Abbeville Press – serie

The essential guide for the collector of mechanical wristwatches, with complete information on over 1,400 models from 130 international brands.Wristwatch Annual provides an expertly curated overview of the global watch industry, from Swiss mainstays like Rolex and Patek Philippe to the independent producers emerging across the U.S., Europe, and Asia. The book is arranged alphabetically by brand, and the movement, functions, case, band, price, and variations of each pictured watch are fully described.Designed with the collector in mind, Wristwatch Annual features an easy-to-browse layout, as well as QR codes that provide an instant connection to each brand. And, as always, it includes exclusive articles on the most important trends in watchmaking—plus an illustrated glossary and a guide to watch care. Trusted by watch enthusiasts for more than 25 years, Wristwatch Annual remains a unique resource and a true pleasure to browse.

“Fascinating and lucid . . . a stunningly illustrated and illuminating life of a singular painter.” — Sue Roe, Wall Street Journal“Not just another art history book, no title in recent memory recalls with such exactitude the style of an era that, in retrospect, has become increasingly golden. . . . The book and its prose shimmer.” — New York Times“Never before have Sargent’s talents been so gloriously displayed as they are here. Quite simply, this Abbeville edition is a stunner, a book as satisfyingly extravagant as a Sargent portrait.” — Christian Science Monitor“The spontaneity, elegance, and grace that characterize Sargent’s work are everywhere evident on these large, luminous pages. . . . A visual delight, well written.” — Art and AntiquesThe classic monograph on a much-loved artist—reissued in a spectacular oversize formatIn the early work of John Singer Sargent (1856–1925), Henry James saw “the slightly ‘uncanny’ spectacle of a talent which on the threshold of its career has nothing more to learn.” Sargent’s talent, nay, genius was indeed uncanny, sustained with equal intensity through his famed society portraits, like the scandalous Madame X; his full-size showpieces, like The Daughters of Edward Darley Boit; his thousands of watercolours executed en plein air from Venice to Corfu to Maine to Montana; and his ambitious mural decorations for the public monuments of Boston. In Carter Ratcliff, Sargent has found a biographer and critic nearly his match in style and subtlety. Ratcliff expertly evokes the expatriate American milieu into which the artist was born, and offers penetrating insights into every phase of his career, every aspect of his work. Now, for the first time, this landmark monograph is offered in a special oversize format, with all of its 310 illustrations reproduced in stunning full colour, many at full-page size, allowing the reader to appreciate the master’s every brushstroke. This new edition of John Singer Sargent will be a treasured reference for artists and an unalloyed delight for art lovers.

Savour the changing seasons with this beautifully illustrated collection of classic haiku.Perhaps no poetic form evokes nature so effectively as the haiku. Made up of just 17 syllables, it conveys an impression with almost the same immediacy as our own senses—it can be as ephemeral as a breath and as powerful as lightning.This delightful volume presents some 140 haiku by masters of every period—including Basho, Buson, Issa, and Shiki—arranged according to the kigo (or word linked to a particular season) that each haiku traditionally contains. Each poem is presented three ways, for the fullest possible enjoyment: in its original Japanese characters, in Japanese transliterated to Latin characters, and in an English translation. Original artwork by the contemporary Japanese illustrator Kaori Yamaguchi adorns this contemplative journey from the first buds of spring to the falling snow of winter.Bound in the traditional Japanese style and housed in a handsome slipcase, Haiku: Japanese Poems for the Four Seasons will be the perfect gift for anyone who loves poetry, Japanese culture, or the natural world.Text in English and Japanese.

Tea, in all its varieties, offers just as much subtlety and complexity as fine wine, and in many countries around the globe, the tea service is one of the highest expressions of culture. Tea Sommelier will provide the knowledge and practical tips you need to feel at home in the world of tea, in 160 easy lessons. No matter how much time you have - ten minutes or an hour - this book will always teach you something new and interesting about tea. Topics include the varieties of tea and where they are grown, how to select and prepare tea, how to taste and serve it, how to pair tea with food, and how to cook with tea. Stylish illustrations on every page add extra enjoyment to the process of becoming a true tea sommelier.

Antonio Gaudí (1852-1926) is one of the most admired architects of the 20th century. Even today, some 75 years after Gaudí's death, his fanciful, exuberant buildings define Barcelona's cityscape and continue to influence architects, sculptors, and designers. Perhaps best known for the dynamic, sculptural facades, found on such buildings as the church of the Sagrada Familia and Casa Milà, Gaudí is as much respected as a technological innovator as a daring stylist.In this enlightening volume, a concise, knowledgeable text by the director of the Royal Gaudí Chair at the Polytechnical University of Catalonia (Barcelona) combines with striking images by a well-known architectural photographer to provide a new perspective on Gaudí's remarkable career. The text covers the full range of his oeuvre, describing early assignments in the 1870s as a draftsman for leading architects in Barcelona, the innovative buildings he created for the Güell Palace and Estate, daring new structural solutions at Bellesguard, architecture inspired by nature at the Casa Calvet and in the Park Güell, and the construction of his unfinished masterpiece, the Church of the Sagrada Familia, which occupied him until his death. The author traces all the influences that led to his definitive style, from his fascination with the Orient and neogothicism to his affinity for naturalism and specific geometric forms.Brilliantly illustrated, this incisive overview of Gaudí's visionary work is ideal for those who delight in his architecture as well as those who look forward to travelling to Spain to see his monumental legacy.

In this refreshing new study, Wright scholar Kathryn Smith does just that, exploring the grace and beauty found in all facets of Frank Lloyd Wright's work: from office desks and chairs to his first residential commissions, from magazine cover designs to major public buildings. The concise text and brilliant colour photographs chart Wright's entire career, beginning with his apprenticeship to Adler and Sullivan before the turn of the century. Readers witness the Prairie period, Wright's years in Japan and California, his major designs of the late 1920s and 1930s, his Usonian houses, and the monumental late works of his last decades. Smith shows examples of Wright's drawings, furniture, and decorative arts, too, supplementing our understanding of Wright's aesthetic. The book concludes with a glimpse at the architect's seldom-seen collection of Asian art, which once comprised tens of thousands of pieces - a source of much inspiration and edification for the architect and his students, and a key to understanding Wright's views on art and nature.Here is a broad portrait of the master builder who sought the title "greatest architect of all time." Although it may never be possible to fully assess Wright's legacy, Kathryn Smith's authoritative book is a fitting testament to his lasting genius.

With unprecedented access to personal letters, private family diaries, and the Frick archives at the Frick Collection in New York City and at family residences in Pittsburgh, Martha Frick Symington Sanger has written a unique and penetrating account of the life and times of Henry Clay Frick and his family. In addition, the author explains in this meticulously researched book the reason why Frick and his daughter Helen selected the paintings, sculpture, and other items that are included in the collection. Since 1935 the magnificent art treasures of the Frick Collections have been open to the public in the New York City mansion that the family occupied. This book will enrich any visitor's experience of the Frick Collection in a way that had not been possible in previous books. The intriguing topics covered here include Frick's complex relationship with Andrew Carnegie and with other well-known business magnates; his harsh personal life darkened by the deaths of a younger daughter and infant son; and a sensitive portrayal of his daughter Helen, who was a Frick Collection trustee and chairman of the Art Acquisitions Committee after her father's death. Illustrating this book are 370 pictures ranging from paintings and sculpture in the Frick Collection to family portraits and historical images. This biography of a key figure in the development of American industry will appeal to both art history lovers and to historians, offering a singular and compelling reading and visual experience.

The first volume in Allen Hoffman's critically acclaimed series, Small Worlds takes place in 1903 and introduces the wondrous rebbe of Krimsk—a small Hasidic settlement in Eastern Europe. Secluded in his study for the past five years, the beloved rebbe suddenly emerges on the eve of Tisha B'Av, the holiday for commemorating the destruction of the holy temple in Jerusalem. His congregants are overjoyed to see him, but their joy is to be short-lived, for this holiday at the dawn of the twentieth century will be marked by strange and momentous events that will change their lives forever.Small Worlds is the first in a series of novels concerning the people of Krimsk and their descendants in America, Poland, Russia, and Israel. In each volume Allen Hoffman draws on his deep knowledge of Jewish religion and history to evoke the "small worlds" his characters inhabit.Echoes of Jewish literary tradition can be heard in Small Worlds, especially the mystical realism of Isaac Bashevis Singer and the poignant humor of Sholom Aleichem, on whose tales Fiddler on the Roof is based.

It is Rosh Hashanah — the Jewish New Year and Day of Judgment — in Moscow during the Stalinist purges of 1936. In the Lubyanka secret police prison, senior investigator Grisha Shwartzman masterfully pursues the rigorous logic and obsessive legalism of the Soviet witch-hunt. Facing an extraordinary prisoner, Grisha realizes that the Soviet system he has faithfully served is murderously corrupt and that he himself will be the next victim — but not an innocent one. In despair, he flees to his home, where his deranged wife and an unexpected Rosh Hashanah letter from his father-in-law, the enigmatic Krimsker Rebbe in America, await him. The Day of Judgment proves to be a startling experience as Grisha, the once idealistic radical, judges himself, accepts his responsibilities, and is guided to sublime passion and possible redemption by his mad wife, who for twenty years has been patiently awaiting him in a closed wardrobe.In 1942 a train of imprisoned Jews leaves the Warsaw ghetto for "resettlement in the East." It is Yom Kippur — the Day of Atonement and the holiest day of the Jewish year. In a crowded cattle car stands a lonely, defeated individual who is ashamed that he cannot even remember his own name. During the tortuous journey Yechiel Katzman will overhear a talmudic debate and meet a dull-witted giant who turns out to be none other than Itzik Dribble, also from Krimsk. As they arrive in the death camp of Treblinka, Yechiel remembers not only his name but also the Krimsker Rebbe's prophetic curse that exiled him from Krimsk forty years earlier. Yet as death approaches, that curse will prove a blessing.Stalin and Hitler decree certain death, but Grisha and Yechiel discover Jewish fates. The devil incites loneliness, degradation, despair, and even complicity; through memory, the victims elicit community, dignity, and the awareness of sanctity. Grisha's "Soviet" Rosh Hashanah and Yechiel's "Nazi" Yom Kippur are truly "Days of Awe." Even when death is certain, life can be lived.

This captivating collection of stories by Allen Hoffman, award winning author of the critically acclaimed Small Worlds series are deeply felt explorations into the Jewish mind and world—stories in the tradition of Isaac Bashevis Singer. At the same time, illuminated by compassion and humour, they transcend cultural boundaries and provide fascinating studies in the universal human experience. Kagan the compulsive gambler, Bluma the old beggar woman, Hymie the well-to-do arsonist, and Maxie the juggling uncle are but a few of the comic and sympathetic characters of Hoffman's title novella and four short stories that celebrate the human experience. Hoffman loves and integrates two worlds, the modern secular and the timeless traditional. Kagan's Superfecta is a dazzling, inspirational performance.

Run, run, as fast as you can! You can't catch me - I'm the Gingerbread Man! is the infectious refrain that this legendary character taunts at his hungry pursuers through this classic, playful romp. In the end it is the sly fox who knows a better way to get a bite of this runaway afternoon snack.

The 72 images of the World Trade Center presented in this book depict a New York we once knew, one we are now working to rebuild. For more than two decades, practically since the Twin Towers were erected, Sonja Bullaty and Angelo Lomeo have been photographing these awesome buildings. The pictures featured here portray the WTC from all directions, starting with views from the east at dawn, and ending with evening views from the west. There are captivating panoramas from Brooklyn, Lower Manhattan, New Jersey, and uptown, taken in all seasons, as well as a section showing the grand Plaza at the centre of the buildings. Together, they create an unforgettable portrait of the Twin Towers.Introducing this extraordinary collection of photographs, Paul Goldberger's text evokes the Towers and the city they came to symbolize. He recalls how they evolved in the public mind, targets of criticism to beloved American icons. He explains their architectural significance and explores their visceral meaning to New Yorkers. In contrast to books depicting the disaster and the days following it, this photographic memoir will be welcomed by all of us - New Yorkers and visitors alike - who yearn to remember the way the city was.A portion of the book's proceeds are donated to the Twin Towers Scholarship Program care of Scholarship America.

Written Chinese can call upon about 40,000 characters, many of which originated some 6,000 years ago as little pictures of everyday objects used by the ancients to communicate with one another. To convey more abstract ideas or concepts, the Chinese stylised and combined their pictographs. For instance, the character for'man" - a straight back above two strong legs - becomes, with the addition of a head and shoulders and arms held sternly akimbo, the character for "official".This book, modelled after a classic compilation of the Chinese language done in the 18th century, introduces readers to the 214 root pictographs or symbols upon which this writing system, whose rich complexities hold a wealth of cultural meaning, is based. These key characters, called radicals, are all delightfully presented in this volume, with their graphic development traced stage-by-stage to the present representation, where even now (in many of them) one can easily make out what was originally pictured-with the author's guidance. Centuries ago, when the Japanese took up writing, they also adopted these symbols, though they gave them different names in their own spoken language.Each of the 214 classic radicals is charmingly explored by the author, both for its etymology and for what it reveals about Chinese history and culture. Chinese characters are marvels of graphic design, and this book even shows the proper way to write each radical, stroke by stroke. Finally, there are also samples of each radical combined with other radicals and character elements to demonstrate how new characters are formed-some 8,000 have been added to the language since the 18th century. With all its expertly executed calligraphic illustrations and fascinating commentary, this book serves as an excellent introduction to Chinese writing and its milieu.

A dedicated collector and advocate of contemporary art since the late 1940s, Giuseppe Panza has played a fundamental role in the artistic culture of his time, introducing American phenomena such as Abstract Expressionism, Minimalism, Pop Art, Environmental Art, and Conceptualism to the museums of Europe. Now, in a brilliant response to everyone's primary question about Modern Art - 'What does it mean?' Panza shares philosophical insights and personal reflections that bridge a half-century of discovering new artists and movements.Panza was among the first to buy the works of Rothko, Kline, Lichtenstein, and many of the other major figures of post-WWII art, watching as their works skyrocketed in monetary value as well as historic importance. He pursued collecting with undiminished enthusiasm through the 1980s and 1990s, all the while searching for the best venues in which to display his latest acquisitions. Sections of his private collection were exhibited by and acquired into major collections, particularly the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles and the Guggenheim in New York. Among his signature innovations was the juxtaposition of contemporary art with historic settings - Baroque palaces, ancient European public buildings, his own eighteenth-century villa - in order to create unexpected and stimulating dialogues between the architectural context and the work of art.Complete with 110 full-colour illustrations, spanning decades of transformation in art and world culture, Giuseppe Panza: Memories of a Collector provides a unique glimpse into the movements and trends that have defined modern art. It is also the fascinating life story of a man who helped define the trends themselves, through passion, insight, and prophetic taste.

For four decades film historian Ira M. Resnick has been amassing a superb collection of 2,000 vintage movie posters and 1,500 stills, which has never before been published. Starstruck: Vintage Movie Posters from Classic Hollywood features the best of Resnick’s collection, with vivid reproductions of 250 posters and forty stills from the golden age of Hollywood, 1912 to 1962. In a moving introduction, Resnick relates how his love of vintage movie art translated into a career as a collector and the founder of the Motion Picture Arts Gallery, the first gallery devoted exclusively to the art of the movies. Resnick’s first-hand account offers entertaining anecdotes about how he managed to acquire such stellar film artwork, as well as historical information about the stars and films shown on the pieces he collected.Guiding the reader through the best posters and stills of his collection, Resnick provides a tour of cinematic history, starting in the silent film era and continuing up to Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961). By showcasing several posters for each performer—such as Lillian Gish, the Marx Brothers, Marilyn Monroe, John Barrymore, and Audrey Hepburn—Resnick offers a unique method of charting the evolution of each movie star’s career. Organising his account both chronologically and thematically, in later chapters Resnick discusses some of Hollywood’s legendary directors and films, and critiques fantastic graphic art from little-known films. Bonus material includes a list of Resnick’s fifty favourite one-sheets, helpful tips for the collector, and a glossary of terms and poster sizes.A must-have book for every collector and film buff, Starstruck offers a beautifully illustrated, personal tour of a bygone age of the motion picture advertising industry.

In the great tradition of Darwin's Voyage of the Beagle, this book is a first-person narrative of daunting travel and scientific discovery in the little-known country of Myanmar. Dr. Kress explored many areas in this enigmatic country, surveying its teak forests, bamboo thickets, timber plantations, rivers, and mangroves to document its incredible botanical diversity. Myanmar is one of the great biodiversity hot spots in Asia, but because of its social isolation and reputation for political repression it has been closed to - or avoided by - many scientists. Nevertheless, Dr. Kress was determined to search for and record plants that had not been studied since they were first discovered by Western botanists over a century ago. Among the rarities he came upon was a new species of plant called the weeping goldsmith, a ginger flower whose Burmese name was derived from the legend that the local goldsmiths were reduced to tears because none of their own creations could rival its exquisiteness. Dr. Kress also relates how he came to appreciate the people and culture of Myanmar through an understanding of their flora, natural habitats, and human-dominated environments. Included are fascinating excerpts from his field journals that serve as counterpoints to the accounts of earlier plant explorers. Illustrating the text are some 200 of Dr. Kress's own colour photographs of the incredible plants, people, landscapes, and temples he witnessed in his travels as well as 30 archival images of Burma taken by past explorers. The back matter features an illustrated portfolio of representative native plants. This lively armchair exploration should appeal to a general readership as well as to botanists, conservationists, and environmentalists.

Dramatic biographies of 50 famous generals and admirals of the Union and Confederacy, with full-colour portraits. Exciting illustrations of nearly seventy important battles, including the complete series of Kurz and Allison prints. Informative chronology of significant events illustrated with authentic documents. Accurate full-page maps show the location of every momentous battle of the Civil War. Official uniforms with rank and grade insignia and buttons. Authentic drawings of all the major weaponry, including muskets, rifles, revolvers, swords, and artillery.And more!

Norman Rockwell gave us a picture of America that was familiar - astonishingly so - and at the same time unique, because only he could bring it to life with such authority.Rockwell best expressed this vision of America in his justly famous cover illustrations for the Saturday Evening Post, painted between 1916 and 1963. All of his Post covers are reproduced in splendid full colour in this oversized volume, with commentaries by Christopher Finch, the noted writer on art and popular culture.

An indispensable guide for art-world neophytes and seasoned professionals alike, the best-selling ArtSpeak returns in a revised and expanded third edition, illustrated in full colour. Nearly 150 alphabetical entries - 30 of them new to this edition - explain the who, what, where, and when of postwar and contemporary art. These concise mini-essays on the key terms of the art world are written with wit and common sense by veteran critic Robert Atkins. More than 80 images, most in colour, illustrate key works of the art movements discussed, making ArtSpeak a visual reference, as well as a textual one. A timeline traces world and art-world events from 1945 to the present day, and a single-page ArtChart provides a handy overview of the major art movements in that period.

Beth Moon's fourteen-year quest to photograph ancient trees has taken her across the United States, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and Africa. Some of her subjects grow in isolation, on remote mountainsides, private estates, or nature preserves; others maintain a proud, though often precarious, existence in the midst of civilization. All, however, share a mysterious beauty perfected by age and the power to connect us to a sense of time and nature much greater than ourselves. It is this beauty, and this power, that Moon captures in her remarkable photographs.This handsome volume presents nearly seventy of Moon's finest tree portraits as full-page duotone plates. The pictured trees include the tangled, hollow-trunked yews - some more than a thousand years old - that grow in English churchyards; the baobabs of Madagascar, called 'upside-down trees' because of the curious disproportion of their giant trunks and modest branches; and the fantastical dragon's-blood trees, red-sapped and umbrella-shaped, that grow only on the island of Socotra, off the Horn of Africa.Moon's narrative captions describe the natural and cultural history of each individual tree, while Todd Forrest, vice president for horticulture and living collections at The New York Botanical Garden, provides a concise introduction to the biology and preservation of ancient trees. An essay by the critic Steven Brown defines Moon's unique place in a tradition of tree photography extending from William Henry Fox Talbot to Sally Mann, and explores the challenges and potential of the tree as a subject for art.

In this beautifully illustrated story with a timeless message, a feared and cruel king learns of a wise magician in his kingdom who is rumored to be even more powerful than himself. The magician can predict the future, and even worse, he is more popular than the fearsome king. Jealous and insecure, the enraged king plots to destroy this enemy. But, being a magician, he has a trick up his sleeve that saves his own life and the king's. With help from an unexpected friend, the king transforms from a feared and brutal monarch to a beloved leader. Enduring messages about the power of wisdom and compassion are conveyed in a classic storytelling style and outstanding, original artwork.

'I was born in a konak (old house), which once was the harem of a pasha," writes Alev Lytle Croutier.' People around me often whispered things about harems; my own grandmother and her sister had been brought up in one." Drawing on a host of first-hand accounts and memoirs, as well as her own family history, Croutier explores life in the world's harems, from the Middle Ages to the early 20th century, focusing on the fabled Seraglio of Topkapi Palace as a paradigm for them all. We enter the slave markets and the lavish boudoirs of the sultanas; we witness the daily routines of the odalisques, and of the eunuchs who guarded the harem. Here, too, we learn of the labyrinthine political scheming among the sultan's wives, his favourites, and the valide sultana-the sultan's mother-whose power could eclipse that of the sultan himself. There were the harems of the sultans and the pashas, but there were also ‘middle-class’ harems, the households in which ordinary men and women lived out ordinary-albeit polygamous-lives. Croutier reveals their marital customs, child-rearing practices, and superstitions. Finally, she shows how this Eastern institution invaded the European imagination-in the form of decoration, costume, and art-and how Western ideas, in turn, finally eroded a system that had seemed eternal. Juxtaposing a rich array of illustrations-Western paintings, Turkish and Persian miniatures, family photographs, and even film stills-Croutier demystifies the Western erotic fantasy of'the world behind the veil." This revised and updated 25th anniversary edition of Harem includes a new introduction by the author.

Today, art and science are often defined in opposition to each other: one involves the creation of individual aesthetic objects, and the other the discovery of general laws of nature. Throughout human history, however, the boundaries have been less clearly drawn: knowledge and artifacts have often issued from the same source, the head and hands of the artisan. And artists and scientists have always been linked, on a fundamental level, by their reliance on creative thinking.  Art and Science is the only book to survey the vital relationship between these two fields of endeavour in its full scope, from prehistory to the present day. Individual chapters explore how science has shaped architecture in every culture and civilisation; how mathematical principles and materials science have underpinned the decorative arts; how the psychology of perception has spurred the development of painting; how graphic design and illustration have evolved in tandem with methods of scientific research; and how breakthroughs in the physical sciences have transformed the performing arts. Some 265 illustrations, ranging from masterworks by Dürer and Leonardo to the dazzling vistas revealed by fractal geometry, complement the wide-ranging text. This new edition of Art and Science has been updated to cover the ongoing convergence of art and technology in the digital age, a convergence that has led to the emergence of a new type of creator, the 'cultural explorer' whose hybrid artworks defy all traditional categorisation. It will make thought-provoking reading for students and teachers, workers in creative and technical fields, and anyone who is curious about the history of human achievement.

Electric, outrageous, erotic, rebellious - rock concert posters are the visual equivalent of the music they advertise. The Art of Rock traces the history of this energising art form from the bold letterpress posters advertising Elvis's early shows, through the multi-coloured fantasies of the psychedelic era, to the avant-garde collages of new wave and punk. More than 1,500 posters and other graphics - tickets, backstage passes, buttons, handbills - are presented in their original blazing colour (or their stark black and white, as the case may be). The text features dozens of exclusive interviews with musicians, concert promoters, and the poster artists themselves, including legends like Stanley Mouse, Alton Kelley, or Wes Wilson - who also designed the cover of this book. A visual journey through 30 years of rock and roll, as well as a valuable reference, The Art of Rock is an essential volume for every music lover (and art lover).

The Mycenaean civilisation flourished more than 800 years before the classical Greeks, with a complex society, strong artistic tendencies, and a distinct system of writing. Famous for its lion gate and citadel, Mycenae was long believed to be the city that fought Troy in Homer's epic, The Iliad. But after flourishing nearly three thousand years ago the society vanished, becoming nothing more than a legend. Mycenae: From Myth to History brings readers into the heart of this mystery, as it was being solved, through lively text, stunning photographs, and an original take on Greek history and mythology. Using the pivotal summer of 1954 - a year after Linear B, the mysterious language present on all Mycenaean artifacts, was decoded - as her entry point, author Athina Cacouri reveals the fascinating archaeological history of the site, from the pioneering work of Heinrich Schliemann to the discovery of hundreds of 'seal stones', marked with an unknown language. Cacouri's text is complemented by the photographs of Robert A. McCabe, whose lens captured the site before it was opened to the general public, giving his atmospheric images a poignant, unmatched immediacy. An original play, commissioned for this volume from renowned American playwright John Guare, sets the mythological stage for the archaeological discoveries to come by recounting the history of the House of Atreus and King Agamemnon's Trojan War, while commentary on the photographs from archaeologist Lisa Wace French ties those myths to very real discoveries at the site. An essay by Daniel Fallu, detailing the importance of Mycenae's geology, rounds out this unparalleled survey of one of Greece's treasured archaeological sites. A multifaceted look at a brilliant civilisation and the tireless work that led to its rediscovery, Mycenae is a fast-paced, lushly illustrated exploration of one of the most intriguing mysteries of antiquity that is sure to delight lovers of classical civilisation, photography, and travel.

As the book's provocative title indicates, a woman reading was once viewed as radical. In chapters - such as: Intimate Moments and The Search for Oneself - Bollmann profiles how a woman with a book was once seen as idle or suspect and how women have gained autonomy through reading over the years. Bollmann offers intelligent and engaging commentary on each work of art in Women Who Read Are Dangerous, telling us who the subject is, her relationship to the artist, and even what she is reading. With works ranging from a 1333 Annunciation painting of the angel Gabriel speaking to the Virgin Mary, book in hand, to 20th-century works, such as a stunning photograph of Marilyn Monroe reading Ulysses, this appealing survey provides a veritable slideshow of the many iterations of a woman and her book; a compelling subject to this day.An excellent gift for graduates, teachers, or Mother's Day, this elegant book should appeal to anyone interested in art, literature, or women's history.

A remarkable selection of American forest trees surveyed by François-André Michaux and Thomas NuttallFrançois-André Michaux (1770–1855) was a French botanist whose work on the trees of North America gave the world’s first illustrated account of American trees east of the Mississippi. From 1841 to 1849 Thomas Nuttall (1786–1859), an English botanist and one of the greatest plant explorers of North America, prepared supplementary volumes to Michaux’s landmark work, The North American Sylva.Full-colour reproductions of all of the more than 270 plates are now included in a single volume for the first time. Mirroring Abbeville’s best-selling National Audubon Society Birds of America, the book includes capsule summaries of every tree species featured, written by New York Botanical Garden staff, along with reference illustrations by David Allen Sibley.Garden President Gregory Long looks at the book in the context of the New York Botanical Garden; NYBG Library Director Susan M. Fraser examines this landmark of American botanical history; award-winning garden writer Marta McDowell recounts the two botanist-explorers uncovering the continent’s arboreal riches; and best-selling ornithologist and natural history artist David Allen Sibley offers an aesthetic appreciation.Beautifully illustrated and extensively researched, The Trees of North America will entice gardeners, art connoisseurs, and nature lovers alike.

Conservative, Liberal, Republican, Democrat, Libertarian, Socialist . . . Each has a laundry list for America on which the slow-motion cataclysm of unsustainable national debt is but a lonely bullet point among dozens of others. Full Faith and Credit zooms in on that point, liberates it from partisan programs and political orientations, expands it, explores it, and explains it.The book examines key dimensions of our national life—from a military-industrial complex more menacing than even Eisenhower could have imagined to a Tower of Babel tax code that covertly translates taxes into secret subsidies. With the aim of converting bystanders into informed advocates of change, Full Faith and Credit is rich with eye-opening data, surprising case studies, and you-can’t-make-this-stuff-up examples:For every official the United States public has elected, its government supports 5000 unelected employees.$1 billion is the cost to destroy $16 billion in ammunition unneeded by the U.S. military.$20,973,890,000 is the total taxpayer cost to the Treasury of gambling losses deducted by millionaires.With easy-to-follow graphs and charts, as well as 20 uproarious full-colour editorial cartoons drawn from the prior work of Pulitzer Prize–winning artist Michael Ramirez, Full Faith and Credit locates the tipping point of the $19.4 trillion (and counting) national debt crisis and offers ideas on how to fix it.

The wit, humanity, and many-sided talent of Norman Rockwell (1894-1978) are on full display in his classic autobiography. Rockwell’s New York City boyhood, his apprentice days at the Art Students League, his first fateful visit to the Saturday Evening Post, his adventures abroad, his move to rural Vermont - all are recounted with a mix of sharp observation and self-deprecating humor. Throughout Rockwell invites the reader into his artistic process: he introduces his favourite models, candidly reveals his biggest flops, and documents the creation of a Post cover step by step. This Definitive Edition restores the original 1960 text of My Adventures as an Illustrator, as well as the playful vignettes that Rockwell drew to head each chapter. Thanks to a massive image digitisation effort undertaken by the Norman Rockwell Museum, it is also illustrated with more than 150 of Rockwell’s paintings and drawings, many of which highlight lesser-known aspects of his work. A new introduction by the artist’s granddaughter Abigail Rockwell adds reference value, as do an illustrated chronology and an annotated bibliography prepared by the staff of the Norman Rockwell Museum.This attractive volume will be the essential source on the life of Norman Rockwell, and delightful reading for anyone who enjoys his art. Plus, its publication coincided with a major exhibition at the Norman Rockwell Museum in 2019 concerning the autobiographical elements in the artist’s work (Norman Rockwell: Private Moments for the Masses).