art literature

Softcover. New York, New American Library of World Literature, 1st, 1959, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, 128 pages. Paperback. Signet Book #1654. Cover art by Bayre Phillips. Light crease to covers. A Carter Borwn Mystery Series.

Softcover. Simsbury CT, Mandel Vilar Press, 1st, 2023, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 221 pages plus 16 pages of photos. This is a memoiristic book and a dual portrait, built around intense friendships with two leading public intellectuals who achieved celebrity status--Susan Sontag on a global scale, George Steiner principally in Europe, though also for a time in the US. For audiences at Woody Allen movies Sontag was the prime embodiment of the term "intellectual," whose famous 1965 essay "Notes on Camp" won her an enormous following. For viewers of French, German and British television over decades Steiner was the primary interview show talking head, igniting controversy on many fronts, while also commanding a loyal audience for thirty years as a book critic at The New Yorker. Maestros & Monsters is the work of a well-known public intellectual who was close to Sontag and Steiner over a half century, and who managed to bring them together on several occasions--the only times they ever met. Those encounters are among the most bizarre episodes in this narrative, which also features extended encounters with such literary figures as Arthur Koestler, Edward Said, Phillip Rieff, James Wood and others. Advance Reader's Copy. Clean.

Hardcover. NY, St. Martin's Press, 1st, 2023, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket. 330 pages, b&w illustrations. Paris in the 1920s was bursting with talent in the worlds of art, design and literature. The city was at the forefront of everything new and exciting; there was no censorship; life and love were there for the taking. At its center was the gorgeous, seductive English socialite Nancy Cunard, scion of the famous shipping line. Her lovers were legion, but this book focuses on five of the most significant and a lifelong friendship. Her affairs with acclaimed writers Ezra Pound, Aldous Huxley, Michael Arlen and Louis Aragon were passionate and tempestuous, as was her romance with black jazz pianist Henry Crowder. Her friendship with the famous Irish novelist George Moore, her mother's lover and a man falsely rumored to be Nancy's father, was the longest-lasting of her life. Cunard's early years were ones of great wealth but also emotional deprivation. Her mother Lady Cunard, the American heiress Maud Alice Burke (who later changed her name to Emerald) became a reigning London hostess; Nancy, from an early age, was given to promiscuity and heavy drinking and preferred a life in the arts to one in the social sphere into which she had been born. Highly intelligent, a gifted poet and widely read, she founded a small press that published Samuel Beckett among others. A muse to many, she was also a courageous crusader against racism and fascism. She left Paris in 1933, at the end of its most glittering years and remained unafraid to live life on the edge until her death in 1965. Remainder dot top edge otherwise clean.

Hardcover. New Haven CT, Yale University Press, reprint, 2004, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 208 pages. Between 1936 and 1941 Walker Evans and James Agee collaborated on one of the most provocative books in American literature, Let Us Now Praise Famous Men (1941). While at work on this book, the two also conceived another less well-known but equally important book project entitled Many Are Called. This three-year photographic study of subway passengers made with a hidden camera was first published in 1966, with an introduction written by Agee in 1940. Long out of print, Many Are Called is now being reissued with a new foreword and afterword and with exquisitely reproduced images from newly prepared digital scans. Many Are Called came to fruition at a slow pace. In 1938, Walker Evans began surreptitiously photographing people on the New York City subway. With his camera hidden in his coat--the lens peeking through a buttonhole--he captured the faces of riders hurtling through the dark tunnels, wrapped in their own private thoughts. By 1940-41, Evans had made over six hundred photographs and had begun to edit the series. The book remained unpublished until 1966 when The Museum of Modern Art mounted an exhibition of Evans's subway portraits.

Hardcover. NY, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1st, 2012, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 260 pages. Throughout his long career, Henri Matisse (1869-1954) continually expanded the boundaries of his art. By repeating images in pairs, trios, and series, he conducted an ongoing dialogue with his earlier works in order to, as he put it, "push further and deeper into true painting." In this fresh approach to a much-studied artist, prominent scholars from the United States and Europe examine more than sixty works in concise chapters that focus on this aspect of Matisse's working process. From early pairs such as Young Sailor I and II (1907-8) through a series of late studio scenes from Venice (1946-48), Matisse is shown revisiting a given theme with the aim of devising innovative, often radical, solutions to such problems as how to portray light, handle paint, select colors, and manipulate perspective.New technical studies of the early paired works and photographs documenting the evolution of his later paintings help to elucidate Matisse's complex evolution. In numerous excerpts from letters and interviews, he is revealed as an artist who regularly questioned himself and his methods, a man of powerful intellect who regarded each new painting as an adventure. A significant addition to art historical literature, Matisse: In Search of True Painting is a revelatory study of a seminal figure in 20th-century modernism.

Hardcover. New Haven CT, Yale University Press, 1st, 2001, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 387 pages. Color and b&w illustrations. Leading medieval historian Nicholas Orme draws together a vast range of sources and disciplines-history, literature, religion, and art-to create a picture of medieval childhood more comprehensive than ever before. Beginning with pregnancy and childbirth, Orme explores the succeeding stages of a child's growth to adulthood. He discusses baptism, the significance of birthdays and ages, and family life, including upbringing, food, clothes, sleep, and the plight of the poor. He also chronicles the misfortunes of childhood, from disablement, abuse, and accidents to illness and death. In a fascinating review of the special culture of children, the author describes their rhymes, toys, and games; their religion and relationship to the Church; and their learning to read the literature for children. The final chapter of the book explains how adolescents grew up and entered the adult world. Mild fade to spine, front fly leaf with two small scars to black paper, otherwise a clean, bright copy.

Hardcover. NY, William Lewer, 1st, 1838, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, bound in 3/4 leather with marbled boards, black calf spine labels with gilt lettering, 396 pages, American Edition noted on title page; its London parent, "The Metropolitan: A monthly journal of literature, science, and the fine arts" was a London monthly journal established by Thomas Campbell in 1831 and continued, under various editors, until 1850. Clean bright copy.

Softcover. US, Damiani, 1st, 2014, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, 110 pages, softcover. Like new in publisher's shrink-wrap. Absence of Subject and Two Crowns of the Egg are Somoroff's most intriguing books of photography. In this edition of Two Crowns, the still life art work is as stunning as the female nudes. Of note, the rare combinations of objects (such. books of literature, high polished knives, exquisite dishes) and life matter (such pomegranates, honey, eggs, human skulls) set one's imagination in fire. These strange image compositions are as odd as the pairing of words by Postmodern poet Giannina Braschi who writes love poems to objects, animals, beings. The scholarly introduction by art historian Donald Kuspit is respectable but a bit dry. Regardless the imagery and poetry tower over any essay that one could write about them.

Hardcover. NY, Sterling, 1st, 2007, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, pictorial boards with blue cloth spine, 12 pages with 6 pop-up spreads. Call me Ishmael." Three of the most famous words in all literature, they begin Herman Melville's masterpiece, Moby-Dick. Now, the epic saga of Captain Ahab's obsessive quest for the white whale comes vividly to life in this three-dimensional graphic novel, the first of its kind. This phenomenal work is the creation of multi-talented artist Sam Ita, apprentice to Robert Sabuda, one of the world's master paper engineers. Every amazing element is awe-inspiring: there's not just one pop-up per spread, but several, surrounded by colorful comic book-style panels that convey the story's drama. Some of the pops-ups are huge and incredibly detailed, like the Pequod itself, which rises gloriously from the page, complete with rigging. Others, smaller but no less wonderful, hide beneath flaps and folds. In one instance, readers actually get to look through a 3-D periscope and see Ishmael through the lens, drifting in the ocean. Clean copy w/o any flaws to paper.

Hardcover. London, Oxford University Press, 1st, 1974, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 157 pages. A study of the popular English children's writer, Mrs Sherwood, 1775-1851 considering her style, writings, relations with publishers, etc. Includes reprints of The little woodman and his dog Caesar originally published: London, Houlston, 1850 and Soffrona and her cat Muff originally published: Wellington, Salop, Houlston, 1828. Includes a 38 page bibliography. "No study of nineteenth - century children's books in England can afford to ignore Mrs. Sherwood. She produced over four hundred different titles - books, tales, tracts, texts, magazines, articles in periodicals, cbapbooks, and Sunday School rewards. There is evidence that the writings of her Evangelical period, in particular, had a remarkable influence upon Victorian literature for the young.

Hardcover. Ithaca NY, Cornell University Press, 1st, 2001, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 336 pages. This single-volume selection of the letters of Margaret Fuller affords a unique opportunity for renewed acquaintance with a great American thinker of the Transcendentalist circle. The letters represent Fuller at all stages of her life and career, and show her engaged as literary critic, as translator and as champion of German literature and thought, as teacher, as travel writer, as literary editor, as journalist, as feminist, as revolutionary, as wife and mother. My Heart Is a Large Kingdom, unlike previous collections, includes only letters transcribed from Fuller's manuscripts and does not reproduce correspondence known only from printed sources and copies in hands other than Fuller's. Among the recipients of the letters in this generous selection are such literary and cultural figures as Bronson Alcott, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Arthur Hugh Clough, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Giuseppe Mazzini, Giovanni Angelo Ossoli (Fuller's husband), George Ripley, and Henry David Thoreau. Taken together, the letters serve as a chronicle of Fuller's lifetime and provide glimpses into her thoughts and feelings during the years of the "Conversations," Dial, and the revolution in Rome. Clean copy.

Softcover. Ithaca NY, Cornell University Press, reprint, 1991, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 204 pages. "Not of woman born," "the Fortunate," "the Unborn" - the terms designating those born by Caesarean section in medieval and Renaissance Europe were mysterious and ambiguous. In antiquity, children fortunate enough to have survived a Caesarean birth were believed to be marked for a special destiny. Vividly tracing the evolution of Caesarean birth from the early 1300s (when the operation was performed almost exclusively by midwives) through the Renaissance period (when midwives were considered witches and male surgeons took control), Blumenfeld-Kosinski . . . does more than provide [an] engrossingly accessible, historical account of the now-commonplace procedure--she unveils the roots of a medical misogyny that still prevails today. A richly cross-disciplined study utilizing depictions of Caesarean delivery in art, literature, and medical texts and illuminations (illustrations), [this book] is a captivating and revealing work that will be relished by readers of medical and cultural history, as well as by those who are interested in the subject of male dominance over women. Clean copy.

Softcover. San Francisco, City Lights, 6th pr., 1981, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 255 pages. A compilation of Charles Bukowski's underground articles from his column "Notes of a Dirty Old Man" appears here in book form. Bukowski's reasoning for self-describing himself as a 'dirty old man' rings true in this book. "People come to my door?too many of them really?and knock to tell me Notes of a Dirty Old Man turns them on. A bum off the road brings in a gypsy and his wife and we talk . . . . drink half the night. A long distance operator from Newburgh, N.Y. sends me money. She wants me to give up drinking beer and to eat well. I hear from a madman who calls himself 'King Arthur' and lives on Vine Street in Hollywood and wants to help me write my column. A doctor comes to my door: 'I read your column and think I can help you. I used to be a psychiatrist.' I send him away . . .""Bukowski writes like a latter-day Celine, a wise fool talking straight from the gut about the futility and beauty of life . . ." ?Publishers Weekly. Mild shelf wear, clean copy.

Hardcover. London, Oxford University Press, 1st, 1971, Book: Good, Dust Jacket: Fair, 175 pages. Hardcover. Light pencil marking throughout. Price clipped dust jacket with fading to spine and wear. Otherwise clean, tight copy.

Hardcover. Seattle, WA, Fantagraphics, 1st, 2012, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, 192 pages. Hardcover with no dust jacket. Clean, unmarked copy. Black and white pictures throughout. The author's memoir of the seven years spent in collaboration with

Hardcover. Seattle, WA, Fantagraphics, 1st, 2012, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, 192 pages. Hardcover with no dust jacket. Clean, unmarked copy. Black and white pictures throughout. The author's memoir of the seven years spent in collaboration with Burroughs.

Softcover. Chicago, Henry Regnery, reprint, 1969, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 323 pages. "Occasions and Protests offers a collection of articles, protests, and affirmations written over the last thirty years by one of the most astute, eloquent, and concerned observers ever to happen the upon the American scene." The perpetual conflict between the individual and the system is his subject. Clean, bright copy.

Hardcover. New York, Viking Press, 1st, 1980, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 274 pages. Faint foxing to upper edge of brodart protected dust jacket and to top edge, else a very nice, tight copy.

Hardcover. NY, Farrar, Straus and Cudahy, reprint, 1961, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Good, Hardcover in a worn and lightly soiled dust jacket, unclipped with $4.50 price. Essays on a wide range of topics, including the assassination of Gandhi, Vassar, anti-Semitism, the Communist party, Arthur Miller, Tennessee Williams, etc. No first printing indicated so assumed 2nd pr. No markings.

Hardcover. Berkeley CA, University of California Press, 1st, 2007, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 318 pages. In Origins of the Chinese Avant-Garde, Xiaobing Tang studies the art and art theories of the first half of the twentieth century, when modern Chinese art and literature emerged. He argues that the most consequential expression of the avant-garde was the modern woodcut movement that thrived in China in the 1930s. In this innovative study--also the first comprehensive account of this Chinese movement available in English--Tang examines the aesthetic, intellectual, and social appeal of the modern woodcut and places the movement at the intersection of historical events, individual efforts, and competing discourses on art. He also shows how the woodcut movement drew upon international inspiration--from German Expressionism, Soviet wood engravings, and Japanese creative prints.

Hardcover. Rutland VT, Chas. E. Tuttle Co., reprint, 1936, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Good, Hardcover in a lightly worn and chipped dust jacket. Fine green textured cover with gilt to front and spine. Foreword by Arthur Schomburg, Robinson biography by Mary Robinson Perkins. A collection of tales capturing the essence of 19th-century rural life, primarily set in Vermont. These stories explore themes of freedom, community, and the challenges of everyday existence with a distinct American voice. Robinson's vivid descriptions and engaging characters provide a window into a bygone era, making this collection a valuable contribution to American literature. Clean copy.

Hardcover. US, Getty Publications, 1st, 2011, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, 352 pages. Hardcover with dust jacket. Clean, unmarked copy with only minor wear to dust jacket. Like new in publisher's shrink-wrap. Documents the burgeoning Southern Californian post-war art scene, with several essays following a more or less chronological order, and hundreds of illustrations of artworks, but also of art people (a wonderful 1963 photograph of Marcel Duchamp playing chess with a naked Eve Babitz in front of a replica of his Large Glass in Pasadena, photographs of artists working in their studios, etc). Some names are well known, others less so, but it is the versatility, the creativity and, above all, the richness and depth of this LA art scene that strike the reader-viewer through these richly illustrated pages. The birth of a genuine pop art in California (thanks to some of the most gifted artdealers in the US), of conceptual art, the creation of a new way of making sculpture, all those aspects are tackled in an informative and erudite (sometimes too erudite, though...)text that makes this book a more than valuable addition to the literature on post-war American art.

Hardcover. Ottawa CAN, Dovehouse Editions, reprint, 1996, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, green cloth stamped with gilt lettering on spine and decoration to front cover. 379 pages. Originally written in 1645 by the author who was also known as Lord Herbert of Chirbury. Herbert's major work is the De veritate, prout distinguitur a revelatione, a verisimili, a possibili, et a falso](On Truth, as It Is Distinguished from Revelation, the Probable, the Possible, and the False). He published it on the advice of Grotius. In the De veritate Herbert produced the first purely metaphysical treatise, written by an Englishman. Herbert's real claim to fame is as the father of English Deism. The common notions of religion are the famous five articles, which became the charter of the English deists. Name, light pencil notations to front endpaper and about a dozen pages.

Hardcover. NY, Prestel, 1st, 2018, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover in pictorial boards. While sheets of paper are disappearing from our homes and offices, the medium is experiencing a renaissance in the worlds of art, design, and architecture. Suddenly, paper is everywhere--but not only in the old familiar places or forms. This fascinating book looks at every aspect of paper: its history, composition, production, application, and trade. Beginning with the anatomy of paper and its earliest forms, this book looks at paper as a symbol of political and economic importance and as a carrier of ideas, from literature to art, design, and music. It looks at the different surfaces, opacities, weights and volumes of paper and how it is used for printing, typography, graphics, and maps as well as a vehicle for origami, architecture, and fashion. Sumptuously illustrated with photographs and drawings, this book includes a variety of papers for readers to examine and feel, highlighting the sensual aspects of this seemingly ordinary product. Engaging, entertaining, and informative, this book contains a wealth of useful and surprising information on every printed, colored, and textured page