Betye Saar: Volume II of the David C. Driskell Series of African American Art

In the second volume of the David C. Driskell Series of African American Art, the autobiographical assemblages of Betye Saar are beautifully reproduced alongside the story of her dynamic career spanning more than 40 years.   Her peculiar combination of found objects and personal keepsakes meld the objective, political and impersonal with her own family history and racial heritage, infusing her unique constructions with profound emotional power.   Sixty-nine full color plates complimented by Carpenter’s straightforward exposition highlight Saar’s documentation of familial ties and faith as well as her challenges to racist and sexist stereotypes across cultural boundaries.

Check out the other stunning titles in this series we have in stock- Hughie Lee-Smith, Margo Humphrey, Archibald J. Motely, Jr. and Faith Ringgold.

Carpenter, Jane H. Betye Saar. Pomegranate, 2003. Cloth, dj, quarto, 116 pp, 69 full color plates. List price: $35.00.  Our in-store sale price: $11.95.

Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall

In Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall, one of the most unique writers of our time gives us his first sequence of short fiction. Kazuo Ishiguro, who pursued a musical career before dedicating himself to writing, combines the loosely connected five narratives like the movements of a symphony, organically intertwining characters, conversations and motifs from story to story.  Readers will quickly recognize Ishiguro’s signature bittersweet and witty style applied to the more ephemeral form of the short story, as he effectively synthesizes literature with its musical counterpart.  Though the stories are not as fully developed as his longer works, Nocturnes stands on its own as a beautiful and haunting exploration of music in the life’s decrescendos.

Ishiguro, Kazuo. Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall. Knopf, 2003. Cloth, dj, octavo, 221 pp. List price: $25.00. Our in-store sale price: $4.95.

A Consumers’ Republic

Besides the 4th of July, Thanksgiving and its retail counterpart Black Friday are two of the most uniquely “American” holidays. Does standing in lines and fighting the crowds on Black Friday make you a good American? In A Consumers’ Republic, Bancroft Prize-winning historian Lizabeth Cohen argues that during the second half of the twentieth century, good consumerism and good citizenship became inseparable ideals; a good citizen morphed into a good consumer. She describes the post-war landscape of mass consumption, highlighting its economic, racial and gender inequality with provocative historical accuracy and an eye to the future. Complemented by 64 photographs, this bold and pertinent analysis of the creation of the “citizen consumer” brings the buyer’s history into the present and proffers its contributions to the contemporary unrest of the aptly-named 99%.

Cohen, Lizbeth. A Consumers’ Republic. Vintage, 2003. paperback, octavo, 576 pp. List price: $16.95. Our in-store sale price: $5.95.

 

Shakespeare and Modern Culture

What do John Wilkes Booth, Paul Robeson and Megan Fox all have in common? Well, it turns out not much besides William Shakespeare. In her new book, Shakespeare and Modern Culture, world premier Shakespeare scholar Marjorie Garber doesn’t just imply that the sweet swan of Avon remains a heavy hitter in literature classes; she contends that Shakespeare and modern culture are inseparable. From George W Bush and Sex and the City to Sigmund Freud and the foundations of continental philosophy, Garber takes the reader on a lively jaunt through the bawdy bard’s colossal and complex legacy, highlighting the appropriations and misappropriations of character, verse and original thought from ten of his most celebrated plays. This book is not just for serious students of literature, but for anyone interested in the evolution of modern culture, for as Cole Porter said, “If she says your behavior is heinous / Kick her right in the Coriolanus / Brush up on your Shakespeare / And they’ll all kowtow.”

Garber, Marjorie. Shakespeare and Modern Culture. Pantheon, 2008. Cloth, dj, octavo, 326 pp. List price: $30.00. Our in-store sale price: $12.95.

Alan Lomax: The Man Who Recorded the World

No figure deserves greater credit for the preservation of America’s folk music traditions than archivist, anthropologist, singer, political activist, ethnomusicologist, filmmaker, talent scout, concert coordinator, record producer and folklorist Alan Lomax. Acclaimed biographer John Szwed has written a thorough and romantic survey of the man whose tenacity and research helped lay the foundation for the folk music revival of the ‘60’s and whose passion opened a portal through which a new kind of musicology began to transform America’s perception of itself. Alan Lomax: The Man Who Recorded the World follows Lomax’s journey from his father’s field recordings in rural America to his own ambitious series of recordings in Europe and the Caribbean, highlighting his acquaintance with such memorable artists as Woody Guthrie, Lead Belly, Pete Seeger, Jelly Roll Morton, Carl Sandburg, and Bob Dylan. Szwed’s dynamic and adoring account of Lomax’s life examines the revolutionary landscape of 20th century American culture through the eyes, ears and microphone of one of its most extraordinary characters.

Szwed, John. Alan Lomax: The Man Who Recorded the World. Viking Penguin, 2010. Cloth, dj, octavo, 438 pp. List price: $29.95. Our in store sale price: $5.95.

Eva Hesse: Sculpture

Though Eva Hesse’s career ended prematurely after 10 short years, her first and only solo exhibition Chain Polymers cemented her place in the American art world.  Eva Hesse: Sculpture highlights the artist’s exploration of Minimalism and her journey beyond its strict, sharp geometry to more organic, handmade forms.  The thirty-three stunning plates of her latex and fiberglass large-scale sculptures are complimented by a thorough chronology of her life, illustrated by the diaries of her childhood kept by her father.  The four essays place her work within the context of her own heartbreaking biography, the volatile art world of the 1960’s, and her legendary 1968 solo exhibition.  This wonderful photographic reproduction of her provocative and groundbreaking work is a must-have for post-war art aficionados and all art-lovers alike (especially for our price!).

If you really want to get deep into Eva Hesse, we have copies of the facsimile of her datebooks from 1964/65!

Sussman, Elisabeth and Fred Wasserman. Eva Hesse: Sculpture. Yale University Press, 2006. Cloth, dj, quarto, 175 pp., illustrated throughout in color. List price: $50.00. Our in store sale price: $6.95

A Thousand Miles up the Nile

Edwards, Amelia

Description:

1891. Cloth, glassine, 499 pp., illust. Gilt stamp spine and front board, gilt edges. Light shelf wear to cloth. Spine somewhat sunned. Bookplate on fpep; had been pasted over, with glued page now partially torn, exposing bookplate and glue. Hinges starting but quite sound. Overall in very good condition.

Bibliographic Details:

Publisher: George Routledge and Sons Book Condition: Used – Very Good

 

 

 

 To view or purchase this item, visit our listing at Abebooks.com: bk# S42026

Complete Poems and Prose of Walt Whitman, 1855 . 1888. Authenticated and personal book (handled by W.W.) . Portraits from Life . Autograph

Whitman, Walt

Description:

1888. Half polished calf over green cloth boards. Ex-library (withdrawn from the Bournemouth Reference Library), with gilt-stamped shelf-numbers on leather spine, gilt-stamped library emblem on front cover. Number 520 of an edition of 600. Autographed by Whitman on the ‘Leaves of Grass’ title page. Portrait at p. 296. Two plates, one at p. 28 showing a young Whitman, another at p. 370 showing him aged 70. Usual library labels on front endpapers; pocket removed from rear endpaper. More library stamps to verso of portrait title page, and on each illustration leaf. A little light scuffing on leather spine, but overall a very solid, square and sturdy copy, in an attractive binding not too badly marred by its institutional markings.

Bibliographic Details:

Publisher: Ferguson Bros. & Co.
Book Condition: Used – Very Good

Originally decried as obscene and first published with his own money, Whitman’s epic work of American poetry has touched many of us over the years–and he touched this copy! He touched it! With his hands!

To view or purchase this item, visit out listing at Abebooks.com: bk# S23615

American Primitive Music with Especial Attention to the Songs of the Ojibways.

Burton, Frederick R.

Description:

Moffat, Yard, and Company, 1909., 1909. Book Condition: Used – Very Good. 1909. Cloth, 284 pp plus 73 pages of scores. Front hinge separated; an old water stain in margins of approx 20 pages; overall, a very bright copy.

Bibliographic Details

Publisher: Moffat, Yard, and Company, 1909.

Publication Date: 1909

Binding: Hardcover

Book Condition: Used – Very Good

The New Industrialism (A Winter’s Work, Volume I). [Contains: Part I: Industrial Art by Prof. Oscar L. Trigs; Part II: The Future School by Wilbur S. Jackman; Part III: The Art and Craft of the Machine by Frank Lloyd Wright].

[Wright, Frank Lloyd] Daughters of the Revolution Library.

Description:

1902. Eighth cloth over paper covered boards, octavo, 167 pp. illustrated with plates. Gilt stamped paper covering front board; blue stamped spine; printed in black and red. Uncut in some portions. Some edge-aear to paper covering boards at corners; slight discoloration along top edge of boards. Ex-library with minimal markings (stamp on ffep, 2 small stamped on one of the plates. Overall, a very attractive copy. #238 of 500. Includes revised version of speech given by Frank Lloyd Wright to the Daughters of the Revolution in March 1901. Sweeney 50.

Bibliographic Details

Publisher: Chicago: National League of Industrial Art, 1902. Printed by R. R. Donnelley at the Lakeside Press.
Publication Date: 1902
Binding: Hardcover
Book Condition: Used – Very Good

To view or purchase this item, visit our listing at Abebooks.com: bk# S23382