The London Stereoscopic Company

Asteroid Bennu is the most hazardous asteroid in the Solar System, with a chance of impacting the Earth in 2182. In 2020 a NASA mission landed on the surface of Bennu and collected material from its surface for return to Earth in September 2023. Analysis of the material by scientific labs worldwide will help to answer some of our deepest questions such as: where did we come from, and what is our destiny in space. This book tells the story of asteroids in general and Bennu in particular, with stereo pictures throughout by Sir Brian May and his colleague Claudia Manzoni. Asteroids play an incredible and little known role in bringing metals, minerals and water to our planet, and as such may be prime bringers of life, as well as their better known role as destroyers of the dinosaurs and potentially of all human life. This is the most detailed study of an asteroid ever, and is presented in words and images that are accessible to nonspecialists. It will be of great interest to asteroid researchers worldwide, and includes a complete Atlas of Bennu.

Brian May, creator of the 21st-century incarnation of the London Stereoscopic Company, became an Internet evangelist for 3-D photography during the recent lockdown period, and fired up a whole new community of stereoscopists, all sharing their 3-D pictures on Instagram. For this book, we put out an invitation to this global community to send us their stereoscopic memories of life during the Covid Years. The range of subjects in these entirely new stereo pictures is immense, with more than 100 contributing photographers finding inspiration in Nature, people, pets, architecture, the sky above, and much more. This book is set to become a lasting testament to the evocative power of 3-D photography.

The cosmic clouds of dust and gas that populate the heavens, known as Nebulae, hit the headlines with the release of the famous image of the Pillars of Creation, captured by the Hubble Space Telescope. But the night sky contains thousands of other glorious nebulae, in an infinite variety of colours and shapes. This is the first book ever to present nebulae in 3-D, revealing the science behind the beautiful pictures that hang in our galactic art gallery. The story is compelling: all the elements that constitute our world, and build our human bodies, were made in the stars, and stars are born, die and are recycled in nebulae. So the tale of the birth and death of stars and the creation of elements is part of our own human story. As Joni Mitchell famously sang: We are stardust. When he's not touring with his band Queen, Brian May is a PhD astrophysicist actively engaged with several current NASA and JAXA missions. Here he joins forces again with David J. Eicher, the editor of Astronomy magazine, to share the extraordinary world of nebulae with anyone who is curious about the cosmos.

Many books have been written about Queen, but this is a first "€" an intimate view from the inside by a founder band member; it's also the first history of any rock group ever to be created in 3-D. Not only has Brian May written the book (no 'ghost writer' here), but the 3-D illustrations were all captured with Brian's stereoscopic cameras, mostly by the man himself. From an early age Brian would travel with a stereo (3-D) camera in hand, so on Queen tours and during recordings he was able to capture rare behind-the-scenes moments of one of the world's greatest rock bands. Decades later these are now being shared for the very first time. Some of the photographs had not even been fully processed until the book was in the making. Initially thought by Brian to be a quick job, this project turned into a labor of love for May and his team which spanned three years. Each time the book seemed to be close to completion, more 3-D photos were found in forgotten hiding places, prompting further memories and filling in the gaps in the narrative. The book eventually became a compelling set of snapshots of Brian's life and the life of Queen, over more than 50 years.

Many books have been written about Queen, but this is a first "€" an intimate view from the inside by a founder band member; it's also the first history of any rock group ever to be created in 3-D. Not only has Brian May written the book (no 'ghost writer' here), but the 3-D illustrations were all captured with Brian's stereoscopic cameras, mostly by the man himself. From an early age Brian would travel with a stereo (3-D) camera in hand, so on Queen tours and during recordings he was able to capture rare behind-the-scenes moments of one of the world's greatest rock bands. Decades later these are now being shared for the very first time. Some of the photographs had not even been fully processed until the book was in the making. Initially thought by Brian to be a quick job, this project turned into a labor of love for May and his team which spanned three years. Each time the book seemed to be close to completion, more 3-D photos were found in forgotten hiding places, prompting further memories and filling in the gaps in the narrative. The book eventually became a compelling set of snapshots of Brian's life and the life of Queen, over more than 50 years.

In 1961 John F. Kennedy surprised the world with his declaration that America would land a man on the Moon and return him safely to Earth before the end of the decade. In 1969 this seemingly impossible goal was achieved as Neil Armstrong uttered his immortal line: "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for Mankind." This book celebrates not only 50 years since the first human steps on the Moon, but the achievements of the all Soviet and American heroes who risked and sometimes lost their lives in the race to the Moon. The race began with Sputnik 1 in 1957, and it was the Soviet Union that stole the limelight during the first few years of the 1960s, as they achieved not only the first man in space, Yuri Gagarin, but the first woman, Valentina Tereshkova, and then the first spacewalk, performed by Alexei Leonov in 1965. Then, as a series of Apollo successes took the lead in the race, the Soviet manned Moon program slowed and ceased altogether. The Apollo program continued as far as Apollo 17, but ultimately was itself wound down. The early 1970s saw a period of burgeoning collaboration between East and West with the evolution of space stations, and this continues today with the extraordinary success of the International Space Station. Mission Moon 3-D not only sees David J. Eicher and Queen guitarist and astrophysicist Brian May creating a stunningly illustrated book in their field of expertise and passion, but amazingly it includes contributions from Apollo 16 moonwalker Charlie Duke, and Jim Lovell, immortalised as the Commander of the ill-fated Apollo 13 mission. The book features spectacular unseen 3-D images carefully constructed from the astronauts own photographs by Brian May, and the book includes a free viewer designed by Brian. As Charlie Duke says in his Foreword: "The three-dimensional views of the lunar surface that Brian and his team have created are amazing, and give a good approximation of what it's like to really be there."

George Washington Wilson was one of Scotland's leading photographer in Victorian times, particularly in the art of stereo photography. He began his career as a portrait miniature painter, but in the late 1840s was an early adopter of photography, and started offering his clients photographic portraits. Prince Albert commissioned him to photograph the the construction of Balmoral Castle, and he also captured many historic portraits of Queen Victoria and family at Balmoral. Queen Victoria honoured him by appointing him Photographer to the Queen. Based in Aberdeen, he made a thriving business printing and selling stereo cards of tourist attractions from Fingal's Cave on the remote Island of Staffa to London's busiest thoroughfare, Oxford Street. In this book Roger Taylor, the world authority on Wilson, captures the essence of the man and presents a glorious gallery of his work in colour, with many 3-D stereo cards which can be viewed with the complimentary viewer included in the back of the book. Dr Brian May designed and manufactured the OWL stereo viewer, provided many of the stereo photographs from his extensive archive, and wrote the Foreword to the book.

In 2016, the London Stereoscopic Company, under the direction of its proprietor Dr Brian May, will publish its first book on fashion! In keeping with the magical and mysterious themes which characterise this highly original, and quality driven publishing list, our contribution to fashion literature is far from conventional. Crinoline: Fashion's Most Magnificent Disaster is about a fashion which died a natural death more than 100 years ago, and was itself responsible for the deaths of thousands - literally fashion victims!