culture

Hardcover. NY, Harper, 1st, 2020, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 672 pages. 16 pages of photos. What Becomes a Legend Most is the first definitive biography of this luminary--an intensely driven man who endured personal and professional prejudice, struggled with deep insecurities, and mounted an existential lifelong battle to be recognized as an artist. Philip Gefter builds on archival research and exclusive interviews with those closest to Avedon to chronicle his story, beginning with Avedon's coming-of-age in New York between the world wars, when cultural prejudices forced him to make decisions that shaped the course of his life. Compounding his private battles, Avedon fought to be taken seriously in a medium that itself struggled to be respected within the art world. Gefter reveals how the 1950s and 1960s informed Avedon's life and work as much as he informed the period. He counted as close friends a profoundly influential group of artists--Leonard Bernstein, Truman Capote, James Baldwin, Harold Brodkey, Renata Adler, Sidney Lumet, and Mike Nichols--who shaped the cultural life of the American twentieth century. It wasn't until Avedon's fashion work was exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in the late 1970s that he became a household name. Balancing glamour with the gravitas of an artist's genuine reach for worldy achievement--and not a little gossip--plus sixteen pages of photographs, What Becomes a Legend Most is an intimate window into Avedon's fascinating world. Dramatic, visionary, and remarkable, it pays tribute to Avedon's role in the history of photography and fashion--and his legacy as one of the most consequential artists of his time.

Hardcover. Cambridge UK, Cambridge University Press, 1st, 1986, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, green cloth with black and gilt stamping, 291 pages. Gift exchange plays a crucial role in the social and political organization of Mendi in Papua New Guinea. This book reveals how considerable light can be shed on Mendi society, particularly on its political economy, by examining both the well-known ceremonial exchange festivals and the hitherto relatively little-studied everyday gift-giving practices. The author shows that the latter are crucial for understanding inter-group politics, the process of leadership, male-female relationships and the status of women, and the production, distribution and circulation of wealth. Currently the only book available on this society, the work offers an unusual combination of a social structural analysis with a study of local history and change. It is also of interest for its integration of the study of gift exchange and politics with the study of gender roles and relationships. Clean, bright copy.

Softcover. Charlotte VT, Garden Way Publishing, 1st, 1981, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 138 pages, b&w cartoons by Jeff Danzinger. An early volume by the Pulitzer Prize winning author. Stated first printing. Clean, bright copy.

Hardcover. New York, Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 1st, 1976, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover. Non-paginated. Illustrated with full color photographs of group portraits. Dust jacket with a few small chips along edges - dust jacket now protected with clear plastic cover. Clean, tight copy.

Hardcover. New York, Glitterati, 1st, 2014, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover. Like new in publisher's shrink-wrap. The book is the first to document the American punk scene to the public at large and now represents the epitome of the scene at the timeFeatures photographs of artistic and performance luminaries such as Man Ray, Tennessee Williams, Mick Jagger, Patti Smith, Richard Hell, Alice Cooper, Iggy Pop, David Bowie, Zandra Rhodes, Divine, Lance Loud, and Marilyn Chambers, among others.

Hardcover. New York, Glitterati, 1st, 2014, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover. Like new in publisher's shrink-wrap. The book is the first to document the American punk scene to the public at large and now represents the epitome of the scene at the timeFeatures photographs of artistic and performance luminaries such as Man Ray, Tennessee Williams, Mick Jagger, Patti Smith, Richard Hell, Alice Cooper, Iggy Pop, David Bowie, Zandra Rhodes, Divine, Lance Loud, and Marilyn Chambers, among others.

Hardcover. Jackson MS, University Press of Mississippi, 1st, 2014, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, 240 pages. Like new in publisher's shrink-wrap. Cartoonist Winsor McCay (1869-1934) is rightfully celebrated for the skillful draftmanship and inventive design sense he displayed in the comic strips Little Nemo in Slumberland and Dream of the Rarebit Fiend. McCay crafted narratives of anticipation, abundance, and unfulfilled longing. This book explores McCay's interest in dream imagery in relation to the larger preoccupation with fantasy that dominated the popular culture of early twentieth-century urban America.McCay's role as a pioneer of early comics has been documented; yet, no existing study approaches him and his work from an art historical perspective, giving close readings of individual artworks while situating his output within the larger visual culture and the rise of modernism. From circus posters and vaudeville skits to department store window displays and amusement park rides, McCay found fantastical inspiration in New York City's burgeoning entertainment and retail districts. Wide Awake in Slumberland connects McCay's work to relevant children's literature, advertising, architecture, and motion pictures in order to demonstrate the artist's sophisticated blending and remixing of multiple forms from mass culture. Studying this interconnection in McCay's work and, by extension, the work of other early twentieth-century cartoonists, Roeder traces the web of relationships connecting fantasy, leisure, and consumption. Readings of McCay's drawings and the eighty-one black and white and color illustrations reveal a man who was both a ready participant and an incisive critic of the rising culture of fantasy and consumerism.

Softcover. Seattle, WA, Fantagraphics Books, 1st paperback, 1994, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, 129 pages. Softcover. B/w illustrations throughout. Wrapper very good. Binding tight. Pages clean and unmarked. A touch of soil (shelfwear) to edges.

Hardcover. Boston, Ticknor and Fields, 1st, 1860, Book: Good, Dust Jacket: None, 283 pages. Hardcover. Stated Author's Edition. Brick colored end papers scarred & chipped. Small discard stamp on title-page - ex-library with few markings. Short tear to page 7 of preface. Original embossed brown cloth, gilt lettering on spine faded. Uncommon book detailing the hunting of Indian animals, including man-eaters, panthers, bears, buffalo and wild elephants.

Hardcover. New York, Fowler and Wells, reprint, 1852, Book: Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, 237 pages. Black cloth, gilt, embossed design. Minor wear to spine edge. Shelf wear. Pages are foxed and tanned throughout. Copyright page states 1849 so assumed reprint. (...A Complete and Authentic History of the Manners and Customs, Character and Condition of the Female Sex, in Civilized and Savage Countries, from the Earliest Ages to the Present Time)

Softcover. South Royalton VT, Steerforth Press, reprint, 2001, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 187 pages plus b&w photos. With haunting photographs and piercing descriptions, Women of the Shadows depicts the secluded women of southern Italy and their passionate, painful, heartrending existence. Cornelisen, who lived among these women in the mountainous villages of Lucania after World War II, reveals their struggles during a time when most of their men had to leave for factories in the industrial north. The women remained behind to work the fields. There's Peppina, Ninetta, Teresa, Maria, Pinuccia, and Cettina, all women who "have done things of which they are not proud; they know it in their hearts, as one woman said, that nothing is private, they would also agree with her conclusion: That doesn't mean you get used to it." With an extraordinary understanding of the interior lives of these and other women, Cornelisen brings them out of the shadows to tell their heroic stories in a book which truly merits the label "classic." A new introduction by the author suggests that the more things change, the more, in essence, they remain the same. Wrappers sunned, otherwise tight and clean.

Softcover. Durham NC, Duke University Press, 1st, 1998, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Softcover, 494 pages. Women's Camera Work explores how photographs have been and are used to construct versions of history and examines how photographic representations of otherness often tell stories about the self. In the process, Judith Fryer Davidov focuses on the lives and work of a particular network of artists linked by time, interaction, influence, and friendship--one that included Gertrude Kasebier, Imogen Cunningham, Dorothea Lange, and Laura Gilpin. Clean copy.

Softcover. Los Angeles, Deborah Caplan & Associates, 1st, 1985, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Non-paginated. Softcover. Black and white comics by Matt Groening. True first edition - stated first printing December 1985 0n copyright page. Measures 12" X 12". Bright, clean copy.

Hardcover. New York, Viking Press, 1st, 1967, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Good, 368 pages. Hardcover. Features: Louis-Ferdinand Celine, Norman Mailer, William S. Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg, Jean Cocteau, Harold Pinter, and more. Price clipped dust jacket with short closed tears along edges - jacket now protected with clear plastic cover. Clean, tight copy.

Hardcover. Lewiston NY, Edwin Mellen Press, 1st, 1998, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, Hardcover, red cloth with b&w decoration to front cover, 295 pages. INSCRIBED BY AUTHOR on front fly leaf, possibly to the publisher Edwin Mellen. (the name has been corrected and is difficult to read.)

Hardcover. US, Tuttle Publishing, 1st, 2003-04-15, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 178 pages, illustrated throughout in color and b&w. Three scratches to fore-edge. Light shelf-wear to dust jacket. Previous owner's stamp on front end paper. Clean, tight copy.

Hardcover. NY, Da Capo, 2021, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover in a bright dust jacket, 512 pages. Over the course of her career, Nico was an ever-evolving myth: art film house actress, highly coveted fashion model, Dietrich of Punk, Femme Fatale, Chelsea Girl, Garbo of Goth, The Last Bohemian, Heroin Junkie. Lester Bangs described her as 'a true enigma.' At age 27, Nico became Andy Warhol's newest Superstar, featuring in his one commercial break out hit film Chelsea Girls and garnering the position of chanteuse for the Velvet Underground. It wasn't Nico's musical chops which got her the gig; it was her striking beauty. Her seeming otherworldly and unattainable presence was further amplified by her reputation for dating rock stars (Brian Jones, Bob Dylan, Jim Morrison, among others). She became famous for being Nico.

Hardcover. Santa Fe, Center for American Places, 1st, 2004, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, Hardcover, 108 pages. Full color photographs by Mike Smith. Clean, bright copy.

Hardcover. Chicago, Art Media Resources, Inc., 1st, 2008, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: Very Good, 224 pages. Hardcover in a bright dust jacket. Illustrated with full color photographs. Bright, clean copy.

Softcover. Cambridge University Press, 1st paperback, 1996, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, 421 pages. Softcover. Wrapper very good, no rips or tears. B/w illustrations. Pages and edges have a touch of tanning from age, otherwise clean and unmarked. Binding tight. In very good shape. The first book to examine the bloody demise of the former Yugoslavia in the full light of its history and that of its ethnic mosaic.

Softcover. Seattle, WA, Fantagraphics Books, 1st, 2001, Book: Good, Dust Jacket: None, 144 pages. Softcover with black/white and some color comic strips throughout. Wet soiling residue on bottom of first half of pages, and on bottom page block, otherwise minimal wear on paper wrappers.

Softcover. Seattle, WA, Fantagraphics Books, 1st, 2002, Book: Very Good, Dust Jacket: None, 124 pages. Softcover with black/white and some color comic strips throughout. Clean, tight copy with only light edgewear to paper wrappers.