culture

Hardcover. San Francisco, Fraenkel Gallery, 1st, 2014, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, 160 pages. Two volumes in slipcase. Very clean, like new in publishers shrink-wrap. The result of three years of work in California's Central Valley, Katy Grannan's new series The 99 features large-scale color portraits and black-and-white photographs. Grannan's recent photographs are set in the parched landscape and forgotten towns along Highway 99, including Modesto, Fresno and Bakersfield. In her intensely vivid color portraits, the artist works at midday when the sun is direct and the heat is unrelenting, presenting each individual, often simultaneously heroic and vulnerable, against stark, white backgrounds. In the black-and-white photographs, many of her subjects re-appear on Modesto's South 9th Street and along the banks of the Tuolumne River. Everyday rituals, small interactions and moments of beauty on the fringes of society are depicted in detail, conferring significance to what is often overlooked. This large-format, two-volume, slipcased monograph gathers this series for the first time.

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.

Hardcover. New York, Random House, 1st US, 1998, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, 638 pages. Hardcover. Illustrated with black & white photographs. Minor rubbing to surface of dust jacket. Clean, tight copy.

Hardcover. NY, Abrams, 1st, 1989, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 264 pages, profusely illustrated with vintage photos. A great trip through time to visit the Paris of the turn of the century and see the artists and writers of the time as they entered the life of this fascinating woman, Alice Prin, better known as Kiki of Montparnasse, model to all the great artists.

Hardcover. Fort Worth, TCU Press, Reprint, 1981, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Two hardcover volumes,. Volume 1 - 164 pages. Ceremonial Dance, Ritual and Song. Full color and black & white illustrations. Dust jacket in clear plastic protective cover. Clean, tight copy. Volume 2 - 323 pages. Myths, Legends and Folktales. Full color and black & white illustrations. Dust jacket in clear protective cover. Clean, tight copy.

Hardcover. London, Mitchell Beazley, 1st, 2003, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright, unclipped dust jacket.144 pages. Illustrated with color photos by Dave Young.

Hardcover. Seattle, Fantagraphics Books, 1st, 2024, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover in pictorial boards with a red cloth spine, color plates. Master cartoonist Charles Burns has never hidden his passion for comic books and pop culture from the 1950 and 1960s. Inspired by the romance, horror, and sci-fi comics of his youth, as well as the 1960s American underground, the author of Black Hole has created a collection of 80 original comic book covers that, through his own inimitable aesthetic, present an alternate universe of stories that never were, but that you will wish existed. The covers - some with otherworldly titles in alien letterforms, and others that riff on classic genres (Throbbing Hearts, Unwholesome Love) and eras (Drug Buddy, Huss) - each inspire a multitude of interpretations, build entire worlds, and suggest entire narratives that lie within their non-existent guts. This is Burns at his most playful, imaginative, and suggestive, using the format of the comic book to continue to explore many of the themes that run through all his longer-form work. Clean copy

Hardcover. Paris, Editions Charles Massin & Cie, 1st French, 1953, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, 176 pages. Illustrated with primarily black & white photographs. Darkening to endpapers. Black calf leather with raised bands on spine. Title in gilt on spine. Clean, tight copy. 16 color plates out of 131 total illustrations. Includes bw map. Text in French, translated from the original German by Maurice Muller-Strauss. The art of the central-latitude countries of the African continent. Includes (as named at the time of publication) Angola, Cameroun, Belgian Congo, Lower Congo, Ivory Coast, Gold Coast, Dahomey, Gabon, French Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, Rhodesia, Sierra Leone, French Sudan, Togo, and Tanganyika. Map at back shows/lists these countries/territories, regional rivers, and local tribes.

Hardcover. Germany, Daab, 1st, 2012, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, 320 pages. Hardcover no dust jacket. Like new in publisher's shrink-wrap.. The Label Book of Clothing Culture presents over 40 TOP labels within the fashion business which are among the very best in the world. Great names such as Barbour and Brioni stand next to numerous 'Hidden Champions' of clothing culture. But this extraordinary coffee-table book is about much more than mere fashion, it also presents craftsmanship and history, style and quality; it highlights those companies that have committed themselves to this tradition with heart and soul. The editor and enthusiastic art collector, Dr. Dr. Thomas Rusche, knows what he is talking about, since it is he that coined the term 'clothing culture.' He shares his knowledge of the true champions of the business and provides interesting background information about the companies presented here.

Hardcover. New York, M.E. Sharpe, 1st, 1979, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, 410 pages. Hardcover. White cloth covers with brown lettering. INSCRIBED by co-author Chang on front fly leaf. Clean, tight copy.

Softcover. New York, Princeton Architectural Press, 1st, 2006, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, 192 pages. Softcover. A very clean, unmarked copy with only minor wear to edges. Black and white portraits of citizens of Indiana, taken over 4 decades.

Hardcover. Victor, Pollux Press, 1st, 1983, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, 160 pages. Hardcover. SIGNED BY BOTH AUTHORS beneath hand numbered #338 of a limited edition of 500. Illustrated with black & white photographs. Clean, tight copy.

Hardcover. London, England, Oxford at the Clarendon Press, 2nd Edition, 1955, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, 479 pages plus maps and fold-out family tree/timeline. Hardcover. Paste down presentation label on front flyleaf. Previous owner's signature on front flyleaf. Blue cloth cover boards, gilt title on spine (slightly faded). A touch of tanning to pages. In very good condition.

Hardcover. Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Press, 1st, 1977, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Good, Hardcover ina worn, rubbed dust jacket. 340 pages. Essays exploring the impact of Church law on medieval legal theory. Clean copy.

Hardcover. Paris, Editions Albert Morance, 1st, 1953, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Fair, 320 pages. Hardcover. Text in French. Illustrated with black & white photographs and drawings of decorative cast iron. Previous owners name and date written on front interior hinge flap. Dust jacket worn with tape repair, chipping along edges - jacket now protected with clear plastic cover. Clean, tight copy.

Hardcover. NY, Powerhouse Books, 1st, 2012, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, 240 pages, color illustrations. The history of American comics through the stories of comics' most important and influential creators -- tracing the medium's journey all the way from its beginnings as junk culture for kids to its current status as legitimate literature and pop culture. Featuring artists such as Jerry Siegel, Will Eisner, Jerry Robinson, Al Jaffee, Neal Adams, Peter Kuper, Stan Lee and many more.

Softcover. Rochester, Memorial Art Gallery University of Rochester, 1st, 2003, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, 112 pages. Softcover. Full color and black & white illustrations. Clean, tight copy.

Hardcover. New York, Phaidon Press, 1st, 2005-07-06, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Like new in publishers shrink-wrap. Hardcover. Portraits of life in Benin from the 1960's and 70's. A collection of never-before-seen photographs made in West Africa whose discovery opens a new chapter in the history of African and world photography. 136 pages.

Hardcover. New York, Phaidon Press, 1st, 2005-07-06, Book: Near Fine, Dust Jacket: Near Fine, Like new in publishers shrink-wrap. Hardcover. Portraits of life in Benin from the 1960's and 70's. A collection of never-before-seen photographs made in West Africa whose discovery opens a new chapter in the history of African and world photography. 136 pages.

Hardcover. New York, Frederick A. Stokes Company, 1st, 1899, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, 2 Hardcover Volumes. Covers are 3/4 leather with marbled sections. Spine with raised bands, title and decoration in gilt. Marbled endpapers. This set Previously owned by Charles B. Woodcock Savage who achieved notoriety as the lover of King Karl of Wurttemberg and features his signature at the top of preliminary page in each volume. Gift inscription to Savage from Nellie on front endpapers of both volumes. Top edges gilt. Features 316 black & white illustrations. Volume 1 - Light wear. Clean, tight. Volume 2 - front cover hinge cracked, with loosening to spine strip up to 1" from top - hinge tender. Light wear otherwise. Overall, very good.

Hardcover. New York, Edita Lausanne/Universe Books, 1st U.S.A. Edition, 1973, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, 345 pages. Hardcover in cardboard slipcase. Color and b/w illustrations throughout. Binding tight, spine straight. Pages and edges clean. Dust jacket price clipped, excellent otherwise, no rips or tears, glossy. Leather bound cover boards, gilt title and decoration on spine and front cover board. Thanks to slipcase in beautiful condition. A passport to our common heritage, which will illuminate and reveal the colorful pageantry of existence in medieval time. A book that links today with the past.

Hardcover. New York, DIA/Merrell, 1st, 2007, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, 216 pages. Illustrated in full color. A bright, clean copy.

Hardcover. London, George Allen & Unwin Ltd., 2nd pr., 1947, Book: Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover in light tan cloth with red lettering to the spine, 361 pages. Although the life of London runs like a thread through the whole fabric of this book, it is not essentially a book about London. Life in Bloomsbury is but the center of a large circle, the point around which the rest of the book revolves, the origin of a disarming commentary on an infinite variety of topics - on Bloomsbury's squares, on the picturesqueness of London a generation ago, on what is true Cockney, on the differences of English and American humor, on the decay of English wit, on books and authors and publishers and the Press, on the literary lions of the past, on the religion of speed, on the charm of Americans, on how the Victorian age was neither so repressed nor so hidebound as most people today like to believe - and so on, one thing leading to another, like good conversation at a good luncheon overlooking the mellow squares of Bloomsbury. The book is full, too, of good stories and reminiscences, both humorous and pathetic, but there is shrewd comment besides on the deficiencies of contemporary society, not the less effective because the author knows how to soften the blow. Mild soil, sunning to covers, clean copy.

Hardcover. Berkeley, CA, University of California Press, 1st Edition, 1975, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, 424 pages. Hardcover. B/w illustrations throughout. Blue cloth cover boards, gilt title on black on spine. Light tanning to pages. Spine straight. Binding tight. Takes its place in the eight-volume History of London series, but it is a self-contained enquiry into the place of ninth- to twelfth-century London in the history of the City and of the urban renaissance.