Hardcover. Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1st, 2016, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, still in publisher's shrinkwrap. This stunning book charts the rich history of the blues, through the dazzling array of posters, album covers, and advertisements that have shaped its identity over the past hundred years. The blues have been one of the most ubiquitous but diverse elements of American popular music at large, and the visual art associated with this unique sound has been just as varied and dynamic. There is no better guide to this fascinating graphical world than Bill Dahl--a longtime music journalist and historian who has written liner notes for countless reissues of classic blues, soul, R&B, and rock albums. With his deep knowledge and incisive commentary--complementing more than three hundred and fifty lavishly reproduced images--the history of the blues comes musically and visually to life.
Hardcover. NY, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1st, 2024, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 256 pages illustrated in color. An exploration of late nineteenth-century American literary posters. a vibrant genre at the vanguard of modern commercial art and graphic design spurred by innovations in printing technology, the modern poster emerged in the 1890s as a popular form of visual culture in the United States. Created by some of the best-known illustrators and graphic designers of the period including Will H. Bradley, Florence Lundborg, Edward Penfield, and Ethel Reed these advertisements for books and high-tone periodicals such as Harper's and Lippincott's went beyond the realm of commercial art, incorporating bold, stylized imagery and striking typography. This book, based on the renowned Leonard A. Lauder Collection, explores the craze for literary posters, which became sought after collectibles even in their day. It offers new scholarly perspectives that address the aesthetic sophistication and modernity of the literary poster; the impact of early experiments in the field of advertising psychology; the expanded opportunities for women artists, who played an important role in advancing the so-called poster style; and the printmaking techniques that artists employed in this novel art form. A lively survey of a little-known but highly influential period in graphic design,
Hardcover. NY, H. Bittner and Company, 1st, 1945, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, blue buckram stamped with gilt code of arms and lettering on spine. Limited to 1000 copies. A study of an artistic family who created theatrical designs dating from the 1680s to the 1780s under eight names. Illustrated with 53 plates. Small review slip tipped on front fly leaf. Some darkening to covers and spine, internally clean and bright. No dust jacket.
Softcover. Seattle, Fantagraphics, reprint, 2013, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 160 pages. At the age of 21, Gene Deitch discovered The Record Changer, a jazz fan magazine. Every jazz swinger in the '40s was called a "cat," so Gene Deitch created a cartoon feature titled "The Cat," which quickly became a fixture of the magazine. He also started drawing the covers, which graced almost every issue from 1945 to 1951. Deitch's stylistically virtuoso images exquisitely embodied the essence of the 1950s hipster, and was a visual paean to the joy of collecting records and appreciating jazz. The Cat on a Hot Thin Groove collects all of Deitch's Record Changer work in one gorgeous, coffee-table art book, with commentary and reminiscences by Deitch himself.
Softcover. NY, Crown Publishers, 1st, 1986, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 96 pages, color illustrations throughout. A follow-up to the authors first book, "The Cat Made Me Buy It!". 113 color photographs of advertising posters, magazine ads and covers, sheet music, signage, etc., all featuring felines.
Hardcover. Cambridge MA, The MIT Press, 1st, 2012, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket In this book, 380 pages, illustrated in color. The award-winning historian Regina Lee Blaszczyk traces the relationship of color and commerce, from haute couture to automobile showrooms to interior design, describing the often unrecognized role of the color profession in consumer culture. Blaszczyk examines the evolution of the color progression from 1850 to 1970, telling the stories of innovators who managed the color cornucopia that modern artificial dyes and pigments made possible. These color stylists, color forecasters, and color engineers helped corporations understand the art of illusion and the psychology of color. Clean copy.
Hardcover. Montreal, Drawn and Quarterly, reprint, 2011, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, 48 pages in color by Clowes. Teen outcast Andy is an orphaned nobody with only one friend, the obnoxious-but loyal-Louie. They roam school halls and city streets, invisible to everyone but bullies and tormentors, until the glorious day when Andy takes his first puff on a cigarette. That night he wakes, heart pounding, soaked in sweat, and finds himself suddenly overcome with the peculiar notion that he can do anything. Indeed, he can, and as he learns the extent of his new powers, he discovers a terrible and seductive gadget-a hideous compliment to his seething rage-that forever changes everything. The Death-Ray utilizes the classic staples of the superhero genre-origin, costume, ray gun, sidekick, fight scene-and reconfigures them in a story that is anything but morally simplistic. With subtle comedy, deft mastery, and an obvious affection for the bold pop-art exuberance of comic book design, Daniel Clowes delivers a contemporary meditation on the darkness of the human psyche. Originally published as a paperback in Eightball #23 in 2004, here beautifully reproduced on heavy stock with new end paper illustrations and a new cover.
Hardcover. NY, Da Capo Press, reprint, 1967, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright yellow price-clipped dust jacket. 18 pages of text, frontis portrait, plus 157 plates. All of the best drawings of Beardsley's early period, including the illustrations for "Salome". Reprinted from the second London edition of 1911. Previous owner's initials on front fly leaf, otherwise clean.
NY, Penguin Press, 2005, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, no dj issued. Illustrated by Maira Kalman in color. The Elements of Style is a prescriptive American English writing style guide in numerous editions. The original was composed by William Strunk Jr., in 1918, and published by Harcourt, in 1920, comprising eight "elementary rules of usage", ten "elementary principles of composition", "a few matters of form", a list of 49 "words and expressions commonly misused", and a list of 57 "words often misspelled".
Hardcover. NY, Penguin Press, 1st thus, 2005, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, no dj issued. Illustrated by Maira Kalman in color. The Elements of Style is a prescriptive American English writing style guide in numerous editions. The original was composed by William Strunk Jr., in 1918, and published by Harcourt, in 1920, comprising eight "elementary rules of usage", ten "elementary principles of composition", "a few matters of form", a list of 49 "words and expressions commonly misused", and a list of 57 "words often misspelled".
Hardcover. Flame Tree Publishing, 1st, 2015, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 128 pages. From classic Star Wars, Blade Runner and Matrix all the way back to The Day the Earth Stood Still sf movie posters have lurked and flickered across our subways, streets and bedroom walls since the early 1950s. From the kitsch of the Attack of the 50ft Woman, through to the many versions of Time Machine or War of the Worlds the 1980s hailed a more sophisticated filmic appeal for our sf dollar, with the onset of green screen and cgi. The films may change, but somehow the posters remain the same: geeky, powerful, escapist fantasy, and we love them all! The book features an arguable, quirky selection of what we think are the best.
Softcover. Germany, Steidl, 1st, 2015, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, 96 pages. Softcover. Very clean, unmarked copy still in publishers shrink-wrap. Color photographs throughout. This combination of portraiture, still-life and landscape photography mirrors the eclectic influences and materials which Ghesquiere synthesizes in his collections a bold, unconventional flow whereby innovation unceasingly rejuvenates tradition.
Hardcover. London, Victoria & Albert Museum, 1st, 2006, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 174 pages. Color illustrations. Gareth Williams looks at the furniture industry since 1990 and at design trends in the period to unravel its phenomenal appeal, from Minimalism to Blobjects, featuring the major designers of the period. He gives attention to the innovations of Italian manufacturers and the increasing influence of conceptual design.
Softcover. NY, Dover Publications, 1st, 1971, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 80 pages. "70 European and American posters of the 1890's in color". Clean copy.
Hardcover. NY, Portland House, reprint, 1986, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket. Illustrated with 100 full-page color plates, each with multiple patterns; additional black & white figures. Originally published in 1867 by S. & T. Gilbert of London. Folio.
Hardcover. San Francisco, Backbeat Books, 1st, 2003, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket. INSCRIBED BY LASKIN on the title page. For more than 30 years, Grit Laskin has been building guitars, and his striking inlay work places his instruments in a class all their own. He is credited with single-handedly taking the ages-old tradition of musical instrument inlay from its purely decorative roots into an art form, a means of expression. In his hands, shell, stone, legal ivory and metal emerge as the palette of a re-invented medium. A sumptuous, full-color-throughout, coffee-table quality tome, this is the first book to document the breadth of his work and the techniques he has devised. Clean copy.
Hardcover. New York, Thames & Hudson, 1st, 2017, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, 199 pages. Hardcover with dust jacket. Very clean, like new in publishers shrinkwrap. A deep dive into the history of the illustrated book jacket, tracing its development across the twentieth century, reflecting some of the most iconic designs of the era.
Softcover. NY, Abrams, 1st, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 176 pages. A collection of some of the independent film genre's most provocative posters includes such examples as Eraserhead and Lost in Translation, in a volume that profiles more than 100 internationally recognized directors and traces the cultural significance of independent films.
Hardcover. NY, Da Capo Press, reprint, 1967, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright yellow price-clipped dust jacket. Frontis portrait, 174 plates. All of the best drawings from Beardsley's later period, including the illustrations for "The Yellow Book", "The Savoy" and "The Rape of the Lock". Reprinted from the second London edition of 1911. Previous owner's initials on front fly leaf, otherwise clean.
Hardcover. NY, George Braziller, 1st, 1966, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in slightly worn dust jacket, 230 pages illustrated with b&w photos. A series of articles by Francoise Choay, Herbert Read, Marcel Breuer, and others, on the role of man-made objects in 20th-Century society. Small owner's sticker on the front fly leaf, otherwise clean.
Softcover. London, The Curtain Press, 1946-48, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcovers, five stapled pamphlets. 1) Oscar Wilde and the Theatre, 23 pages. Contains eight pages of costume designs by Cecil Beaton four in color, along with other cartoons and drawings and a text by James Agate. 2) Notes on the Verse Drama by Christopher Hassall. 36 pages. With Wood Engravings By Joan Hassall. 3) The Masque of Christmas: Dramatic Joys of the Festival described by Laurence Whistler, 40 pages. 4) The Masque. a Theatre Notebook. the Old Vic. King Lear. Reviewed by Ivor Brown. No. 1 December 1946, 16 pages. 5) Designs for the Theatre by Rex Whistler (Part 1) with color and b&w illustrations, 20 pages. All very good, clean.
Hardcover. New York, Reynal & Hitchcock, 1st, 1938, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, 2 Hardcover volumes. Volume 1 - 655 pages. Black & white illustrations. Moderate fading to spine of red cloth covers. Light wear. Clean, tight copy. Volume 2 - 640 pages. Black & white illustrations. Moderate fading to spine of red cloth covers. Light wear. Clean, tight copy.