Think I mentioned before the Field Studies Council guide to house and garden spiders (three quid on Amazon as I recall). It's a laminated fold-out guide that tells you about the structure of spiders, their habitats, their different kinds of webs and about their distinguishing features. The whole of one side contains the most beautiful illustrations by one of my favourite wildlife artists, Richard Lewington (his butterfly book is unalloyed joy).

Spiders don't care much for the idea of being caught in your hands, I've found. They usually manage to scuttle away and then you can't find them again, not really the outcome you desire if you want it gone. The container-and-cardboard method is more reliable. House spiders are far more likely to survive if you let them stay in the house (I always pretend that I've thrown them outside...). A certain way of killing a spider is to wash it down the plug hole. If there's one in the bath, it fell in and did not crawl up the waste pipe.

They are useful in the house, and only a few British ones can give you what is a harmless nip, and only then if you make them panic. My policy is to leave them be. I've even been known to chat to them.