nature

Softcover. Boston, Bulfinch, 1st, 2001, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Softcover, 130 plates, color and duotone. Like new in publisher's shrink-wrap. This beautifully produced volume features original, unpublished images by Annie Leibovitz, Richard Misrach, Sally Mann, William Wegman, Lee Friedlander, Mary Ellen Mark, Lynn Davis, Hope Sandrow, William Christenberry, Fazal Sheikh, Karen Halverson, and Terry Evans.

Hardcover. NY, Walker Books, 1st, 2007, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket. Thomas Pakenham, no stranger to Africa with his award-winning books The Boer War and The Scramble for Africa, nor to remarkable trees with his bestselling Remarkable Trees of the World, combines his two interests on safari in Southern Africa. His particular quarry is the rare, the giant, the very old, the extraordinary, or the simply beautiful-from a giant baobab and a prickly quiver tree in Namibia to a glorious jacaranda in South Africa and sesame bushes attacked by elephants in Botswana. He uncovers trees written about by the great explorers of the past, or associated with magic, folklore, or ritual. The narrative accompanying each image interweaves the stories of Pakenham's own journey-at some moments scaling trees to escape from enraged wildlife, while at others standing in awe before a particular tree, connected by some primitive, atavistic bond-with those of the trees themselves, imbuing each with personality and presence. The result is a beautifully crafted blend of botany and social history, the product of a brilliant photographer, an original mind, and a superlative writer. 208 pages in color. Clean copy. DOMESTIC SHIPPING ONLY.

Hardcover. NY, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1st, 1894, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, green cloth with gilt title and design on spine. 242 pages, frontis, 15 b&w plates from photos, including one of orchids. An important contribution to rain forest botany and ecology, based on the author's 24 years of collecting and study in the area. Previous owner's name on inside front cover, otherwise clean.

Hardcover. NY, Astor-Honor, 1st, 1960, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Non-paginated. Hardcover with no dust jacket. Color illustrations by Lionni. Light soil, wear to boards.

Softcover. The MIT Press , reprint, 2005, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, The first publication documenting the work of Brooks Stevens, one of America's most influential twentieth-century designers. A long overdue introduction to the work of visionary industrial designer Brooks Stevens (1911-1995). Believing that an industrial designer "should be a businessman, an engineer, and a stylist, in that order," Stevens created thousands of ingenious and beautiful designs for industrial and household products--including a clothes dryer with a window in the front, a wide-mouthed peanut butter jar, and the Oscar Mayer Wienermobile. ("There's nothing more aerodynamic than a wiener," he explained.) He invented a precursor to the SUV by turning a Jeep into a station wagon after World War II, and streamlined steam irons so that they resembled aircraft. It was Brooks Stevens who, in 1954, coined the phrase "planned obsolescence," defining it as "instilling in the buyer the desire to own something a little newer, a little better, a little sooner than is necessary." This concept has since been blamed for everything from toasters that stop working to today's throwaway culture, but Stevens was simply recognizing the intentionally ephemeral nature of a designer's work. Asked once to name his favorite design, he replied, "none, because every one would have to be restudied for the tastes of tomorrow." Clean copy still in publisher's shrinkwrap.

Hardcover. New Haven CT, Yale University Press, reprint, 2009, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Two hardcovers in a black cloth slipcase. Josef Albers's masterwork, Interaction of Color, is one of the most influential books on color ever published. Originally issued in 1963 as a limited-edition set of commentary and 150 silkscreened color plates, the book introduced generations of students, artists, designers, and collectors to Albers's unique approach to complex principles. This beautiful edition brings Interaction back into classrooms and studios and onto bookshelves, where it will find an eager new audience. It replicates Albers's revolutionary exercises, explaining concepts such as color relativity and vibrating and vanishing boundaries through the use of color, shape, die-cut forms, and movable flaps that illustrate his astonishing demonstrations of the changing and relative nature of color. Also included for the first time are studies from the Albers archive, produced by the artist's students in the early 1960s. Clean set.

Hardcover. privately printed, 1st, 2007, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 64 pages. With over 60 beautiful color plates, this gorgeous book of flower photographs is bound to appeal to a wide audience of anyone interested in Nature, Beauty, Meditation or Art. Tenneson explores the world of botanicals in a way that is completely unique. These photographs transcend mere documentation; they encourage the viewer to see flowers in a whole new way. Joyce Tenneson's breathtaking photographs have graced the covers of major magazines, as well as museums and galleries. Her ethereal portraits of roses, tulips, poppies and other garden blooms also come accompanied by select quotes from authors such as Emily Dickinson, William Carlos Williams, and Anais Nin.

Hardcover. Canada, 5 Continents, 1st, 2016, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Like new in publisher's shrink-wrap. light ding to bottom edge front board. 272 pages, many color and b&w photos. Josef Sudek (1896-1976) was a Czech photographer, best known for his photographs of Prague. He was a bookbinder before turning to photography after losing his right arm in WWI. This book, published to accompany an exhibition, examines how Sudek's photographs reflect his relationship to the world around him, from intimate explorations of cherished objects and views through his window to his night walks through the streets of Prague and its periphery, as well as excursions into the surrounding countryside. With essays, reminiscences by two former assistants, and stunning illustrations, here is a compelling view of Sudek's photographs, and the art of his friends and fellow artists. Sudek's legacy includes some of the 20th century's most haunting images of nature, monuments, city streets, and objects--all transformed by his sensitivity to the power of light to reveal and the power of darkness to render all impenetrable.

Hardcover. NY/Boston, Little Brown , 1st, 2016, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket. Sherlock Holmes comes to South Central Los Angeles. Only he's black, never finished high school, and can't seem to hold on to a regular job. Instead Isaiah Quintabe- or IQ, as he is known - spends his time and uses his formidable intelligence to help others. He's a loner and a high school dropout, his unassuming nature disguising a relentless determination and a fierce intelligence. He charges his clients whatever they can afford, which might be a set of tires or a homemade casserole. To get by, he's forced to take on clients that can pay. This time, it's a rap mogul whose life is in danger. The first book by this Japanese-American writer who grew up in the same kind of neighborhood as IQ, this was nominated for the Edgar for best first novel, for the Anthony Award, selected as one of the best books of the year by the NY Times and more. Clean copy.

Hardcover. NY, Julian Messner, 1st, 1965, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket. 480 pages illustrated with 140 b&w photographs. A book of natural history, travel and adventure. Binding of brown cloth with bold silver titles on front and spine. Very clean, tight binding, solid, square, sharp corners, unmarked.

Hardcover. Steidl, 1st, 2015, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, 148 pages. In this new monograph, Jamey Stillings (born 1955) synthesizes environmental interests with his longstanding fascination with the intersections of nature and human activity. In October 2010, Stillings began a three-and-a-half-year aerial exploration over what has become the world's largest concentrated solar power plant, the Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System in the Mojave Desert of California. From the simple and stark terrain of the preconstruction landscape to the angular forms of the completed solar plant producing 392 megawatts of electricity on 14 square kilometers of public land, Stillings explores dynamic interactions between raw organic forms of nature and those defined by the project's precise geometric lines. Shot from a helicopter during first and last light, Stillings' black-and-white images intrigue with tight abstractions, oblique views of geologic and geometric forms, and broad open views of the dramatic desert basin.

Softcover. Baltimore, John Hopkins University Press, 1st, 1995, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover in illustrated wrappers, 304 pages. Illustrated with B&W engravings. Jens Jensen was one of America's greatest landscape designers and conservationists. Using native plants and "fitting" designs, he advocated that our gardens, parks, roads, playgrounds, and cities should be harmonious with nature and its ecological processes-a belief that was to become a major theme of modern American landscape design. In Jens Jensen: Maker of Natural Parks and Gardens, Robert E. Grese draws on Jensen's writings and plans, interviews with people who knew him, and analyses of his projects to present a clear picture of Jensen's efforts to enhance and preserve "native" landscapes.

Softcover. privately printed, 1921, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, program for the Memorial services held for the writer/naturalist at the Nest in Riverby, April 2, 1921. A selection of Bible passages, poetry and Burrough's own writings. Two tipped b&w plates. Folded gray wrappers with a string tie, 24 pages printed on gray charcoal paper. Very good, clean.

Hardcover. Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1st, 1999, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 160 pages. This book offers eleven essays on Fante's career, ranging from close thematic analysis of individual stories and novels to broadly informed assessments of Fante's life and art in the context of his times. Major areas explored in the book include Fante's treatment of the Italian-American experience; his relationship to other American writers of the 1930s and beyond; the deeply Catholic nature of Fante's fiction; his unique and still-seminal vision of Los Angeles; and his lifelong concern to render in fiction both the comedy and the horrors of the writing life. Clean copy.

Hardcover. Boston, Little Brown & Co., 1st, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a lightly worn, price-clipped dust jacket, 436 pages with b&w illustrations. A detailed biography of the eccentric naturalist, John Muir, traces his influence on the American national park system and on the diverse and tumultuous history of the American conservation movement. Clean copy.

Hardcover. NY, St. Martin's Press, 1st, 1986, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket, 309 pages. b&w illustrations. In this meticulous and witty work, Stanley Olson uncovers the complex nature of Sargent's life and stunning career. Probable ex-lib with label on spine but no other markings.

Softcover. London, T&T Clark, reprint, 2012, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 331 pages, INSCRIBED BU AUTHOR on the half-title page. Analyses the works of Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758) on natural philosophy in a series of contexts within which they may best be explored and understood. Its aim is to place Edwards's writings on natural philosophy in the broad historical, theological and scientific context of a wide variety of religious responses to the rise of modern science in the early modern period - John Donne's reaction to the new astronomical philosophy of Copernicus, Kepler and Galileo, as well as to Francis Bacon's new natural philosophy; Blaise Pascal's response to Descartes' mechanical philosophy; the reactions to Newtonian science and finally Jonathan Edwards's response to the scientific culture and imagination of his time. Clean, bright copy.

Hardcover. London, Sampson Low Son & Co, 1st, 1860, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, 492 pages. Hardcover with 3/4 leather spine and marbled surfaces on all sides. First English edition published same year as first American edition. A clean, tight copy. moderate chipping to cover edges. and some rips to dry leather. Gilt title paste-down gone from spine.

Hardcover. London, Seven Dials , 1st, 2019, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, pictorial boards, 427 pages, color illustrations. From Gavin Thurston, the award-winning Blue Planet II and Planet Earth II cameraman with a foreword by Sir David Attenborough comes extraordinary and adventurous true stories of what it takes to track down and film our planet's most captivating creatures. Gavin has been a wildlife photographer for over thirty years. Against a backdrop of modern world history, he's lurked in the shadows of some of the world's remotest places in order to capture footage of the animal kingdom's finest: prides of lions, silverback gorillas, capuchin monkeys, brown bears, grey whales, penguins, mosquitoes - you name it-he's filmed it. No dj issued.

Hardcover. Princeton NJ, Princeton University Press, 1st, 1992, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 281 pages, b&w illustrations. "For, Lo! We live in an Iron Age--In the age of Steam and Fire!" wrote a poet mesmerized by the engines that were transforming American transportation, agriculture, and industry during his lifetime. Indeed, by the nineteenth century fire had become America's leitmotif--for good and for ill. "Keeping the flame" was deadly serious: even the slightest lapse of attention could convert a fire from friendly ally to ravaging destroyer. To examine the cultural context of fire in "combustible America," Margaret Hazen and Robert Hazen gather more than a hundred illustrations, most never before published, together with anecdotes and information from hundreds of original sources, including newspapers, diaries, company records, popular fiction, art, and music. What results is an immensely entertaining and encyclopedic history that ranges from stories of the tragic "great fires" of the century to fire imagery in folktales and popular literature. Dealing more with technology than with fire in nature, the book provides a vast amount of information on fire manipulation and prevention in urban life. Hazen and Hazen discuss the people who worked with fire--or against it. Founders, gaffers, blacksmiths, boilers at saltworks, and housewives knew how to "read" a fire and employ it for their purposes. A few dedicated investigators inquired about the scientific nature of heat and flame. And firefighters gradually progressed from "bucket brigades" to "using fire to fight fire" with the newly invented steam engine. The colorful stories of these Americans--the risks they took and the rewards they received--will fascinate not only social historians but also a broad audience of general readers. Clean copy.

Softcover. Dixfield ME, Coburn Press, reprint, 1999, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 282 pages. Originally published in the early 1970s as The Cow Economy and reprinted many times over, Keeping a Family Cow has launched thousands of holistic small-scale dairy farmers and families raising healthy cows in accordance with their true nature. The book offers answers to frequently asked questions like, 'Should I get a cow?' and 'How Much Space do I need?' in addition to extensive information.

Softcover. NY, Rizzoli , 1st US, 1985, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 258 pages, b&w and color illustrations. Initials on front fly leaf, otherwise tight and clean copy.

Hardcover. London, England, SPCK, 1st Edition, 1950, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, 175 pages. Hardcover. Red cover boards, fading to spine and edges, gilt title on spine. Pages unmarked. Binding tight. Spine straight. The Epitome covers a wide range of topics, including the nature of God, the creation of the world, the fall of man, the life and teachings of Jesus Christ, and the end of the world. It also discusses various aspects of Christian morality.