who wrote about 17th century Istanbul, Stamboul Sketches is a beautiful, quirky portrait of a city caught like a bird on the wing, so much changed but so much the same.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56304620929397,"sku":"9781780600567","price":12.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781780600567_9922561c-372d-41d5-9681-598d0f713b43.jpg?v=1786025674"},{"product_id":"9781838600020","title":"Strolling Through Istanbul","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e'The best travel guide to Istanbul' - \u003ci\u003eThe Times\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePractical and informative, readable and vividly described, this is the definitive guide to and story of Istanbul, by those who know it best.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis is the 2009 revised and updated edition of the classic guide to Istanbul, originally published thirty-seven years previously, which continues to inform and enchant visitors.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTaking the reader on foot through this captivating city - European City of Culture 2010 - the authors describe the historic monuments and sites of what was once Constantinople and the capital in turn of the Byzantine and Ottoman Empires, in the context of the great living city.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWoven throughout are vivid anecdotes, secret histories, hidden gems and every major place of interest the traveller will want to see.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56307834618229,"sku":"9781838600020","price":20.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781838600020_6293a1ee-1660-4d91-a93b-0e69f270d422.jpg?v=1786033992"},{"product_id":"9780140244618","title":"Istanbul","description":"Istanbul's history is a catalogue of change, not least of name, yet it has managed to retain its own unique identity. John Freely captures the flavour of daily life as well as court ceremonial and intrigue. The book also includes a comprehensive gazetteer of all major monuments and museums. An in-depth study of this legendary city through its many different ages from its earliest foundation to the present day - the perfect traveller's companion and guide.","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56311563059573,"sku":"9780140244618","price":14.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9780140244618_137ef019-29d3-4a2a-b61d-a7eea8f05c70.jpg?v=1786011093"}],"url":"https:\/\/backstory.london\/collections\/author-john-freely.oembed","provider":"Backstory","version":"1.0","type":"link"}